Roanoke's Southern Trust Home Services Joins Service Country Platform

What happened

Southern Trust Home Services, a residential electrical, plumbing, and HVAC company based in Roanoke, Virginia, has joined Service Country, an Atlanta-based platform of home service companies backed by Grove Mountain Partners. Service Country announced the partnership on September 28, 2026, naming Southern Trust as one of five companies joining at once. The other four are GNG Plumbing in Orange Beach, Alabama; Bailey's Heating & Air in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; All Tech Plumbing, Heat & Air in Lawton, Oklahoma; and Springfield Heating and Air in Madison, Mississippi.

The announcement describes each deal as a partnership. Service Country says each company will continue operating under its existing brand and local leadership, with access to the platform's resources in marketing, operations, training, and technology. The announcement does not disclose the stake Service Country took or any financial terms.

The company

Ted Puzio founded the business in 1995 as TP Electric, a new-construction electrical contractor run out of his home. It became Southern State Electric in 1997 and shifted to residential work. Plumbing followed in 2011 and an HVAC division in 2014. In 2015 the company rebranded as Southern Trust Home Services and moved to a commercial location in Roanoke.

Southern Trust now provides residential electrical, plumbing, drain cleaning, and heating and air conditioning service, with 24/7 emergency availability, to homeowners in more than 60 cities across Southwest Virginia. Contractor Magazine named Puzio its Contractor of the Year in 2017. Contracting Business named the company a Contractor of Excellence in 2021, and it has appeared on the Inc. 5000. It has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2006.

The partner

Service Country is headquartered in Atlanta and partners with residential HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies in smaller cities and towns across the Southeast. George Easley is its chief executive. Its chairman, John B. Koch, is a partner at Grove Mountain Partners, the Atlanta private equity firm that Service Country names as its primary owner alongside its operator partners.

In September 2024, Service Country announced three partners in new markets, among them Childers Air Plumbing & Electric in Beckley, West Virginia, and Holsenback Heating and Air in Monetta, South Carolina. It now counts more than 12 partner brands across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

"These five companies are a great representation of the type of businesses we want to partner with at Service Country," Easley said of the latest group. Koch said the platform was built around the idea that "great local home services companies do not need to give up the things that made them successful."

What Grove Mountain built before Service Country

Service Country is not Grove Mountain's first platform in these trades. The firm previously brought 12 HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies together under a single platform, Unique Indoor Comfort, which was sold to Ace Hardware in April 2023. More on who buys businesses like these is on OffDeal's home and facility services industry page.

What this means for electrical, plumbing, and HVAC owners

For an owner whose business sits in a smaller market rather than a metro, this is a buyer for whom that location is the qualifying feature, not an obstacle. Service Country's sponsor has already carried one group of companies like these through to a sale to a strategic buyer. A local name built over decades is something this model says it keeps, which makes an owner's reputation part of what the platform is partnering for rather than a cost of joining it.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with electrical, plumbing, and HVAC businesses in Virginia.

Own an electrical, plumbing, and HVAC business with $5M–$100M in revenue? We’re glad to give you an honest read on what it’s worth and who would buy it — no pitch, no pressure. Get a free valuation.

Source: Service Country - https://www.servicecountry.com/blog/service-country-expands-platform-with-five-new-partner-companies/