Maximise the exit value of your fire safety business.
We are the UK's specialist brokerage for fire safety business owners considering a sale. Confidential valuations. Qualified buyers. Expert guidance.
What's your fire safety business worth?
Use the figures you already know off the top of your head. The calculator weighs them against benchmarks for UK fire safety business sales, and gives you a realistic price range for what your business could be worth.
Selling in a few years? The team can help you get ready.
The Reads Pre-Sale Programme covers the years before a sale: more contracted maintenance, a business that runs without you, and figures and certificates that stand up to a buyer's scrutiny.
Growth marketing
Martin Dugan helps you win more maintenance contracts and commercial clients, the work buyers pay more for.
Improving business value
Nick Hunt works with you on margin, and on a business that runs without you.
Financial preparation
Ben Davies gets your accounts ready for a buyer's questions, with contract and project income shown apart.
Larger business sales
Ian Mills works with larger fire safety businesses, and with owners who want more from the sale than the price.
Selling your business
Simon Read runs the sale itself, from the first conversation to the handover.
Tax, legal and finance
Who you will need for tax and legal advice, and when. Reads Commercial Finance handles acquisition finance.
Post-Grenfell compliance is reshaping the sector.
Private equity firms, the investment firms that buy companies to grow and sell on, completed over 100 fire safety acquisitions in 2024 and 2025 combined, with groups like Marlowe Fire & Security actively consolidating the market. The Building Safety Act 2022 and the Fire Safety Act 2021 have created a structural uplift in compliance spending. For independent fire safety business owners, this has opened a window where recurring contract books, BAFE accreditations, and qualified engineer teams are commanding premium valuations.
A clear, structured process.
Free Confidential Valuation
Every conversation starts with understanding your business. We assess your turnover, maintenance contract book, BAFE accreditations, and engineer team to establish a realistic valuation range. No cost, no obligation, completely confidential.
Qualified Buyer Matching
We maintain an active register of pre-qualified buyers: PE-backed fire safety platforms, national compliance groups, and firms in the trade specifically seeking fire alarm, suppression, and risk assessment businesses. We match your business to the right buyers and put it in front of several at once, so they compete.
Managed Sale Process
From initial valuation through to completion, we manage every stage. Confidentiality agreements signed by buyers, buyer meetings, negotiations, the buyer's detailed checks on your business, and legal coordination. You focus on running your business while we handle the sale.
We speak your language.
We know the difference between a business carrying out 200 domestic alarm maintenance visits a month and one holding 50 commercial suppression and risk assessment contracts. We know what BAFE SP203 registration means for your contract book, why SP101 and SP207 matter to a buyer, and what FIA membership says about the business behind it.
We know a fire safety buyer reads your service records before your accounts: how many sites renew each year, how much of the work is planned maintenance rather than reactive callouts, and whether the nominated individuals on your certification include someone other than you. A business with six qualified engineers and a strong office team is worth more than one where the owner still answers every call. Knowing that, we present your business the way a buyer will judge it, to the buyers most likely to pay for it.
Start with a conversation.
Whether you are actively considering a sale or simply curious about what your fire safety business might be worth, we are happy to talk. No obligation, completely confidential.
We could not send your message just now, so Simon has not received it. Please email enquiries@firesafetybusinessforsale.co.uk or call 01285 704466. What you typed is still in the form.
Register as a Fire Safety buyer.
Most of the fire safety businesses we represent never go to open market. They move through a small, private buyer register. If you are an individual buyer, a business in the trade looking to buy, or an investor actively looking at the sector, register your criteria and we will contact you directly when something suitable becomes available.
Simon Read, Lead Adviser
Simon Read leads the fire safety division. He has spent over a decade advising business owners on selling their businesses across professional services and specialist sectors, and has built the buyer relationships that make this service possible. Reads has not completed fire safety business sales before. What Simon brings is a buyer network that has been asking for exactly these businesses, and a commitment to handle every sale personally from first call to completion.
Every conversation starts with understanding what matters most to you: the price, the legacy, the staff, the timing, or simply getting out with certainty. Nothing is decided until you are ready.