Fire protection and life safety contractors
Every licensed fire and life safety contractor in Texas is a matter of public record. We built the list — then worked out which firms are genuinely independent and which have already been bought without changing their sign.
What a buyer is actually paying for
Not revenue. In this trade specifically, the price is driven by how much of the work comes back without anyone selling it again.
The recurring inspection base
Contracted, scheduled, documented inspection work is the single most valuable thing most of these firms own, and the one most often undersold because it is never separated out on the P&L.
Licences and the technicians who hold them
Which trades you hold, and whether the people licensed to perform them stay after closing.
Customer concentration
If three accounts are half the revenue, a buyer prices that risk in. Knowing the figure before they ask is worth real money.
What the public record shows
The raw registry overstates this market badly. A firm licensed for sprinkler, alarm and extinguisher work appears three times, because a registration is a licence rather than a company. Consolidating 3,072 registrations by the operating entity behind them, then removing the national platforms, school districts and fire marshal offices that also appear, leaves 1,819 genuinely independent firms.
Consolidation is already underway and it is not obvious from the outside. Acquired firms keep their names. We identified six Texas firms still trading under their original branding that are already owned by a national platform — found two separate ways, because neither method alone catches all of them. Some reveal themselves when an old domain redirects to the acquirer; others keep their site and their domain entirely, and only parent-company records show the change.
Sources · measured July 2026
- Texas Department of Insurance — State Fire Marshal licensed company registry
- Harris County Appraisal District — bulk property records
- Texas Comptroller — active franchise taxpayer list
Figures will drift as the registries change. We re-run this quarterly rather than quoting a number once and repeating it.
Who this is for
- Independently owned — not a branch, and not already part of a national platform.
- Licensed in Texas across one or more trades, with real recurring inspection work.
- An owner who wants a straight answer on value, whether or not anything happens this year.
If you have already been approached, bring the offer before you sign anything. A letter of intent usually carries an exclusivity clause, and once it is signed your leverage is largely gone.