Employee Ownership Strategy Allows High-Growth Utilities Contractor to Plan for the Long Term
A Conversation With Kelly Roberts, Chief Strategy Officer, Moss Utilities
Business Snapshot
Founded in 2016, Moss Utilities is a heavy civil utilities contractor for commercial, multi-family and public projects. The company specializes in underground infrastructure work, including water, sewer and storm systems.
Business Leader
Garrett Moss, President
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
How did rapid growth shape your approach to ownership and succession?
After rebounding from early financial challenges and accelerating growth beginning in 2021, Moss Utilities expanded quickly, reaching more than $165 million in revenue and 350 employees by the end of 2024. As the company grew, Garrett shifted focus from stabilizing the business to planning ownership and succession, wanting to ensure the business was structured in a way that could support long-term stability. He’s very involved in the business, so he wasn’t interested in an option that required stepping away. The goal was to find a strategy that allowed us to keep growing while also creating something sustainable for the future.
How did Enterprise help achieve your vision?
Once we decided an ESOP would be the right path, finding a bank that truly understood the structure became the biggest hurdle. ESOPs are highly leveraged, and you need a lender that is comfortable evaluating cash flow and industry-specific risk. Our longtime bank had been a strong operational partner, but it ultimately couldn’t get comfortable with the transaction. We evaluated several banks, and many either weren’t interested due to our age as a company or tried to push us toward alternatives that didn’t align with what we wanted to do. What stood out about Enterprise was that their team understood construction, understood ESOPs and was confident in the structure we were proposing.
Enterprise secured us a loan for majority ownership. Beyond the ESOP financing, Enterprise also provided a revolving loan with an accordion feature that allows us to access additional funds when needed. Utilizing this loan put a substantial amount of profit back into our business this year. The team at Enterprise has been an amazing partner, doing everything in its power to ensure our deals went smoothly. Their incredible speed and personal approach have truly set them apart.
What is the impact on your business?
The ESOP allowed us to retain majority ownership and employees now have a real stake in the business. That alignment has been meaningful, both culturally and operationally. Beyond the ESOP itself, the broader financing structure has had a direct impact on how we operate. The working capital allows us to take advantage of early-pay discounts with a key supplier and materially improve profitability.
We also put an equipment facility in place that is simple and efficient. We finance equipment as needed, make interest-only payments during the year, and then roll balances into a single note. It’s one of the cleanest equipment structures we’ve worked with and fits how we actually operate in the field. This deal helped set up Moss for the next phase, rewarding the people who help the business grow every day and creating a financial foundation that can flex as the company continues to evolve.
