HG HomeClub

Matt Malone Named Among HG HomeClub’s 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living

By HG HomeClub October 4, 2026 13 min read

The Founder and Executive Chairman of Groundworks is recognized for building North America’s leading foundation repair and water management company through more than 47 acquisitions, for a $31 million employee dividend that made nearly 5,000 frontline tradespeople into equity owners, and for a public partnership with Mike Rowe built on turning skilled trades work into a genuine ownership stake rather than just a paycheck.

HG HomeClub has named Matt Malone, Founder and Executive Chairman of Groundworks and Founder of Succession Capital Partners, LLC, to its list of the 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living.

The list, published by HG HomeClub, recognizes 25 leaders who are shaping these three industries in the right way. It spans manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades. It is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical ranking, because the leaders on it exercise influence in fundamentally different ways, and comparing a keynote stage to a distribution network, or a franchise system to a product platform, would flatten what makes each of them consequential.

Malone earns his place on it as the builder of the largest platform of its kind in North America, and as an unusually vocal advocate for sharing the proceeds of that growth with the people who did the digging. He founded Groundworks in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 2016, and the company has since grown into North America’s largest and fastest-growing foundation repair and water management solutions company, with more than 47 acquisitions, approximately 7,000 employees and over 80 offices across the U.S. and Canada, having helped protect and repair the homes of over one million homeowners.

Those are the numbers. The philosophy is in a single line Malone has repeated as the company scaled: if you expect someone to act like an owner, you need to make them one.

Two Companies Built and Sold Before Groundworks Ever Existed

Malone holds a BA in Economics from Hampden-Sydney College and an MPhil in Finance from the University of Glasgow, and built two other companies before Groundworks. He founded PetroChem Recovery Services, Inc. in 1982, a full-service environmental company serving the Mid-Atlantic region, before selling it in 2014 to focus on Shipyard Staffing, a specialty marine staffing firm providing skilled trade personnel to the ship repair and ship construction industry, which he sold in November 2020 to concentrate fully on Groundworks.

A Second Business Built for Family Business Owners

Alongside Groundworks, Malone is Founder and Managing Partner of Succession Capital Partners, a specialty investment firm founded in 2009 focused on partnering with family-owned, blue-collar business owners seeking to transition out of their businesses while protecting their employees and business legacy, a mission that runs in parallel with the ownership philosophy he later built into Groundworks itself.

From 1,450 Employees to a National Platform

Groundworks’ scale-up happened in distinct, capital-backed stages. In January 2020, Cortec Group completed a growth recapitalization of Groundworks in partnership with Malone and his management team, at a point when the company employed over 1,450 dedicated employees. “In late 2019, we began a search for the best partner to assist me in accelerating our mission of evolving the foundation services industry,” Malone said of the decision. Three years later, in February 2023, KKR announced a significant new investment in Groundworks as part of a strategic partnership, with Cortec remaining a shareholder and board member, at which point the company had grown to more than 4,000 employees operating in 33 states. “The strategic partnership enables Groundworks to further invest in our predominantly blue-collar workforce with equity-sharing programs that will allow every colleague to participate in the success they help to create,” Malone said at the time, previewing the program that would arrive later that year.

Turning Every Employee Into an Owner

In 2023, Malone made what Groundworks itself calls a decision never before made in the home services industry: extending equity ownership to every single employee in the company. “If you expect someone to act like an Owner, you need to make them one,” Malone has said of the Groundworks Employee Ownership Program, or EOP, which enrolls all employees after six months of consecutive employment, with no personal investment required.

That commitment produced a tangible payout in February 2026, when Groundworks distributed its first-ever employee dividend, approximately $31 million paid directly to nearly 5,000 employee-owners, with payouts ranging from two to four weeks of pay based on tenure, a milestone the company paired with the disclosure that it had delivered more than 4,000 promotions over its 10-year history. “Great companies are only built by great people. This dividend was earned by our great employees, people who show up every day with grit and take responsibility for driving our company’s success,” Malone said of the payout. “Ownership at Groundworks is real, and today that ownership will benefit every employee.”

