with North Carolina hurricane shutter business · North Carolina hurricane shutter business
LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Acquisitions Anonymous.
A coastal shutter installer can be attractive because hurricane protection is recurring, practical, and tied to real homeowner risk rather than fad demand.
A $6.585M asking price on about $1.29M EBITDA implies roughly 5x EBITDA, which may be rich for an SBA-style buyer if working capital, WIP, and warranty exposure are messy.
WIP is a major diligence point in construction-adjacent deals because the seller may be trying to capture both sunk cost and profit on unfinished jobs at closing.
Seasonality matters here: business likely spikes around storm seasons and after damage events, then falls into lulls, so run-rate financials can overstate steady-state capacity.
Warranty risk is not just a small repair issue; a bad install can create large property-damage exposure and insurance needs.
The moat may come more from brand, local reputation, and dealer/manufacturer relationships than from a hard technical license.
The most interesting growth path is geographic expansion along the coast and more aggressive local marketing, but service radius and estimator travel time can quickly become bottlenecks.
The listing asked $6,585,000 for a business with about $1.374M of SDE and about $1.29M of EBITDA.
The hosts read the BizBuySell teaser and compared the asking price to the stated earnings metrics.
The business reportedly did just over $5M in revenue and existed since 2003, making it roughly 22 years old.
The hosts used the teaser to judge durability and operating history.
The teaser said the company had more than $1M of work in progress that was not included in the sale price.
This became the main working-capital and closing-structure issue in the discussion.
The business had 17 employees and $114,750 of FF&E included in the asking price.
The hosts used the staffing and asset-light profile to think through operational complexity.
The teaser said the company had installed over 30 miles of roll shutters over its history.
The hosts treated this as evidence of longevity, even while noting it was a marketing-style claim.
Bill referenced hurricane shutters being rated to withstand a bowling ball at over 100 miles per hour.
He used the rating to explain the product’s protective value and why homeowners pay for it.
Separate unfinished work from true working capital before agreeing to a price.
Why: The seller may want to recover both sunk cost and profit on WIP, and that can distort the deal if left vague.
Model seasonality against a normal year, not just the latest run-rate.
Why: Hurricane and retrofit demand can be lumpy, so recent monthly revenue may not reflect sustainable throughput.
Diligence warranty and liability coverage early, not after LOI.
Why: A failed installation can create property-damage claims large enough to matter at enterprise value levels like this.
Test whether the business can grow beyond the current service radius before underwriting expansion.
Why: Estimator travel time and installation logistics can become the real bottleneck if the territory expands.
Check whether local marketing can be systematized with postcards, property records, and referral programs.
Why: The hosts saw this as a plausible way for a younger operator to build share in coastal towns.
Push for clarity on manufacturer or dealer dependencies.
Why: If the business relies on a small number of shutter brands or exclusive relationships, losing them would hurt the moat.
Mills described a past deal where the seller refused to share customer names or job history because the work involved sensitive sites like the FBI office in New York and the White House. The awkwardness of realizing the business was tied to highly secure buildings showed how concentration and confidentiality can collide in diligence.
Lesson: Even when a seller cannot disclose customer names, the buyer should infer what kind of concentration and sensitivity risk may be hiding behind the secrecy.
Bill said he personally looked at hurricane protection for his coastal house and ultimately chose hurricane-proof glass instead of roll-down shutters. That comparison helped the hosts distinguish between premium and budget customer segments in the market.
Lesson: A good installer can sell multiple product tiers, but not every coastal homeowner wants the same protection solution.