Water hygiene & Legionella control
ACoP L8 · HSG274 · BS 8580-1
- Legionella risk assessments and written schemes
- Monthly temperature monitoring and sampling
- Tank cleaning, disinfection and TMV servicing
- Remedial works and log book management
For owners planning their exit
A long-term home for your water hygiene or fire safety business.
Richmonds buys well-run UK water hygiene, water treatment and fire safety firms from owners who want to retire or step back. We keep your team, your customers and your standards, and agree a clear exit with you in plain terms.
Prefer to talk first? Call Sanjeev on +44 (0)20 7754 3554
- Confidential from the first call
- No cost and no obligation to talk
- NDA signed before you share figures
- ACoP L8
- HSG274
- BS 8580-1
- BS 7592
- BS 8552
- BS 5839
- BS 5266
- Fire Safety Order 2005
- Building Safety Act 2022
Where we invest
Compliance work that keeps buildings and the people in them safe
We focus on recurring, regulated maintenance: the kind of work duty holders cannot skip and customers stay with for years when it is done well.
Water treatment
Closed systems · Cooling water · BS 8552
- Closed system treatment and monitoring
- Cooling tower and evaporative system care
- Chlorination of new and refurbished systems
- Laboratory analysis and reporting
Fire safety
Fire Safety Order 2005 · BS 5839 · BS 5266
- Fire risk assessments
- Fire alarm and emergency lighting servicing
- Extinguisher and suppression servicing
- Fire door inspection
Why sell to Richmonds
You built something good. We want to keep it that way.
If you are thinking about retirement or stepping back, selling through a broker-run process or to a large group is not your only option. Richmonds buys well-run specialist firms to keep and grow, not to strip back.
Every conversation starts informally and stays confidential. There is no cost and no obligation to talk.
Your team stays
Your engineers and office staff are the business. We plan for them to stay, on their existing terms, with a clearer route to progress.
Your customers stay looked after
The same faces on the same contracts. We protect the relationships you have built and invest in the systems behind them.
Your name can stay
Your business can keep trading under its own name as part of Richmonds, so customers and staff see continuity, not a takeover.
A fair deal, explained plainly
Offers are normally a mix of payment at completion and payments over the following years. We explain how every part works and agree it with you before anything is signed.
A handover at your pace
We would normally expect a founder to stay involved for six to twelve months, to introduce key customers and hand over what they know. We agree the plan with you, not for you.
One person, start to finish
You deal with Sanjeev, the founder, from the first conversation to completion. The person you talk to is the person who makes the decisions.
Discreet from day one
We sign a confidentiality agreement before you share any figures. Your staff and customers only hear about it when you decide.
How it works
From first call to handover
Deals like this usually take three to six months from first conversation to completion. You can pause or stop at any point before completion.
First conversation
An informal call or coffee about your plans and what matters to you. No figures needed.
Confidentiality and information
We sign an NDA, then review accounts, contracts and how the business runs.
Indicative offer
A written proposal setting out value, structure and what happens to your team.
Due diligence
Our advisers check the detail with yours. We keep it focused and respectful of your time.
Completion and handover
Legal completion, then a planned transition with you alongside us.
All discussions are subject to contract. Nothing on this website is an offer to buy any business.
What we look for
Is your business a fit?
These are guidelines, not rules. If your business is close, we would still like to hear from you.
- Location
- England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
- Services
- Commercial water hygiene, Legionella control, water treatment or fire safety
- Turnover
- From £500k, with no upper limit
- Profitability
- Consistently profitable, with healthy margins
- Recurring work
- A strong base of planned maintenance contracts
- Accreditation
- Legionella Control Association registration for water; BAFE, FIRAS or NSI for fire
- Ownership
- Owner-managed, with the owner planning to retire or step back
- Team
- Experienced engineers and an office team that runs well day to day
For accountants, solicitors and brokers
Advising an owner who wants to sell?
If you act for the owner of a water hygiene, water treatment or fire safety business who might fit, we would like to hear from you. We are happy to work alongside you from the first conversation.
- A first conversation without names
- Confidentiality agreement before any figures
- A written indicative offer
- You deal directly with the founder
Not ready yet?
