From Wall Street to Fire Safety Chris Horan's Strategy for Service Centric Growth

Executive summary

Relay CEO Chris Horan describes a growth strategy built around organic expansion, targeted acquisitions, and increasing the share of recurring inspection, testing, maintenance, and service work. Relay is assembling a regional fire and life-safety platform across New England, New York, and the Mid-Atlantic while investing in technology, centralized support functions, technicians, and additional service lines.

Horan’s advice to smaller operators is to diversify customers and markets, turn installation relationships into ongoing service accounts, and build profitable, service-heavy revenue.

Strategy and operating model

• Organic growth is the primary engine; acquisitions accelerate it. Relay buys businesses, then invests in sales, service capacity, back-office operations, vehicles, and technology to improve and expand them.
• Build a regional, multi-service platform. Relay’s footprint runs roughly from Maine to Virginia, organized around New England, the Northeast, and the Mid-Atlantic. Its services include fire detection and alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers, suppression systems, kitchen hoods, emergency lighting, and fire doors.
• Expand services across regions. Relay is adding capabilities to meet existing customers’ needs—for example, developing sprinkler services in Boston and fire-detection services in Baltimore, where customers already use Relay for other work.
• Centralize and standardize selectively. The company centralized finance functions in New Jersey, adopted a shared technology stack, and rebranded acquired businesses as Relay. The aim is to support tuck-in acquisitions and develop a common brand and culture while retaining local expertise.
• Prioritize service over installation. Service and inspection work offers more predictable customer relationships and greater control over margins than large installation projects performed under general contractors. Relay will still handle installations for existing customers, such as a hospital adding a wing, but does not intend to pursue large new-construction bids as a core growth strategy.

Acquisition playbook

Relay evaluates potential acquisitions based on:

• Revenue mix: Preference for inspection- and service-heavy companies. Horan distinguishes recurring inspection and maintenance work from retrofit projects, which sellers may mistakenly classify as service.
• Product capabilities: Fit with Relay’s existing lines, including fire detection and Edwards systems, as well as opportunities to fill regional service gaps.
• Geography: A focus on building density and coverage within the company’s existing Northeast and Mid-Atlantic footprint.
• People and certifications: The strength of the team, including NICET-certified personnel and technicians qualified to program detection systems.
• Customer and market diversification: Avoiding excessive exposure to one or two large customers, or to a single vertical market.
• Quality of earnings: Verifying the actual service mix and earnings rather than relying on how a seller labels its revenue.

Relay’s thesis is that acquired companies can grow faster after investment in sales, technology, back-office support, and additional service lines. Horan says the company is set up for tuck-ins and has acquisition targets under consideration, but gives no specific acquisition or revenue-growth targets.

Advice for smaller fire-safety businesses

Horan’s recommendations for building value:

1. Grow inspection, testing, and maintenance work and convert installation customers into continuing service relationships.
2. Diversify customers and vertical markets to reduce concentration risk.
3. Consider government contracts where rates can be set without competing through bid work.
4. Use installation strategically: It can bring in customers who can later be converted to inspections, maintenance, and service.
5. Build a strong, certified workforce and invest in technician development.

Workforce and management

• Relay had about 120 employees at the time of the interview and was continuing to hire across trades.
• To address labor shortages, the company runs an apprenticeship pathway that recruits from vocational schools and develops technicians progressively: inspections, service, then programming and more advanced work.
• Horan estimates that, with the right certifications, training, and some overtime, a person entering from high school could reach about $100,000 a year or more within five years. He presents this as an industry opportunity, not a guaranteed outcome for every apprentice.

Metrics and financial benchmarks

Measure Figure cited Relay employees About 120 Service share Horan sees in many acquisition targets At least 60%, with preference for more Recurring-revenue share viewed as attractive Close to 50% Service share recommended for a $5–10 million small business 60–70% EBITDA margin range Relay considers when evaluating companies 15–20% Typical seller equity rollover Relay encourages 20–30% Private-equity investment/exit horizon discussed Around five years

Horan says buyers in the industry commonly assess businesses using EBITDA multiples. He does not cite specific multiples. He also notes that acquisition competition and valuations have increased as more financial sponsors have entered the sector.

Market context and execution risks

• The fire and life-safety market is highly fragmented, with many long-established, often family-run businesses and a relatively low barrier to entry for qualified technicians starting firms.
• Compliance and regulation support continuing demand for inspections and maintenance; buildings also require fire-safety systems to meet occupancy requirements. Horan describes the category as relatively resilient through economic cycles.
• Installation work can be substantial but less predictable: contractors may have less control over project outcomes, payment, and margins than on service work.
• Relay operates with Riverside Company, which has prior fire-safety investments, including PSI and Cerity. Horan says experience and shared operating practices across those businesses help inform Relay’s approach.

Presenters and sources

• Chris Horan — CEO of Relay and interview guest.
• Paul Giannamore — Host of POTOMAC M&A / Potomac TV.
• Riverside Company — Relay’s private-equity partner, discussed by Horan.