The numbers
As stated by the listing on September 1, 2026.
- Asking price
- $298,900
- SDE
- $236,380
- Gross revenue
- $1,010,600
- Multiple
- 1.26x
- Established
- 2022
- Employees
- 5
Why we like it
A couch and a stack of drywall cost different amounts to haul away, and a company that bills by the pound rather than by how full the truck looks is pricing itself off the same number the landfill uses to charge the hauler: transfer stations weigh a load in and weigh it out, and tipping fees are assessed on that difference. Pay-by-weight billing passes that variable cost straight to the customer instead of arguing over what counts as "half a truck," which is where most flat-rate junk removal quotes get contested. This Nashville company runs that model with five employees, working the debris that clears out of homes being sold, renovated, downsized, or handed back to a landlord between tenants, plus whatever a contractor does not want sitting on a job site. Nashville has spent the last several years as one of the faster-growing metro areas in the country, and growth produces exactly the churn this business feeds on: moves, remodels, estate cleanouts, and turnovers, none of them dependent on any single client returning. Start with the trucks, since disposal cost is the one expense the owner does not set: how many the fleet has, their weight and age, and how the landfill account gets billed. The way this grows is routing rather than selling: the same crew earns more by packing tighter, closer stops into a day than by chasing bigger single jobs.
Licensing is unclear from the listing
Junk hauling itself is not a licensed trade the way plumbing or contracting is, so there is no professional credential the buyer personally must hold to run the business. Two things still need checking: whether any of the trucks exceed the roughly 26,001-pound gross vehicle weight threshold that would require a driver, owner included, to hold a commercial driver's license, and whether Davidson County requires a solid waste hauler permit or a specific local business license to operate. Neither is confirmed by the listing, and a personal CDL requirement would matter a lot to a buyer who plans to drive.
What worries us
- Owner and crew dependenceThe listing does not say whether the owner still drives a route or handles sales and customer calls personally. With only five employees there is little bench depth, so losing a key driver or the owner walking away at close can shrink capacity immediately.
- Fleet condition and replacement costTrucks and trailers are the core asset of this business and neither their age, mileage, nor condition is disclosed. A hauling truck nearing the end of its life is a five or six figure replacement that would land squarely on the new owner.
- Lead generation dependenceNothing in the listing indicates what share of jobs are repeat or referral work versus one-time calls bought through paid search or lead sites. If most volume is one-off residential jobs, revenue rides on continuous marketing spend rather than sticky accounts.
The callSuits a hands-on buyer willing to drive a route and run a small crew day to day, not someone seeking a passive, phone-only ownership role.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $282,807 |
| Seller standby note | $15,711 |
| Buyer cash at close | $15,712 |
| Total sources | $314,230 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $298,900 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $8,967 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $6,363 |
| Total project | $314,230 |
- Monthly payment
- $3,621
- Annual debt service
- $43,450
- DSCR
- 2.35xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($31,423 against $31,423 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.
- How many trucks and trailers are in the fleet, what are their GVWR ratings, ages and mileage, and are they owned outright or still being financed or leased?
- How is disposal billed: a flat rate per load at the transfer station or metered off a scale ticket, and what share of gross revenue went to tipping and dump fees last year?
- What share of jobs come from repeat or referral relationships (property managers, real estate agents, estate attorneys) versus one-time leads bought through Google Ads, HomeAdvisor or Angi, and what is the current monthly marketing spend?
- Does the owner currently drive a route or work jobs personally, and if so, what is the plan for replacing that labor after the sale?
- Does the business hold any Davidson County solid waste hauler permit or local business license, and does that transfer to a new owner or require a fresh application?
- 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 2.35x, 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
- Old National Bank
10 loans in TNmedian $333,300median rate 8.00%~20 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 1, 2026. 3 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.
- Flat-rate or volume-based junk removal pricing (charging by how full a truck looks) is a common source of pricing disputes in the industry, which pay-by-weight billing avoids.
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 1, 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.