Question for those wise in big business/ investment firms.

[fngTony]

Long winded question but wondering what if anything this means for my employment.

Let’s say I work for Bob’s hvac,plumbing and electrical which is owned by Money bags equity firm. Money bags buys 13% into Deep pockets investments that owns 50.01% of Larry’s plumbing, a industry giant who only does plumbing but also owns a supply distribution chain for plumbing supplies.

In contrast Bob’s plumbing division isn’t well established or profitable and suffer from not controlling their own supply chain. The rest of the company does well.

I’m suspecting that Bob’s plumbing will be dumped of to Larry’s. Am I overthinking this or…

 

[Grumman]

There will be lots of leveraging and synergies. My experience is the policies and processes of the larger entity will be forced upon on the smaller entity. Even if they are not the most productive or make the most sense. Hang in there, hopefully it will open more doors for you and be better in the long run.


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[mlgc20]

These things can go a hundred different ways. I’ve been part of multiple Fortune 500 mergers and acquisitions. They can be really hard to predict. Sometimes the acquirer is buying the customer list. Other times they are buying the cash flow and total operations. I doubt they would have enough synergies to make wholesale cuts to field staff. If you are a journeyman, apprentice, supervisor or whatever in any of the trades you mentioned above, you will be in high demand. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you are in a support role, like payroll or dispatch, you might be more likely to see cuts in your area.

 

[fngTony]

These things can go a hundred different ways. I’ve been part of multiple Fortune 500 mergers and acquisitions. They can be really hard to predict. Sometimes the acquirer is buying the customer list. Other times they are buying the cash flow and total operations. I doubt they would have enough synergies to make wholesale cuts to field staff. If you are a journeyman, apprentice, supervisor or whatever in any of the trades you mentioned above, you will be in high demand. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you are in a support role, like payroll or dispatch, you might be more likely to see cuts in your area.

Makes sense. What has me worried is all the trades go together (in some jobs) but hvac isn’t giving all their plumbing work to their in house plumbers, even though we got cut down to working four days a week. We’re the starving kid at the table while our parents feed the neighbors. I guess it might be for the better.

 

[Marble]

What makes me curious is why one part of the company isn't giving work to another. If I understand correctly, the HVAC people have work they sub out to other plumbers that are not a part of the company that has their own plumbing division?

If that's the case, I could be for any number of reasons:

Quality of work
Supply side issues
Interpersonal Conflicts between the two divisions.
No directive to give right of refusal to division in the company.

Probably several other possibilities but likely a combination of a few.

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[bozeman]

IMO..........If Bob's isn't profitable, you got two options: 1- become profitable, 2- get dumped. I could be wrong here, but being part of a global organization, I have seen this time and again. We have 'quadrants' each division is grouped within......if you are in bottom left quadrant, its only a matter of time before you are sold off or closed down.......just the way 'big' business works.

 

[fngTony]

What makes me curious is why one part of the company isn't giving work to another. If I understand correctly, the HVAC people have work they sub out to other plumbers that are not a part of the company that has their own plumbing division?

If that's the case, I could be for any number of reasons:

Quality of work
Supply side issues
Interpersonal Conflicts between the two divisions.
No directive to give right of refusal to division in the company.

Probably several other possibilities but likely a combination of a few.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

The big red flag to me was when my boss (General manager for my plumbing market) cut us to 4 days a week (he was told to tighten the belt, not specifically to cut hours). He then got under the desk of the regional hvac VP to allow us to work one day a week pushing a broom at the hvac shop. Why would he not have tried for more work?

 

[fngTony]

IMO..........If Bob's isn't profitable, you got two options: 1- become profitable, 2- get dumped. I could be wrong here, but being part of a global organization, I have seen this time and again. We have 'quadrants' each division is grouped within......if you are in bottom left quadrant, its only a matter of time before you are sold off or closed down.......just the way 'big' business works.

After some new things this morning I’m leaning towards sold off to Larry’s unless the feds see it as a monopoly.

 

[bozeman]

Wish you the best and will be praying for wisdom IF decisions have to be made.

 

[nodakian]

What makes me curious is why one part of the company isn't giving work to another. If I understand correctly, the HVAC people have work they sub out to other plumbers that are not a part of the company that has their own plumbing division?

If that's the case, I could be for any number of reasons:

Quality of work
Supply side issues
Interpersonal Conflicts between the two divisions.
No directive to give right of refusal to division in the company.

Probably several other possibilities but likely a combination of a few.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

Cost is another consideration. Maybe the plumbing division costs more than subs.


I encounter this a lot: in- house labor costs more than even marked-up subs, with no better, and often worse, quality and delivery. Unfortunately, in-house is often part of our "core" services so it's hard to convince management to allow subs.

 

[Billy Goat]

It seems to me like a plumber shouldn't have a bit of trouble finding a job right now.


I wouldn't be sweeping floors, I'd see that as writing on the stall doors.

 

[fngTony]

It seems to me like a plumber shouldn't have a bit of trouble finding a job right now.


I wouldn't be sweeping floors, I'd see that as writing on the stall doors.

Fair point. I don’t want to mention the real names or industries as I know that at least Larry’s has internet snoops. Unfortunately we’re not in the high demand.

 

[Billy Goat]

Fair point. I don’t want to mention the real names or industries as I know that at least Larry’s has internet snoops. Unfortunately we’re not in the high demand.

I don't think much isn't in high demand right now, if not should be able to use half your skills for something else.


Very easy to be over-employed right now.

 

[fngTony]

I don't think much isn't in high demand right now, if not should be able to use half your skills for something else.


Very easy to be over-employed right now.

High demand doesn’t equal fair pay in my case. I’ve been working on getting out, it’s hard to move from blue collar to white collar, or at least into an office job in the blue collar side

 

[Pikespeak]

High demand doesn’t equal fair pay in my case. I’ve been working on getting out, it’s hard to move from blue collar to white collar, or at least into an office job in the blue collar side

Be careful what you wish for

 

[fngTony]

Be careful what you wish for

How so?

 

[mossyoak52]

Why would he not have tried for more work?

Cost

 

[MattB]

I was preparing to type out a long-winded response, but see that mlgc20 already hit most of what I was going to say.

As is the case in most industries, those closest to the customer/revenue generators tend to fair the best regardless to which direction the acquiring entity takes the company. Those in administrative functions (esp. duplicative ones), not so much.

 

[Pikespeak]

How so?

There’s a lot of white collar guys who wish they weren’t stuck in an office all day. Maybe a case of the grass is always greener all around.