Acquisitions Anonymous - #1 for business buying, selling and operating - Industrial Equipment Manufacturer for Sale with Patents and Real Estate

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

In this episode the hosts uncover a highly profitable niche manufacturing business in rural Virginia that produces patented thermal spray systems for aerospace and oilfield applications, sparking excitement over its recurring revenue, engineering moat, and massive growth potential.Business Listing – https://www.bizbuysell.com/business-opportunity/high-margin-industrial-equipment-manufacturer-70-gm-no-debt/2472503/Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.Looking to build a professional website in minutes? Try Wix: https://wix.pxf.io/c/6898629/3115214/25616?trafcat=templateHubSpot is the backbone for how businesses scale without chaos. Try them out here: https://go.try-hubspot.com/OeG9VrSubscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquisitionsAnonymousPodcast?sub_confirmation=1Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.acquanon.com/newsletter💰 Sponsored by:Viso Business Capital — Get the right SBA loan tailored to your acquisition needs with Heather Endresen’s firm. Sign up for a free live Q&A on SBA loans at https://www.visocap.net and click “Zoom Sign Up” in the top-right corner.Acquisition Lab – Your fast-track to business ownership. Get hands-on support, world-class resources, and join a top-tier community of acquisition entrepreneurs. Schedule your free consultation at https://www.acquisitionlab.com and mention Acquisitions Anonymous!Key Highlights:- Patented thermal spray manufacturing business with aerospace and oilfield customers- 60–70% recurring revenue from installed systems, parts, and maintenance- $2.5M revenue and ~$1M EBITDA at roughly a 5x asking multiple- Strong engineering moat with patents valid through 2035 and 2037- Major growth opportunity through outbound sales and expanded distributionSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at [e-mail]

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. This is the internet's number one podcast on buying, selling, and operating small businesses. Today, and I'm not exaggerating, I think we are doing the best business we have ever reviewed in nearly 500 episodes of Acquisitions Anonymous. We found this one publicly listed for sale by owner on biz by sale. It is an American manufacturing business with 70% recent. recurring revenue. They make a type of technological manufacturing system that they sell in and then maintain and sell parts for. It sells into the aerospace and oil field services industry. Based in Virginia, I think I said, $1.2 million of cash flow, very reasonable price expectations. This is the quintessential like American manufacturing and searcher deal. I want to invest in this deal. If you buy, if you hear this episode and inquire and buy this business, call me I want to help invest. in this deal. It's super cool. It's me and Heather today. I hope you enjoy this episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. Hello, another episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. We don't have 100% beers anymore.

And thumbs downing on just the plus inventory loan. Hi, Heather here. When I'm not breaking down deals with these guys, I'm helping people get the right SBA loans for their business acquisitions. Because when you're buying a business, the best financing isn't one size fits all. There's the best rate, fastest close, the specific loan structure that you need, or a little of all of those things. That's why my company, Vizzo Business Capital, works with over 30 different lenders to find you the best funding in less time and with less friction so you can focus on the deal. Sign up for a free live Q&A session on SBA loans at Vizocap.net. Then click Zoom sign up in the top right corner.

That's V-I-S-O-C-A-P.net and click Zoom sign up. All right. Heather, it's Friday and I am jazz because I think I have found a gem on business. Okay, I cannot wait to see what you found. So I just want to get right into it. We skipped a small talk. Forget it.

