⚡ TL;DR:

Your SBA lender’s guarantee protects the lender, not you. When a $1.5M acquisition loan defaults and the SBA pays the bank $937,500, most buyers assume they only owe whatever is left. They are wrong, and the math gets personal fast.

We mapped the entire default sequence start to finish (delinquency, workout, acceleration, liquidation, guaranty purchase, deficiency, Offer in Compromise, Treasury referral) plus the one pre-close stress test that shows how little revenue can disappear before the loan breaks. For a typical deal, the answer is 12.6%.

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A 24-year-old company with an exclusive HVAC maintenance and repair contract with a major national telecom carrier, covering 2,100+ cell-tower sites across Michigan. 100% of revenue runs through that single contract, with pricing locked in through 2027, national vendor status, and no marketing or customer-acquisition cost. The owner is retiring; an established field crew runs dispatch and maintenance.

Why this deal stands out: At 3.5x SDE with 100% contracted revenue and a 37% margin, the price is reasonable. A 2.0x DSCR leaves about $322K of annual cash after debt service, and pricing locked through 2027 gives a new owner a known revenue base from day one.

💡 EBIT Take: The whole thesis is one contract, so the diligence is one question: what happens beyond 2027? Get the contract, renewal history, and the carrier's vendor-approval requirements to your attorney early. Single-contract concentration is the moat and the risk at once, so price it that way.

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A distributor of inkjet coding and labeling equipment with a 100-plus-year operating history and recognized vendor status. The products are essential and non-discretionary, tied to customers' manufacturing and packaging lines, with recurring service-and-consumables revenue on top of equipment sales. Diversified customer base across multiple industries, supported by an in-house technical service operation.

Why this deal stands out: The value play of the issue: 2.0x SDE on a century-old business with a recurring consumables-and-service tail. A 3.5x DSCR, one of the strongest in the lineup, leaves about $549K of cash after debt service on a sub-$1.6M purchase.

💡 EBIT Take: Distributors live and die on vendor agreements, so confirm the distribution rights are assignable, not personal to the seller. The recurring consumables revenue is what makes this more than a box-mover, so get the split between equipment, service, and consumables and how sticky the service base is. At 2.0x, you can be wrong on a few things and still do well.

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An absentee-run specialty pharmacy with all major PBM contracts via a PSAO and direct contracts with several pharma manufacturers, grandfathered into programs new entrants cannot get. Clean licenses, fully staffed, 54,376 prescriptions filled last year. Leased 1,250 sq ft at $3,000/month; offered at $3.5M plus inventory.

Why this deal stands out: At 3.25x EBITDA the price is reasonable for a fully-staffed, absentee-run operation throwing off $1.08M. The grandfathered manufacturer contracts are a genuine moat, and a 2.2x DSCR leaves close to $583K of cash after debt service.

💡 EBIT Take: The value rests on contracts you can't recreate, so the diligence is contract assignability and PBM and manufacturer consent on a change of ownership. Revenue is withheld at listing, so anchor on gross profit and Rx count and demand full financials under NDA. Confirm a licensed pharmacist-in-charge transfers with the business.

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A Fort Wayne industrial services contractor founded over a decade ago, now a dominant regional player across four service divisions that spread revenue and lower client concentration. It serves manufacturing facilities, foundries, scrap-processing operations, and major distribution centers, with revenue topping $7M and documented 32% year-over-year growth in 2025.

Why this deal stands out: Four divisions and 32% growth make this a platform, not a single-service contractor, and at 3.4x SDE on $1.0M of earnings it's priced like a steady operator. A 2.1x DSCR supports roughly $520K of cash after debt service.

💡 EBIT Take: The 14% margin is normal for heavy-industrial services but means working-capital and job-costing discipline matter, so see how each of the four divisions contributes to the $1.0M of SDE. A diversified industrial book serving foundries and distribution centers is the kind of unglamorous, defensible business that holds up in a downturn.

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A Florida B2B company (not a restaurant) providing service, preventative maintenance, repair, refurbishment, and emergency response for commercial foodservice operators across the Southeast. Long-standing relationships with nationally recognized, multi-location customers, a scalable dispatch operation, and an experienced technician workforce in place. Demand is recurring, driven by maintenance and replacement cycles.

