What I Learned Selling a ~40 Year old Family Business via SBA

In late 2022 I stepped in to help my dad find his exit. No website. No ads. All referrals. I grew up around it my whole life — helped out here and there, understood the work at a surface level. But it wasn't until I actually stepped in that I got into the numbers. Built a proforma, studied the margins, and realized the bones of the business were stronger than they looked from the outside. Once I had full visibility I knew exactly what I was working with — and what it could become. Sold it via SBA in early###-###-#### Here's the light version of everything — ask me anything you want to go deeper on. ─── THE BUSINESS ─── → Wood fencing only. Repairs, new installs, gates, custom, horizontal. Never deviated from the niche. → 4–5x top line. 3–4x EBITDA. → Crew of 5–7. Top guy made home ~$80k. Lowest ~$55k. 25–30 hrs on site, paid full time. Almost every Friday off. → Built my own website from scratch — ranked #1 in our service area. Stopped running ads entirely by year 3. → Went from all referral to landing new home builder contracts. → Sourced new lumber and hardware suppliers after dad's 35-year supplier closed post-Covid, came out with better pricing and free on-site delivery. → Never lost money on a job. Priced jobs to make money and not stay busy. Got good at pricing repairs correctly — sometimes better margins than a full install. Competitors wouldn't touch repairs. We did. ─── THE OPERATIONS ─── → I was on every job, did most estimates, handled emails. No task beneath me. → Scaled up to 8 people — scaled back down. Smaller and tighter won. → Busy season: 60–80 hrs/week. Slow season: 30–40. We protected weekends. → Did in-house financials. Honest mistake — caused issues in due diligence. ─── THE SALE ─── → Start to finish: roughly a year. → Selling a business is a 5–10 hr/week job on top of still running it. → Get a broker. Non-negotiable. Find one who's a coach, not just a closer. → Never again will I let the seller's broker represent the buyer. Conflict of interest — full stop. → SBA pre-approval isn't as hard as people think. Some lenders require the RMO to personally guarantee the loan — our buyer obtained their own license so we didn't have to go that route, but know what you're agreeing to. → The buyer's urgency is sometimes the lender's urgency. Know the difference. → Ask for more than feels right. Counter offers are coming regardless. → Seller note: avg ~6–8% at the time. Negotiable vs non-negotiable has serious tax implications — know the difference before you sign. We didn't end up needing one but understand it before you're at the table. → Don't forget depreciation recapture on the sale. Talk to your CPA before close, not after. → Non-compete is going to happen regardless. Plan for it. → Two weeks of buyer training is not enough — as a buyer, push for more. We did two weeks and questions were still coming in well after close. → Check your insurance and workers comp carefully after close — extra billing happens more than you'd think. → Brokers can get kickbacks from lenders (~1% of loan amount). Know how everyone in the deal is getting paid. → California licensing takes way longer than anyone tells you. It will delay your close. → Do a deep dive into your buyer before you're too far in. A pending asset split from a divorce can slow or kill a deal — even if the divorce itself is finalized, the asset division may not be. → If you're a buyer: just because you think you're smarter than the person who ran it for decades doesn't mean you are. As my old coach Kyle Whittingham says — Respect the process — once you know it you can then slowly change what needs to change to fit you. Don't tear it down during training just because it looks old school and doesn't fit your new tech stack correctly. It worked for 40 years for a reason. ─── THE SURPRISES ─── → FTB tried to apply sales tax on all jobs after the sale — even though we did not purchase wholesale. Be prepared to defend yourself. → County came after us for property taxes on sold assets based on industry averages — not actual numbers. They were guessing. Be ready to fight it since you're guilty until proven innocent. → Make sure your 571-L form is filled out correctly. Motor vehicles should NOT be included regardless of what your broker tells you. → Buyers aren't always honest. And sometimes they genuinely have no idea what they're walking into. → Selling a business is not as profitable as having the business — regardless of the sale price. The income, the write-offs, the flexibility — you're trading all of it for a check. Make sure the number reflects that. → It's always bittersweet. Doesn't matter how ready you are. Happy to answer any questions. I'm an open book.