Why Mike Rowe Calls Him a Friend, Not Just a Client

Groundworks’ employee-ownership story caught the attention of Mike Rowe, the former host of Dirty Jobs and a prominent advocate for skilled trades careers, who has partnered publicly with the company for the past two years. “I want to offer a quick congratulations to my friend Matt Malone, who put his money where his mouth is, as I knew he would,” Rowe wrote following the $31 million dividend announcement. “I took an interest in this company a few years ago, when I learned that Matt had implemented a program that turned all of their workers into owners, giving the frontline workers a chance to participate in whatever success the company might enjoy.” Rowe has also credited himself with encouraging Groundworks to build an unscripted advertising campaign featuring its own employees, an idea he pitched as looking “like an episode of Dirty Jobs”, a campaign the company subsequently produced.

A Pledge to Create 5,000 Skilled Trades Careers

Building on the dividend, in March 2026 Groundworks committed to creating 5,000 new skilled trades jobs over five years, the largest workforce expansion in company history, with nearly 1,000 of those positions designated as leadership roles.

The Awards Stack Up Behind the Growth

The recognition has followed the growth closely. In July 2023, Ernst & Young named Malone an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Mid-Atlantic Award winner, one of the most prestigious competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. “The honor of being named an Entrepreneur of the Year Mid-Atlantic Award winner is the result of a team effort and should be shared by the entire company,” Malone said of the honor. In May 2026, Groundworks earned a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Growth from the American Business Awards, citing 15 strategic acquisitions and 11 new office openings in the award period, including the company’s first international expansion into Canada, 53 percent workforce growth, and an industry-leading Net Promoter Score of 82.4. “This award is a testament to our Team. Only great people build great companies,” Malone said of the Stevie. “We’ve had unique growth, but most importantly, we’ve made sure that growth is shared with the people that drive it.” Groundworks has also been named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list nine times.

Handing Off the CEO Title, Staying on as Executive Chairman

As Groundworks scaled, Malone transitioned from Founder and CEO to Founder and Executive Chairman, with Doug Sanders now serving as Chief Executive Officer overseeing day-to-day operations. Malone has also taken on an additional role beyond Groundworks, joining KKR, the firm’s own strategic investment partner, as an Executive Advisor.

Why Does Matt Malone Belong Among the 25 Most Influential Leaders in These Industries?

Influence in these industries takes several forms. Some leaders influence through a keynote stage or a book. Some through a franchise system that creates business owners. Some through a distribution network, a software platform, or the price of a pallet.

Matt Malone influences through the scale of what he built and through a genuinely uncommon decision about who gets to share in it. He took Groundworks from a regional foundation repair operator to North America’s largest platform of its kind through more than 47 acquisitions and two successive private equity partnerships, then extended real equity ownership to every employee in the company, resulting in a $31 million dividend paid directly to nearly 5,000 tradespeople. Doing that publicly, alongside one of the most recognized advocates for skilled trades work in the country, is exactly the kind of influence this list was created to recognize.

About HG HomeClub

HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services and outdoor living industries. Created to champion media back to its original purpose of informed transparency, HG HomeClub curates the top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations across the industry and presents them in one consolidated, easily consumable destination, helping both homeowners and professionals make better-informed decisions. More information is available at hghomeclub.com.

About Groundworks

Groundworks, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is North America’s leading and fastest-growing foundation repair and water management solutions company, offering foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space repair and encapsulation, plumbing, gutter installation and concrete lifting services through a network of locally respected brands. The company operates more than 80 offices across the U.S. and Canada with approximately 7,000 employees, has helped over one million homeowners, and is backed by KKR and Cortec Group. Groundworks is led by Founder and Executive Chairman Matt Malone and CEO Doug Sanders. More information is available at groundworks.com.

