About Rostone Operating Partners
We help owners of established HVAC, renewables and electrical contracting businesses build a business that runs without depending on them, and that holds its value when a buyer, lender, investor or successor looks closely. We work with owner-led firms and with established groups making up to around £5M of profit a year.
Our Fractional COO and Operating Partner support brings clearer responsibilities, practical workflows and a management rhythm that helps teams improve delivery, understand margins and reduce dependence on the owner.
Build a business that works beyond the owner.
Growth exposes gaps in how a business operates. Where the owner sits depends on the stage the business has reached.
- Still the link between every team. Quotes wait for approval, managers escalate routine decisions, job records arrive late and the owner holds the business together.
- A management team that still runs through you. Directors and managers are in place, but the big decisions, key relationships and succession still sit with the owner, reporting is not yet board-grade, and a buyer would price in the risk of losing you.
Rostone helps turn that knowledge and effort into a structure the business can use: named responsibilities, agreed decision boundaries, consistent handovers and information that supports management and board decisions. The aim is a business your team can run with greater clarity and control.
Two things tend to move the value of a contracting business most: income that repeats, such as maintenance and service contracts, and a business that runs without its owner. Stronger operations support your next step, whether that means sustainable growth, investment, acquisition, succession, a management buyout or an eventual sale. A transaction is not required to begin.
Paul Freudenberg
Managing Director
Paul is an Operating Partner to established HVAC, renewables and electrical contracting businesses. He brings more than 25 years in project management and business transformation, with particular experience in valuation and preparing businesses for investment or sale.
The result is a more resilient, valuable business that stands up to scrutiny from buyers, lenders and potential successors.
Gary Smith
M&A Partner
Gary has spent 15 years in corporate finance, with more than 40 completed deals. He has held senior leadership and business transformation roles in IT and telecoms, and spent five years handling acquisitions and disposals for SaaS businesses in Asia.
He specialises in strategy reviews and in helping owners plan and carry out the exit that fits their goals.
Stephen Taylor
Transaction Director
Stephen is a certified accountant with more than 15 years of senior management experience in multinational businesses. More recently he has worked in corporate finance, advising both sellers and buyers on deal strategy.
At Evolution Capital he led sales of technology and telecoms businesses, completing five transactions in a single year.
Mergers & Acquisitions
When an owner is ready to sell, raise investment or acquire, Rostone’s M&A team runs the transaction alongside the operating work, so the business holds its value through the deal.
Connect the quote, the job and the cash.
HVAC, renewables and electrical contracting businesses rely on coordination between the office, engineers, site teams and customers. A missed handover, unclear variation or incomplete job record can affect delivery, margin and the time it takes to get paid.
We focus on the operating work behind those connections: quoting and job costing, scheduling, installation, completion records, handovers and invoicing. The scope reflects your business, contracts, tools and team rather than a fixed template. In a larger business, the same discipline produces the management information a board, lender or buyer relies on.
Our focus is established businesses, from owner-led firms to groups of up to £50M turnover and around £5M of profit, whose growth has created more complexity than their current operating structure can comfortably manage.
Practical support with clear ownership
Understand and prioritise.
Review your workflows, information and challenges with the people doing the work. Agree priorities and a starting point for measuring progress.
Implement alongside managers.
Put agreed responsibilities, reporting and workflow changes into use. Test guidance against real jobs and resolve the issues that prevent adoption.
Build capability inside the business.
Capture priority processes in a living operations playbook, with named owners and a routine for keeping it current as the business evolves.
Review and adapt.
Use agreed measures to assess delivery, margin, cash collection, profit and owner involvement. Update actions as priorities change.
Scope, fees, milestones and continuing support are agreed around your needs. Total Alignment provides a structure for the operating work. GRAX describes the options it can support: Grow and Raise for owners building the business, and Acquire and Exit, including succession, a management buyout or employee ownership, for owners planning what comes next. You choose the direction that fits your objectives.
See how a Rostone engagement works · Explore the living operations playbook
Connecting project delivery with financial performance
Tracy, a construction company owner, describes Paul’s help with estimating, scheduling and tracking to improve margins and productivity.
“He clearly relates project delivery performance to business financials.”
Tracy — Construction Company Owner
This published client experience comes from the construction sector. Each engagement has its own starting point, scope and measures of progress.
Specialist expertise when you need it
Rostone focuses on the operating model, workflows, management responsibilities and evidence behind your business. When your plans raise legal, financial, tax or personal succession questions, relevant specialist advisers support those areas within their own disciplines.
We can work alongside your existing advisers and discuss additional expertise where useful. Responsibilities, scope, fees and information-sharing arrangements should be clear before an appointment.
Discuss your business with Rostone.
Bring the challenge that is taking your time: job delivery, margins, cash collection, decisions that still depend on you, or a succession plan without a clear owner. The first conversation helps us understand your business and identify whether a scoped diagnostic would be a useful next step.