Building & Infrastructure Services: Q3 2026 Report

The Building & Infrastructure Services sector saw deal volume moderate in the third quarter of 2026, even as buyer conviction in its most sought-after segments held firm. The quarter recorded 266 U.S. transactions across our six Building & Infrastructure Services subsectors, 241 of them closed and 25 announced, down from 380 in Q2 2026. Engineering & Construction was the most active subsector with 72 deals, followed by Dealers/Distributors with 51, the only subsector to grow from the prior quarter. The quarter’s largest transactions show where buyer conviction sits: power, electrical, and water infrastructure. MasTec acquired Electrical Specialists for $1.63 billion. Ferguson closed its $1.6 billion purchase of FloWorks. Rexel USA agreed to acquire Genuine Cable Group for $1.4 billion, and Select Water Solutions agreed to acquire Pilot Water Solutions for $715 million. The same themes ran through the lower middle market. Atwell added Phased Right, a substation, transmission, and data-center power delivery engineering firm, and New Mountain Capital acquired geospatial and inspection provider Surveying And Mapping from Peak Rock Capital.

Valuations remained highly differentiated. Among the small number of deals with disclosed multiples, implied EBITDA multiples ranged from 4.6x for IES Holdings’ acquisition of steel fabricator DBM Global to 22.7x for Bernhard Capital’s pending take-private of engineering firm Bowman Consulting. That spread reinforces the two-speed market we described last quarter: technical, engineering-led, and infrastructure-linked assets command premium pricing, while project-based and labor-intensive models are priced more conservatively. Platform building remained the dominant strategy, and strategic acquirers, including PE-backed platforms making add-ons, accounted for roughly four of every five deals. TRP Infrastructure Services completed five add-ons in traffic control and roadway services, Verdantas added four environmental and engineering firms, and Skybound Service Partners acquired three commercial roofing businesses. Sponsors also moved up-market, with Bernhard Capital’s agreement to take Bowman private, Stellex Capital’s acquisition of NYSE-listed Team, Inc., and New Mountain Capital’s agreement to acquire fire protection engineering firm JENSEN HUGHES. With succession pressure continuing to push founders toward a transaction and buyers competing for scarce, high-quality regional platforms, we expect buyer demand for well-run businesses to remain strong into year-end, even with fewer deals recorded this quarter. Building & Infrastructure Services remains one of the most resilient and actively pursued segments within Business Services.

M&A Activity

Q3 2026 recorded 266 transactions across Building & Infrastructure Services (241 closed, 25 announced), a 30.0% decline from Q2 2026 (380) and 25.7% below Q3 2025 (358). The pullback was steepest in Residential & Commercial and Environmental & Facility Services, both coming off strong second quarters, while Dealers/Distributors grew and Engineering & Construction matched its year-ago level. Strategic buyers, including PE-backed platforms making add-ons, accounted for roughly four of every five deals, and four transactions carried disclosed values above $1 billion.

• Fewer deals, but buyers are still active. Deal count fell 30.0% quarter-over-quarter to 266 from 380, the lowest total since Q2 2025. Activity was strongest in July (127 deals) and slowed through August (86) and September (53). Even so, 18 acquirers made two or more acquisitions in the quarter, led by TRP Infrastructure Services (five), Verdantas (four) and Skybound Service Partners (three).
• Dealers/Distributors was the only subsector to grow, up 4.1% (49 to 51 deals), and produced two of the quarter’s three largest transactions: Ferguson’s $1.6 billion purchase of FloWorks and Rexel USA’s $1.4 billion agreement to acquire Genuine Cable Group. Both sellers were private equity owners (Wynnchurch and Clearlake; Audax).
• Engineering & Construction remained the largest subsector with 72 deals, down 15.3% from Q2 (85) and level with Q3 2025 (72). Electrical work led the activity: MasTec acquired Electrical Specialists for $1.63 billion, and by our count 12 electrical contractors changed hands, 11 of them to strategic buyers, including Loenbro’s acquisition of Prism Electric (about $180 million in revenue per Capital IQ, serving data centers and hospitals).
• TIC was down from Q2 but up from a year ago, and private equity buyers favored it. Deal count fell 27.9% quarter-over-quarter (68 to 49) but rose 28.9% year-over-year (38 to 49). A private equity firm was the direct buyer in 11 of the 49 deals (22%), including Bernhard Capital’s pending $1.08 billion take-private of Bowman Consulting, New Mountain Capital’s purchase of Surveying And Mapping and its agreement to acquire JENSEN HUGHES, and Veritas Capital’s agreement to acquire Trinity Consultants.
• Residential & Commercial and Environmental & Facility Services each fell by nearly half. Residential & Commercial dropped 48.8% (86 to 44), its lowest count since Q2 2025, and Environmental & Facility Services fell 47.5% (59 to 31) as Q2’s surge of waste roll-ups cooled. Specialty Contractors fell 42.4% (33 to 19), though roofing stayed active with six deals, three of them by Skybound Service Partners.
• Security, landscaping and facilities maintenance stayed active. Fire, life-safety and security deals made up 14 of Residential & Commercial’s 44 transactions (32%) and four of its five private equity deals (Apax/NextGen Security, Knox Lane/SAGE Integration, Blackford/Industrial Electronic Systems, Hidden Harbor/Escape Fire Protection). Buyers paid attention to recurring monitoring revenue: Everon added Scarsdale Security, Sciens Building Solutions added Priority Systems, and APi Group added Evergreen Fire and Security. Eight landscaping, tree-care and vegetation-management companies were acquired, including two by Visterra Landscape Group, and five janitorial and facilities-maintenance providers sold, including two to 4M Building Solutions and PHFM to Vesterra Capital Partners.
• Strategic buyers led, and private equity buyers were active on both sides. Strategic buyers made 215 of the 266 acquisitions (81%) and private equity firms 45 (17%). Q2’s repeat acquirers kept going: Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, Visterra Landscape Group and IMEG each completed two more deals. PE-backed companies were also sellers. Clean Harbors bought EnviroServe from One Rock Capital for $470 million and Apax bought NextGen Security from Dunes Point. For owners considering a sale to a PE-backed platform, these exits show the second liquidity event that rolled equity is designed to deliver.

Select M&A Transactions