Six things that make a compliance business easier to sell
Many owners start planning an exit years before they sell. These are the things any serious buyer, including us, will look at first. Getting them in order helps whoever you sell to.
Contracts on paper
Planned maintenance agreements written down, in date and in the company's name, with renewal dates you can show.
Accreditations in date
LCA registration, or BAFE, FIRAS or NSI certification, kept current with audit records to hand.
Records someone else can follow
Log books, risk assessments and service reports stored so a new manager could find them.
Less reliance on you
Customers who know your engineers and office team, not only you.
No single customer too large
A spread of customers, so losing one contract would not put the business at risk.
Clear, consistent accounts
Three years of accounts that show steady profit, with personal costs kept separate.
Happy to talk it through, even if a sale is years away. Or work through our checklist for preparing your business for sale.
Start a conversationQuestions owners ask
Selling your business to Richmonds: common questions
Is there any cost or commitment in talking to you?
No. A first conversation is free and confidential, and you are not committing to anything. All discussions are subject to contract, so nothing is binding until contracts are signed.
Will my staff or customers find out?
Not from us. We sign a confidentiality agreement before you share any figures, and your staff and customers only hear about a sale when you decide to tell them.
How is the price paid?
Offers are normally a mix of a payment at completion and further payments over the following years. We explain how every part works, and agree it with you, before anything is signed.
How are acquisitions funded?
Each acquisition is funded from Richmonds' own resources and, where a deal needs it, bank or specialist acquisition finance. Any payments due after completion are part of the agreed price and written into the sale contract. We show you how a deal will be funded before you commit, and your advisers can check it as part of the process.
Guides
Plain answers for owners thinking about selling
How to sell a water hygiene or Legionella control business in the UKYour options, how to prepare, how buyers value the business, and share v asset sales.
How to sell a fire safety business in the UKFire alarms, emergency lighting, extinguishers and risk assessment: options, preparation and certification.
What is my water hygiene or fire safety business worth?How buyers reach a figure, what moves it up or down, and the gap between headline price and what you receive.
About Richmonds
Founder-led, and built to last
Richmonds was founded by Sanjeev Desour to bring together the best independent building safety businesses in the UK under one group, without losing what makes each of them good.
Sanjeev has spent more than a decade working alongside owner-managers. In 2014 he founded IGNITE Academy, a peer advisory and coaching business for SME leaders, and he runs the IGNITE Group of companies. That experience shapes how Richmonds works with founders: plain speaking, a fair process, and respect for the people who built the business.
Our aim is simple. Combine well-run specialist firms, share the systems and support that are hard for a small company to fund alone, and keep the local service that customers value.
Sanjeev Desour is an extremely smart and savvy businessman. He has started a number of successful companies, one of which I deal with and work with a lot and love how he does business. I think he's an extremely astute businessman and knows a lot when it comes to teaching you how to set up and run a successful business.
Sanjeev is an extremely astute and successful businessman.
Richmonds at a glance
- Company
- Richmonds Enterprises Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 12019590
- Founder
- Sanjeev Desour
- Based in
- Watford, Hertfordshire, buying across the UK
- We buy
- Water hygiene and Legionella control, water treatment and fire safety businesses
- Business size
- Turnover from £500k, with no upper limit
- What stays
- Your team on their existing terms, your customers and, if you wish, your name
- How we pay
- A payment at completion and further payments over the following years, all written into the sale contract
- Funding
- Richmonds' own resources and, where a deal needs it, bank or specialist acquisition finance
- Timescale
- Usually three to six months from first conversation to completion
- Handover
- Usually six to twelve months with you alongside us
Contact
Start a confidential conversation
Tell us a little about you. Sanjeev reads every enquiry personally and will reply to arrange a call at a time that suits you. If you would rather talk first, call +44 (0)20 7754 3554.
Phone+44 (0)20 7754 3554
AddressUnit 22, Orbital 25 Business Park
Dwight Road, Watford WD18 9DA
Dwight Road, Watford WD18 9DA
AdvisersAccountants, solicitors and brokers with a client who fits are welcome to get in touch. Information for advisers.
This page is general information about how Richmonds works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and nothing on it is an offer to buy any business. All discussions are subject to contract. Take advice from your own accountant and solicitor, and see our website terms.