The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 27, 2026.
- Asking price
- $2,750,000
- SDE
- $700,433
- Gross revenue
- $2,677,795
- Multiple
- 3.93x
- Established
- 2000
- Employees
- 3
Why we like it
A storefront rebrand, a new franchise buildout, or a fleet of trucks getting wrapped is capital spending a business does once and then lives with for years, but the vinyl and inks that make up that signage do not last: UV exposure fades outdoor graphics on a cycle measured in a few years, not decades, so the replacement call eventually comes whether or not the customer changes anything else about the business. That churn, layered on top of new-business work, is what keeps a large format shop's presses and fabrication floor busy. This shop has run both large format printing and signage fabrication out of Monmouth County since 2000, with three employees covering the mix of production and installation. Start with the split between one-off jobs, grand openings, rebrands, trade show graphics, and accounts that reorder on a cycle, property managers, franchise groups, fleets, because a shop living job to job needs a constantly refilled pipeline while one with repeat accounts has a floor under its revenue. Also worth tracing is how much of the output goes out the door as finished retail signage versus wholesale printing done for other sign companies or ad agencies, since trade work pays less per job but fills press time between retail jobs and can amount to a steadier second business sitting inside the first.
You probably need a licence to run this
New Jersey does not require the owner of a print and sign shop to personally hold a license to run the business. Illuminated signage work (channel letters, neon, LED) typically needs a licensed electrician for the final hookup and a separate electrical permit, which many shops subcontract rather than staff in-house. Municipal sign permits are usually pulled per job and don't require a personal credential. Worth confirming whether this shop does electrical hookups itself or sends that work out.
What worries us
- Thin crew for a business this sizeWith just three employees, sales relationships, estimating, and production likely run close to the owner. Confirm what the owner actually does day to day and whether anyone on staff could carry a job from quote to install without them.
- Signage work is largely project basedMuch of large format and fabrication work ties to a single event, an opening, a rebrand, a new fleet, rather than a recurring contract, so revenue can be lumpy without a base of repeat accounts. The backlog on hand today says more about the next two quarters than the trailing twelve months of stated revenue.
- Production equipment wears outLarge format printers, laminators, and any CNC or routing equipment have finite duty cycles and are expensive to replace. Get the age and service history on the core machines before assuming the cash flow keeps paying for itself without a large capital outlay coming due.
The callSuits a buyer who wants to run a small production shop and own the sales relationships personally, not a passive investor expecting three employees to run it alone.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $2,613,146 |
| Seller standby note | $145,174 |
| Buyer cash at close | $145,175 |
| Total sources | $2,903,495 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $2,750,000 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $82,500 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $70,995 |
| Total project | $2,903,495 |
- Monthly payment
- $33,457
- Annual debt service
- $401,482
- DSCR
- 1.41xBANKABLE
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($290,349 against $290,349 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 revenue comes from repeat accounts (property managers, franchise groups, fleets) versus one-time jobs, and what's the backlog on the books right now?
- What is the age, service history, and replacement cost of the large format printers, laminators, and any CNC or routing equipment used for fabrication?
- Does the shop handle illuminated or electrical signage installs in-house, or is that subcontracted to a licensed electrician?
- What is the owner's day-to-day role, sales, estimating, production, or installation, and could any of the three staff keep a job moving quote-to-install without the owner?
- How much of the work is retail signage sold to end customers versus wholesale or trade printing done for other sign shops and agencies?
- 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 New Jersey 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 1.41x, 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 New Jersey acquisition lenders whose typical deal size fits this one.
- Live Oak Banking Company
41 loans in NJmedian $1,100,000median rate 8.95%~20 days to first disbursement
- Unity Bank
9 loans in NJmedian $1,300,000median rate 9.50%
Loan counts and medians are that lender’s change-of-ownership loans in New Jersey, 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.
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 27, 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.