The numbers
As stated by the listing on August 19, 2026.
- Asking price
- $504,999
- SDE
- $360,503
- Gross revenue
- $1,335,196
- Multiple
- 1.40x
- Established
- 2022
- Employees
- 3
Why we like it
Philadelphia's housing stock is older than most American cities, block after block of rowhomes built long before modern energy codes existed, and the fix for a drafty, expensive to heat house is spray foam or blown in insulation, work that is frequently funded through weatherization assistance dollars administered at the state and local level for income qualified homes. That funding runs on program cycles and appropriations rather than on customer whim, so a company doing this work often mixes retrofit jobs tied to public programs with ongoing facility maintenance contracts for commercial property owners who need service regardless of season. This business runs both lines with only three employees against revenue near mid seven figures, which means much of the labor in any given week is either subcontracted or riding on the owner's own tools and truck rather than a bench of trained crews. Established four years ago, it has grown fast enough to raise the obvious question of what happens to the customer relationships and program eligibility the day the current owner stops showing up to jobs personally. Facility maintenance contracts are the sturdier of the two lines because they renew independent of any single house's insulation needs, so understanding how much revenue sits there versus in one off weatherization jobs tells you whether this is a business with a base or one that resets every funding cycle.
You probably need a licence to run this
Pennsylvania requires contractors performing home improvement work, including insulation retrofits over a modest dollar threshold, to register under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act. This is a registration rather than a licensing exam and it is held by the business or the individual contractor, so it does not automatically transfer with a sale. A buyer without it can typically register in their own name or keep a currently registered manager or crew lead on staff to remain compliant while learning the trade, but this needs to be confirmed directly rather than assumed.detail 2 not used
What worries us
- Thin labor base relative to revenueThree employees against stated revenue near $1.33 million implies either heavy subcontracted labor or an owner who is personally in the field most weeks, so the buyer needs to know who performs the actual installations and whether those crews or relationships are portable to a new owner.
- Exposure to public funding cyclesIf a meaningful share of the insulation work runs through weatherization assistance or similar publicly funded programs, that revenue depends on appropriations and program eligibility rather than steady private demand, and a funding gap could hit a full quarter of installs at once.
- Facility maintenance customer concentrationRecurring maintenance contracts are usually the more durable half of a business like this, but if that side rests on one or two property management relationships, losing a single account could remove a large share of the steady income the insulation work does not provide.
The callSuits a hands on buyer ready to manage crews and chase publicly funded retrofit work personally, not one looking for a passive, contract-secured income stream.
Our calculations
Our standard SBA 7(a) acquisition structure applied to the asking price. Assumptions below.
Sources
| SBA 7(a) loan | $477,810 |
| Seller standby note | $26,545 |
| Buyer cash at close | $26,545 |
| Total sources | $530,900 |
Uses
| Purchase price | $504,999 |
| Closing costs (est.) | $15,150 |
| SBA guaranty fee | $10,751 |
| Total project | $530,900 |
- Monthly payment
- $6,053
- Annual debt service
- $72,632
- DSCR
- 3.11xSTRONG
- Injection check
- Meets 10% ($53,090 against $53,090 required)
- Closing costs estimated at 3% of asking price
- Owner salary of $120,000, loaded
- Rate of Prime + 2.25% = 9.00%
- 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 portion of revenue and SDE over the past two years came from weatherization assistance or other publicly funded programs versus private commercial insulation and maintenance work?
- Of the three employees, how many are trained installers versus office or administrative staff, and how much of the field work is performed by subcontracted crews paid outside payroll?
- What are the terms and renewal cycles of the facility maintenance contracts, and are they written agreements or informal ongoing arrangements?
- What percentage of total revenue in the past two years came from the top three customers combined?
- Does the seller personally hold the Pennsylvania Home Improvement Contractor registration, and can that registration, the customer list, or the crew relationships transfer to a new owner?
- 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 3.11x, 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 August 18, 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 August 19, 2026, not independently verified. Structure, payment, DSCR, and injection figures are our own computation under the assumptions above, using the Prime rate as of August 13, 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.