Will your technicians stay?
In a business that runs on skilled people, the crew is part of what is being bought. How a buyer assesses it, and what makes people stay.
In a business that runs on skilled people, the buyer is purchasing the crew as much as the trucks. He knows he cannot hire his way out of a walkout, and he prices that.
What he looks at
Tenure, first. A roster where half the field staff has been there under a year says something about either pay or management, and the buyer will decide which. Then: how pay compares to the local market, how many hold the licence or certification the work requires, and whether anyone besides you can run a day.
He is also doing a quieter calculation about you. If the crew is loyal to you personally and you are leaving, that loyalty is not transferring with the assets.
What actually keeps people through a change
Pay that was already fair, so the new owner does not inherit a correction. Knowing where they stand early rather than hearing a rumour. And someone other than the departing owner they already trust.
Retention agreements for two or three key people are common and often buyer-funded, but they work better when they are not the first conversation that person has had about the sale. A bonus offered to someone who found out from the parts counter is a bonus with a problem attached.
A Straight Answer
Look at your field roster and ask which three people leaving would hurt most. That list is what the buyer is going to build too, and doing it a year early is the difference between planning for it and reacting to it.
BuiltEquity is a sell-side brokerage for trades and field-service companies. Nothing here is legal, tax or accounting advice. Your CPA and your attorney are the authority on your situation.