John Mackey of The Mackey Group is back for his yearly catch-up with Drew. They get into the second tier of platforms forming under the mega platforms, what inning M&A is in, how newer contractors build their tech stack, the labor gap, and the data center buildout.
John Mackey, CEO of The Mackey Group, is back for his yearly state-of-the-industry catch-up with Drew. John advises fire and life safety owners and PE-backed platforms on M&A and growth, and his Mackey Report pulls industry research and investor-conference analysis into one set of benchmarks for what good looks like in this business.
The M&A story has a new layer. The platforms that were acquiring five years ago are mega platforms now, and a second tier of companies founded eight to twelve years ago is on the same path, with many preparing for an exit in the next 18 to 36 months. By John's count about 85 percent of the market is always either growing or getting ready for a transaction. One analyst he cites in the report asks what inning M&A is in, and John puts it in the middle of the game.
Newer contractors are building differently. They pick their field service software and ERP first and grow service before installation, the reverse of the playbook from six or seven years ago. That opens up the tech stack. QuickBooks runs out of room once you need job costing, the big platforms are struggling to choose between NetSuite and SAP, and John's tech stack guide comes down to one rule: understand your workflows and let them drive the software. Drew adds the piece many field service tools don't fully cover, inspection and compliance, and makes the case for a good implementation partner.
The back half turns to labor. Technicians with 40 years or more in the field are retiring, and John sees AI shortening how long it takes a new tech to learn the job, as long as they still get hands-on time pulling wire and hanging pipe. He came back from NFPA without seeing a new widget, while hazards like storage at 50 feet, lithium-ion batteries, and data centers keep growing. CEOs at the bigger platforms tell him that without data centers they wouldn't have any construction right now, and he counts 140 data center permits pulled in Texas alone. They wrap with a pitch for the trades and the fall show schedule.
The Mackey Group: https://mackeygroupllc.com
The Mackey Report: https://mackeygroupllc.com/the-mackey-report
Inspect Point: https://www.inspectpoint.com
Timestamps
0:00 Cold open
0:18 Intro: episode 99 with John Mackey
2:16 John's advisory work doubled after NFPA
3:33 Mega platforms and the second tier forming under them
4:21 How much M&A runway is left, and what inning we're in
5:58 New contractors start with service and technology
7:09 ERP, the tech stack, and letting your workflows lead
11:32 Where inspection and compliance fit
12:31 Inside the Mackey Report
14:38 The labor gap and AI on the jobsite
17:39 AI in technician onboarding, and why field time still matters
19:51 What was missing from the OEMs at NFPA
22:02 Data centers, pharma, and 140 permits in Texas
26:17 Why it's a good time to get into the trades
27:22 Fall shows and the road to episode 100
31:17 Outro