The most forlorn of the consolidators came out of the starting blocks with a game plan to will itself into a brand name. They bought some fine companies that had painstakingly built solid reputations in their markets over many years. Suddenly they had a meaningless new logo slapped on their trucks and corporate foolishness shoved down their throats. As a result, American Residential Services (ARS) is hanging on by its fingernails as a viable business entity.

Other roll-up consolidators mostly have gone in the opposite direction. Talk to those devoured and you’re likely to hear them say that they rarely interact with corporate hq. Branch managers fill out a few forms and chat on the phone from time to time with their overseers, but not much has changed from the days as independent companies, except ownership-and, in some cases, employees feeling like part of a family.