Services
Guidance for Every Stage of Your Journey
No two propane business owners share the same goals, timeline, or circumstances. Some are planning for retirement. Some are exploring growth opportunities. Others are thinking about succession planning, evaluating what their business may be worth, or simply trying to understand what options are available for the future. Whatever the situation, important decisions often come with questions about value, timing, confidentiality, qualified buyers, and what comes next.
Legacy Energy Consulting helps propane business owners navigate those decisions through honest communication, trusted relationships, complete confidentiality, and more than 65 years of combined propane industry experience. The goal isn't to push owners toward a particular decision. It's to help them understand their options, evaluate opportunities, and move forward with confidence.
Business Sales
Selling a propane business involves far more than finding a buyer. For many owners, a business represents decades of hard work, loyal customers, dedicated employees, and a reputation built within the community. The right transition is about more than receiving an offer. It's about protecting what you've built while finding the right path forward.
The process begins with understanding your business, goals, and timeline. Legacy Energy Consulting then conducts a comprehensive business review, develops a valuation range, and prepares confidential marketing materials designed to present the business to qualified buyers. Leveraging long-standing relationships with national, regional, and local buyers throughout the propane industry, opportunities are shared confidentially with organizations that may be a strong fit.
From buyer outreach and negotiations to due diligence and closing, Legacy Energy Consulting provides guidance throughout every stage of the transaction while maintaining complete confidentiality and keeping the owner's goals at the center of every decision. While every transaction is unique, most propane business sales are completed within approximately five to eight months, though timelines can vary depending on the complexity of the transaction and the specific circumstances involved.
Strategic Planning
Many propane business owners spend years focused on serving customers, supporting employees, and growing their businesses without taking time to step back and evaluate what comes next.
Strategic planning helps business owners better understand where their company stands today, where they want it to be in the future, and what steps may be needed to get there. Through a comprehensive review of the business, including operations, profitability, market position, growth opportunities, and long-term ownership goals, Legacy Energy Consulting helps identify opportunities, challenges, and practical paths forward.
Whether you're preparing for retirement, considering succession planning, exploring growth opportunities, evaluating an acquisition, or planning for a future sale, strategic planning provides a clearer understanding of your options and a roadmap designed to help align future decisions with your goals, priorities, and vision for the future.
Business Valuations
Understanding the value of your business is often the first step toward understanding your options. One of the most common conversations Legacy Energy Consulting has with business owners starts with a simple question: "What is my business worth?" The answer often surprises them.
A professional valuation begins with a comprehensive review of the business, including operational performance, financial information, market activity, industry trends, and the factors that influence value within today's propane market. Legacy Energy Consulting uses this information to develop a detailed valuation range while helping owners understand the key drivers impacting their business's value.
Whether you're considering growth opportunities, succession planning, retirement, ownership transitions, financing, or a future sale, a valuation provides more than a number. It provides clarity, context, and insight that can help guide important decisions about the future of your business.
What to Expect When Working With Legacy Energy Consulting
Every propane business owner's situation is different, but the process always begins with understanding your goals, priorities, and what you're hoping to accomplish. Whether you're seeking strategic planning guidance, a business valuation, or exploring a future sale, Legacy Energy Consulting provides personalized support tailored to your specific needs.
Business Sales
Selling a propane business begins with a confidential conversation and business review. Legacy Energy Consulting then guides valuation, confidential marketing, buyer outreach, negotiations, due diligence, and closing while maintaining confidentiality throughout the process.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning begins with understanding where your business stands today and where you'd like it to be in the future. Through a comprehensive review of your business and goals, Legacy Energy Consulting helps identify opportunities, challenges, and potential paths forward.
Business Valuations
A business valuation helps owners better understand what their company may be worth in today’s propane market. Through a review of financial performance, operations, market activity, and key value drivers, Legacy Energy Consulting provides clarity to support future planning, growth, succession, or a potential sale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding the Market Value of Your Propane Company
Understanding the value of your propane business can play an important role in planning for the future, whether you're considering growth opportunities, succession planning, or a potential sale.
In one recent example, a propane business owner contacted Legacy Energy Consulting for a professional valuation while evaluating the purchase of a local competitor. The valuation was needed for financing purposes, but the results revealed something unexpected.
After reviewing the valuation, the owner realized his company's market value was significantly higher than anticipated. Rather than pursuing an acquisition, he began exploring the possibility of selling his business. Following additional discussions and planning, Legacy Energy Consulting guided the owner through the sale process and successfully completed the transaction approximately six months later at a value consistent with the original valuation.
The experience serves as an important reminder that many business owners don't fully understand what their company may be worth. A professional valuation can provide clarity, uncover opportunities, and help owners make more informed decisions about the future.
How To Determine When It's Time To Sell: Dustin’s Journey
Dustin Shafer founded Phelan Gas Company in 2010, building it from a single truck and a small bulk plant into a successful propane delivery business serving more than 3,500 customers throughout Southern California.
As the company matured, growth opportunities became more limited without pursuing acquisitions. While evaluating the possibility of purchasing a local competitor, Dustin engaged Legacy Energy Consulting to complete an independent business valuation and better understand his options. The results were eye-opening. The valuation revealed a market value significantly higher than expected, prompting a different question: Rather than investing additional capital into growth through acquisition, was it the right time to consider selling?
Several factors ultimately influenced the decision. Rising operating costs, increasing insurance expenses, regulatory challenges, and litigation pressures created a changing business environment. When weighed against the opportunity to sell at a strong valuation, pursuing a sale became the most strategic path forward. Legacy Energy Consulting managed the entire process, from confidential marketing and buyer outreach to negotiations, due diligence, and closing. Approximately nine months later, the transaction was successfully completed.
Today, Dustin serves as Director of Business Development at Legacy Energy Consulting, helping propane business owners navigate valuations, growth strategies, and business transitions. Looking back, he credits the valuation process with providing the clarity needed to make an informed decision about the future. His experience serves as an important reminder that understanding the value of a business is often the first step toward understanding the options available.