The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living

Presented alphabetically. There is no numerical ranking; each leader is recognized for influence exercised in a distinct way.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is HG HomeClub, and what is this list?

HG HomeClub is a national media platform serving the home improvement, home services, and outdoor living industries. It was created to return media to its original purpose of informed transparency, curating the industry’s top stories, headlines, rankings, videos, podcasts, webinars, events and professional recommendations in one place for both homeowners and professionals. The 25 Most Influential Leaders in Home Improvement, Home Services and Outdoor Living is one of HG HomeClub’s editorial rankings, recognizing the people shaping these industries in the right way across manufacturing, distribution, retail, technology, franchising, contracting, media, capital and the associations that convene the trades.

  1. Is the list ranked from one to 25?

No. The list is presented alphabetically and carries no numerical order. The leaders recognized exercise influence in genuinely different ways, through enterprise scale, growth, product innovation, franchising, capital, authorship, keynote stages, advocacy and media, and HG HomeClub declined to impose a hierarchy on work that is not comparable. Every leader on the list is recognized equally.

  1. Who is Matt Malone?

Matt Malone is Founder and Executive Chairman of Groundworks, North America’s leading foundation repair and water management solutions company, and Founder and Managing Partner of Succession Capital Partners, LLC. He founded Groundworks in 2016 after building and selling two earlier companies, PetroChem Recovery Services and Shipyard Staffing. He holds a BA in Economics from Hampden-Sydney College and an MPhil in Finance from the University of Glasgow.

  1. Why was Matt Malone selected for this list?

Because he built Groundworks from a regional operator into North America’s largest foundation repair and water management platform through more than 47 acquisitions and successive private equity partnerships with Cortec Group and KKR, then extended equity ownership to every employee in the company, resulting in a $31 million dividend paid to nearly 5,000 frontline employee-owners in 2026.

  1. What is the Groundworks Employee Ownership Program?

The Groundworks Employee Ownership Program, or EOP, launched in 2023, grants equity ownership to every Groundworks employee after six months of consecutive employment, with no personal investment required. In February 2026, the program produced Groundworks’ first-ever employee dividend, distributing approximately $31 million to nearly 5,000 employee-owners.

  1. How did Groundworks grow so quickly?

Groundworks grew through a combination of organic expansion and more than 47 acquisitions, backed by two successive private equity partnerships: a growth recapitalization with Cortec Group in January 2020 and a strategic investment from KKR announced in February 2023. The company has grown from roughly 1,450 employees in 2020 to approximately 7,000 employees across more than 80 offices in the U.S. and Canada today.

  1. What is Matt Malone’s connection to Mike Rowe?

Mike Rowe, the former host of Dirty Jobs and a prominent advocate for skilled trades careers, has publicly partnered with Groundworks for several years, praising Malone’s employee ownership program and helping shape an unscripted advertising campaign featuring the company’s own tradespeople. Rowe publicly congratulated Malone following the company’s 2026 employee dividend announcement.

  1. What awards has Matt Malone and Groundworks received?

Ernst & Young named Malone an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Mid-Atlantic Award winner. In May 2026, Groundworks earned a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Growth from the American Business Awards, citing 15 acquisitions, 11 new office openings including its first Canadian expansion, 53 percent workforce growth, and a Net Promoter Score of 82.4. Groundworks has also been named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list nine times.

  1. What is Matt Malone’s role at Groundworks today?

Malone transitioned from Founder and CEO to Founder and Executive Chairman of Groundworks, with Doug Sanders now serving as Chief Executive Officer overseeing day-to-day operations. Malone has also taken on a role as an Executive Advisor to KKR, the private equity firm that has partnered with Groundworks since 2023.

About HG HomeClub

HG Homeclub is the premier source for home improvement industry intelligence, covering the leaders, innovations, and strategic developments shaping the future of residential and commercial building markets. Our analysis helps industry professionals understand the forces driving transformation across the home improvement ecosystem.

This analysis reflects HG Homeclub's perspective on industry developments and is based on publicly available information. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ from expectations.

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