The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 25, 2026.
- Asking price
- $640,000
- SDE
- $300,000
- Gross revenue
- $400,000
- Multiple
- 2.13x
- Established
- 2016
- Employees
- 1
Why we like it
Grass struggles against Middle Tennessee's clay soil, humid summers, and shade from mature trees, so homeowners tired of watering, mowing, and reseeding increasingly replace the lawn instead of fighting it. Synthetic turf is the direct answer, and it sits naturally alongside the patios, pergolas, and outdoor kitchens that fill the same backyard, which is why turf installers commonly sell the whole outdoor living package rather than turf on its own. Franklin sits inside one of the fastest-growing, highest-income suburbs of Nashville, a market where new-build subdivisions and HOA landscaping standards keep backyard renovation demand steady rather than dependent on any single referral source. This company runs on a single employee plus a working owner, which for a business this size in a physical install trade usually means subcontracted crews handle the grading, base compaction, and seaming rather than an in-house team doing it all. Start with how the reported cash flow reconciles against material and subcontractor costs, because the distance between revenue and cash flow here is unusually small for a trade that buys product and pays for labor, and the answer determines whether the owner is personally doing paid work a buyer would need to replace. The real structural question is whether this is a sales-and-project-management business riding on other people's labor, in which case what's for sale is the owner's relationships with crews, suppliers, and referral sources, not a self-running operation.
You probably need a licence to run this
Tennessee requires a state contractor's license for any construction contract of $25,000 or more, held by an individual who has passed a qualifying exam. Turf-only jobs may fall under that threshold, but outdoor living work like patios, pergolas, and kitchens often does not, so this business likely needs a licensed qualifying agent for at least some of its contracts. The listing does not say whether the owner personally holds this license or whether it would transfer. A buyer without it would need to pass the exam, hire a licensed qualifying agent, or structure contracts to stay under the threshold.
What worries us
- Owner and relationship dependenceWith only one employee, the seller appears to personally handle sales, estimating, and crew coordination, so relationships with subcontracted install crews, material suppliers, and referral sources may not transfer smoothly to a new owner.
- Margin credibility on a construction tradeReported cash flow sits unusually close to reported revenue for a business that buys turf material and pays for installation labor, so a buyer needs to see the cost breakdown before trusting that number as repeatable.
- Seasonality and backlog dependenceOutdoor install work in Middle Tennessee concentrates in warmer months and depends on a rolling backlog of signed jobs rather than recurring revenue, so a slow selling season shows up in cash flow months later.
The callSuits a buyer willing to run sales, estimating, and crew relationships personally or hold a Tennessee contractor's license, not someone seeking a passive, self-running operation.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $605,543 |
| Seller standby note | $33,641 |
| Buyer cash at close | $33,641 |
| Total sources | $672,825 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $640,000 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $19,200 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $13,625 |
| Total project | $672,825 |
- Monthly payment
- $7,753
- Annual debt service
- $93,035
- DSCR
- 1.78xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($67,282 against $67,282 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 $400,000 in revenue was installation labor performed by the single employee or the owner personally, versus work paid out to subcontracted install crews, and can we see those subcontractor invoices or 1099s?
- What is the current backlog of signed, deposited jobs not yet installed, and how is revenue recognized: at contract signing, at deposit, or at job completion?
- Does the owner or anyone on staff hold the Tennessee contractor's license required for jobs of $25,000 or more, and is that person staying on or willing to help a new owner qualify for or transfer the license?
- How do new customers find the business: repeat and referral, paid advertising, or builder and HOA relationships, and what share of revenue came from each channel?
- What warranty terms were given on completed turf and outdoor living installations, and are there any open warranty or callback obligations a buyer would inherit?
- 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 Tennessee 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 1.78x, 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 Tennessee acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Huntington National Bank
26 loans in TNmedian $339,650median rate 9.50%~32 days to first disbursement
- Live Oak Banking Company
19 loans in TNmedian $616,000median rate 9.50%~20 days to first disbursement
- Pinnacle Bank
14 loans in TNmedian $938,800median rate 9.25%~31 days to first disbursement
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in Tennessee, 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 24, 2026. 4 claims were checked.
Worth verifying yourself
These are industry statements we could not confirm against an authoritative public source. They are not contradicted by anything we found, but treat them as leads to check rather than settled facts.
- Turf installers commonly bundle turf work with outdoor living projects like patios, pergolas, and outdoor kitchens rather than selling turf alone.
- New-build subdivisions and HOA landscaping standards in fast-growing suburbs like Franklin support steady demand for backyard renovation work.
- Small install businesses of this size in the turf and hardscape trade commonly rely on subcontracted labor crews for physical installation (grading, base compaction, seaming) rather than an in-house crew doing all the work.
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 25, 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.