America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

"The wave of investment is minting a new class of millionaires across the country, one that small-business owners say is helping add more shine to working with a tool belt."

How naive. PE does not enter a market in order to make existing workers into millionaires, but to create a monopoly/monopsony where they can gouge both customers and employees, to extract maximum profit. Quite often, the goal is not even to run the market sustainably, but just to produce optical profits for a quick resale.

A few local contractors may get bought out and become millionaires, but everyone else will be impoverished.

We can probably even predict some next steps. They will recommend and lobby for various 'safety' regulations or certifications that would be difficult for smaller shops to meet, and then pressure commercial landlords, housing associations, etc to require those certifications.

Exactly. Eventually regulatory capture begins and eventually enshittification.

No one can start a new plumbing/HVAC small business. Your only option is to go work for Walmart (metaphorically speaking).

> No one can start a new plumbing/HVAC small business.

This isn't true at all, I know several people who have done it.