Construction Partners buys a Georgia paver and guides to $4B-plus revenue

Two days, two announcements, one direction. On 4 November Construction Partners (NASDAQ: ROAD) said it had bought Piedmont Paving, a site development and asphalt paving contractor in Newnan, Georgia. The next day it put out preliminary fiscal 2026 results and a first look at 2027 that points past $4 billion of revenue.

The deal

Piedmont brings more than 110 employees and one hot-mix asphalt plant in Newnan, and it serves the Atlanta metro area on public and private work. It joins The Scruggs Company, CPI's Georgia platform, and stretches Scruggs along the Interstate 85 corridor between Columbus and Atlanta.

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"a rapidly growing region with strong public and private infrastructure demand" Fred J. (Jule) Smith, III, President and CEO, Construction Partners, on west-central Georgia

It is the second deal in a few weeks. In October CPI completed the purchase of S.E. Cline Construction, a site development and underground utility firm in Palm Coast, Florida. The pattern is familiar: buy a local firm with a plant, a crew and customer relationships, and plug it into an existing regional platform.

The numbers

For the year to 30 September, CPI expects revenue of $3.660 billion to $3.680 billion, up about 30% from $2.812 billion. Net income should land at $141.5 million to $142.5 million, up about 40%, and adjusted EBITDA at $520.0 million to $524.0 million, up about 23%.

Margin slipped a touch. Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected at 14.21% to 14.24%, against 15.1% the year before. Smith pointed to unusually wet weather in July across several of CPI's largest markets and rising diesel costs late in the year. He expects margins to benefit in the second half of fiscal 2027 as the company finishes lower-margin projects in its acquired backlog and replaces them with better-priced work.

For fiscal 2027, CPI is guiding to revenue of $4.175 billion to $4.275 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $585.0 million to $620.0 million, a margin of 14.0% to 14.5%. Smith said that implies about 15% growth in both revenue and adjusted EBITDA at the midpoint. Full results and a call follow on 19 November.

The bigger picture

CPI is one of the clearest examples of the roll-up model in Sunbelt road building. Each acquisition adds a plant and a crew, but the bigger prize is the people: local estimators, plant managers and superintendents who already know the DOT, the counties and the private developers in that patch. Growing from $2.8 billion to a guided $4 billion-plus in two years needs a lot of those people to stay on after the deal closes.

What it means for hiring

In our view, every bolt-on raises demand for integration-minded operations leaders who can bring new crews onto group safety, estimating and equipment systems without losing local relationships.
Asphalt plant managers, QC technicians and paving superintendents along the I-85 corridor look set to be in demand as Scruggs grows its footprint between Columbus and Atlanta.
A guided step past $4 billion of revenue suggests a busy year for hiring project managers and estimators across CPI's Southeast platforms, alongside whatever comes in through acquisitions.

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