Why this deal stands out: Recurring maintenance and emergency-service demand gives this a stickier revenue base than a project contractor, and a technician team already in place lowers transition risk. At 3.3x SDE with a 2.2x DSCR, the deal pencils to about $303K of cash after debt service.

💡 EBIT Take: Service businesses live on their techs, so the diligence is workforce: tenure, certifications, and whether the lead technicians stay after close. Ask how much revenue is contracted preventative-maintenance versus break-fix, because the contracted share is what justifies the multiple. Sits right in the SBA sweet spot.

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A full-service facility maintenance contractor founded in 2003, serving retail, industrial, commercial, municipal, and warehouse properties across Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Las Vegas. Trusted relationships with key decision-makers and major national grocery groups among its clients. FF&E and inventory included in the asking price.

Why this deal stands out: A 23-year track record across four states with national grocery clients is a durable, relationship-driven book. At 3.8x SDE the price reflects the size and tenure, and a 1.9x DSCR still leaves around $386K of cash after debt service.

💡 EBIT Take: Multi-state facility work is margin-thin and labor-intensive, so check how concentrated revenue is among the national grocery accounts and how portable the relationships are. Included FF&E and inventory lower the post-close capital you need. Confirm whether work is contracted or job-by-job, since recurring scopes are worth more than one-offs.

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A Missouri distribution company serving a loyal customer base for more than 75 years, from a leased facility with 40 full-time and 2 part-time employees. FF&E valued at $1.2M, inventory at $2.0M, with seller support and training through the transition. Revenue runs just under $14M.

Why this deal stands out: Seventy-five years and a loyal customer base signal real staying power, and at 3.5x SDE on nearly $1.0M of earnings the price is grounded. A 2.0x DSCR leaves roughly $502K of cash after debt service, with $3.2M of FF&E and inventory in the deal.

💡 EBIT Take: A 7% margin on $14M means this is a volume business where small swings in buy-side pricing or a key vendor move the bottom line, so dig into supplier terms and customer concentration. The $2.0M of inventory is both an asset and a working-capital commitment. Confirm the relationships sit with the company, not a retiring rainmaker.

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A northern-Florida commercial services platform (with work extending into Texas) providing facility services, landscaping and grounds maintenance, and ancillary vending to commercial, industrial, property-management, and residential customers. The seller frames it as a services platform, not a landscaping company, with facility services the primary growth engine on contract-oriented, recurring revenue. 2025: about $2.52M revenue and $638K SDE.

Why this deal stands out: At 2.35x SDE this is the second-best value in the issue, and the contract-oriented facility-services revenue is more durable than seasonal landscaping. A 3.0x DSCR leaves about $426K of cash after debt service on a $1.5M purchase, which fits a smaller-check buyer.

💡 EBIT Take: The seller positions this as facility services, not landscaping, so verify that in the revenue mix: contracted facility and vending work should dominate if the multiple holds. The Texas extension is a growth angle and an operational stretch, so see how the out-of-state work is staffed. A good entry point for a first-time buyer who wants recurring commercial revenue under $1.5M.

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A non-asset 3PL brokerage founded in 2016 that moved 5,107 loads across 471 lanes in 2025. It owns no trucks or trailers: every load is sourced, priced, dispatched, and settled through vetted motor carriers, a capital-light model with no maintenance or driver-retention exposure. A buyer gets the customer book, carrier network, operating system, federal contracting track record, and brokerage team. Remote-friendly; the owner-partner stays through transition.

Why this deal stands out: Capital-light is the appeal: no rolling stock, no maintenance, and high operating leverage on $12.46M of brokered volume. The federal contracting track record adds a revenue stream most brokerages do not have, and the owner-partner staying on de-risks the handoff.

💡 EBIT Take: Freight margins are thin and the market is cyclical, so the 4x growth needs context: how much came from a few large lanes or customers that could leave with the seller. The federal book is attractive, but ask which contracts actually transfer on a change of ownership. At a 1.7x DSCR this is the tightest coverage in the issue, so stress-test against a freight-rate downturn first.

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Disclaimer: Educational content only, not investment advice. Listings from third-party sources; accuracy not guaranteed. Do your own due diligence. Consult with legal, accounting, and financing professionals before making any acquisition decisions.