The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 8, 2026.
- Asking price
- $469,999
- SDE
- $379,377
- Gross revenue
- $2,073,101
- Multiple
- 1.24x
- Established
- 2003
- Employees
- 5
Why we like it
A furnace does not fail on a schedule that suits anyone, and in the Lehigh Valley it fails in two different directions across the year: a cracked heat exchanger in a January cold snap is a same-day call, and a dead compressor in a July heat wave is another. That two-season demand curve is part of what separates HVAC from most home trades, since a plumber's call volume does not swing the same way every six months. Federal rules add a second constraint on top of the weather: anyone who opens a system charged with refrigerant needs an EPA Section 608 card, so a shop cannot simply throw an unlicensed hire at a busy week, headcount only grows as fast as it can get people certified. This Allentown company, founded in 2003, has run residential heating and cooling maintenance and repair for 23 years with a crew of five, which for a shop this size suggests a route built on repeat customers rather than one-off jobs won cold. The number worth finding before anything else is how much of revenue sits on standing maintenance agreements versus emergency repair and installation, because a contract base is what fills the slow shoulder months and tells a technician where to drive before the phone even rings. Growth from here likely comes from two directions at once: selling more of those agreements to smooth the calendar, or catching bigger replacement tickets as the area's housing stock ages past the point where repair still makes sense.
You probably need a licence to run this
No individual technician has to be named to own the business, but the trade itself is gated at the individual level: any employee who opens a system charged with refrigerant must hold a federal EPA Section 608 certification, so the business needs at least one certified tech on staff at all times, and the owner does not have to hold it personally if they are not doing field work themselves. Separately, Pennsylvania has no statewide HVAC contractor license, but Allentown and Lehigh County may have their own contractor registration or permitting rules, and the seller's own credentials or business registration likely do not transfer automatically. Confirm with the broker whether the seller holds any local license or registration and how a buyer establishes their own before closing.
What worries us
- Technician dependenceWith only 5 employees and refrigerant work legally gated behind an EPA Section 608 certification, losing even one or two field technicians is a licensing bottleneck as much as a staffing gap, and replacements take longer to find and certify than in most trades.
- Seasonal cash flowHeating and cooling failures cluster around winter cold snaps and summer heat waves, so monthly cash flow is worth checking directly rather than assuming the annual SDE figure lands evenly across the year.
- Owner dependence after 23 yearsA business this age often carries relationships, referral sources, and vendor terms that run personally through the seller, so it is worth establishing how much of the customer base and supplier pricing is tied to the owner rather than the company name.
The callSuits a hands-on operator ready to manage licensed technicians and dispatch daily, not a passive investor expecting five employees to run unsupervised.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $444,695 |
| Seller standby note | $24,705 |
| Buyer cash at close | $24,705 |
| Total sources | $494,105 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $469,999 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $14,100 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $10,006 |
| Total project | $494,105 |
- Monthly payment
- $5,694
- Annual debt service
- $68,323
- DSCR
- 3.59xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($49,410 against $49,410 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.25%
- 10-year term, fully amortizing
- Injection split half cash, half seller standby note
How we would go about buying it
The order matters. Every step below is free until the last one, and each is a chance to walk away before it costs you anything.
- 1
Call the broker, not the bank
The listing is brokered, so the broker is the gate. Ask for the CIM and the last three years of tax returns, and expect to sign an NDA first. Do this before you talk to a lender: no lender will size a loan without the numbers, and the broker will not release them to a lender you have not engaged.
Open the listing - 2
Ask these before you spend anything
Specific to this business, from our read of the listing. The answers decide whether the numbers above survive contact.
- What share of the stated $2,073,101 in revenue comes from recurring maintenance agreements versus one-time repair and replacement calls, and how many active maintenance contracts are currently on the books?
- How many of the 5 employees are EPA Section 608 certified field technicians who can legally handle refrigerant, versus office or sales staff, and how quickly could that certified headcount be replaced if someone leaves?
- What is the age and condition of the service vehicle fleet and tools, and is any of it leased or financed in a way that sits outside the reported SDE add-backs?
- Does the seller hold manufacturer dealer status, installation financing partnerships, or supplier rebate programs, and do those transfer to a new owner or need to be requalified from scratch?
- What licensing, registration, or permitting does the City of Allentown or Lehigh County require of HVAC contractors, and does the seller's credential transfer or would the buyer need to obtain their own?
- 3
Take it to lenders who do this size
Talk to more than one. Rate is the least of it: the lender who has done fifty of these in Pennsylvania will close, and the one who has done two will waste your quarter. Below are the lenders whose typical deal size actually fits this one.
- 4
Structure the offer around the coverage
Our structure clears the floor at 3.59x, and a lender will run its own version with its own add-backs. If the earnings come back lower than stated, the price has to come down or the seller note has to grow. Model both before you make an offer.
Model it yourself
Who we would call
Active Pennsylvania acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Huntington National Bank
49 loans in PAmedian $200,000median rate 9.25%~32 days to first disbursement
- Live Oak Banking Company
44 loans in PAmedian $712,500median rate 9.00%~20 days to first disbursement
- Beacon Bank and Trust
28 loans in PAmedian $1,267,500median rate 9.50%~25 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in Pennsylvania, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3. Funding speed is the lender’s national median from approval to first disbursement. Names link to our data profile for each lender.
The fine print
The statements this write-up makes about the trade and its rules, as opposed to the figures, were checked against public sources on September 7, 2026. 4 claims were checked.
Run your own numbers
The deal analyzer models price, seller note, equity injection, and DSCR under current SBA terms, with every assumption adjustable.
Open the deal analyzerListing facts as stated by the listing on September 8, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of September 28, 2026. Lender shortlist from the SBA 7(a) FOIA file, FY2025 to FY2026 Q3, as of June 30, 2026. Methodology. See an error? Email us and we will correct it.