How are you? We don't care. No. I found a cool one on Biz Buy. This to me sort of checks all of my Biz Buy sell boxes, which is that it's very obscure. There's a ton of detail about what the business does, but it is an industry that I'd never heard of before looking at this listing. And it appears to be for sale by owner and it's U.S.-based manufacturing. Wow. Checks a lot of boxes. I love lots of details. And it is also in the strike zone,

has enough EBITDA and is in the strike zone for an SBA loan. So you'll like it. Now I really like it. All right. Do you want to hear? So, Heather, I'm going to need your help figuring out exactly what this business does. We're going to figure out in real time. So this is a high margin industrial equipment manufacturer, 70% plus gross margin, no debt, in a town called Oilville, Virginia, which is in Goochland County. These are all real places. Oilville in Goochland County. So it says an established U.S. based designer and manufacturer of advanced HVAF, which stands for high-velocity air fuel, thermal spray systems, and precision industrial power. feeder. It was founded in 1999 by the inventor of modern HVAF, high-velocity air fuel, combustion

technology, and the company is widely regarded as the originator of contemporary HVAF spray system design. Over 26 years, the business has built a global installed base of 165 HVAF systems and approximately 400 powder feeders across more than 45 countries. Roughly 60s, to 70% of annual revenue comes from repeat customers purchasing spare parts, additional feeders, system upgrades, and related services. How excited are you already? Yeah, sounds good. Lots of like here. So let me tell you about the financials. It has revenue of $2.5 million and EBITDA of a million bucks. So great EBITDA margins. 40% EBITDA margins. It says cash flow SDE, EBITDAV a million bucks,

SDE of 1.4, almost. And it's sitting on $1.4 million of real estate that's not included in the asking price. So who knows if they've burned rent into it or not. But you have to figure that out. It's unlikely you're moving this thing because it's a manufacturing business. Okay.

And they want $4.95 million. So that's on an ebidda basis five times, on a cash flow basis a little under four times, like 3.8 times, roughly. Heather, what the heck is HVAF? Have you Googled it while I was talking? I know. Gosh, I did not do my job of Googling it. I'm sorry. I don't know, but it's obviously a very specific part of a manufacturing process. And what I think is really cool is this is being sold, I think, by the inventor of the technology. I mean, there's got to be patents, I imagine. There's got to be some intellectual property as part of this. But this is something very niche because it's so niche that the inventor only installed 165 of these systems worldwide.

So that was the thing that jumped out at me. Yeah. That this guy's the inventor of it. This is his company. And it's got, not to belittle at all, but only $1.4 million of SD. right and only at 165 installed locations. So I AI did. Would you like me to explain what HVAS is? Okay.

So HVIF, high-velocity air fuel is a thermal spray process that applies high-density, low-porosity coatings to protect parts from abrasion, erosion, and corrosion. It utilizes compressed air instead of oxygen. HVAF sprays particles at very high speeds and at lower temperature. than HV-O-F, which is high-velocity oxygen fuel, which reduces oxidation, because no oxygen, and produces superior bond strength. So I'm generalizing here,

but I think this is essentially like a powder-coating technology. So if you're making parts and you want to powder-coat them to prevent rust, to make them more durable, reduce oxidation, aka rust, you would use this type of technology, this type of machine. It says compressed air is used with fuel such as propane to create a high-velocity jet that propels material, which is typically metals or carbides, onto a component's surface. And the combustion temperature is much cooler than the oxygen-driven method. It minimizes thermal degradation of the material, resulting in ductile, non-brittle coatings. And these types of coatings are often used as a replacement for hard chrome plating, and HV-O-F coatings.

offering superior wear resistance and high-density superior bond strength. Common applications include aircraft landing gear, oil and gas drilling tools, hydraulic rods, and steel industry rotors. HVAF is considered environmentally friendly compared to hard chrome plating, and it reduces hazardous chemical usage and emissions. Wow. It sounds cool. How cool is this, right? Yeah.

So this is kind of part of the manufacturing process for really durable parts used in intense industrial applications. Yeah. Yeah. Now, and they say there's a product portfolio of the flagship systems, which typically range 120,000 to 200,000. So those are the systems, I guess, if you can install a new system. But it sounds like this revenue feels like it's mostly coming off of. of maintaining and, you know, providing supplies, like the razor, razor blade model. They're providing the razor blade, so to speak, to the 165 already installed systems.

So it feels like it's got, he didn't give us the breakdown, but if 60 to 70% of annual revenue is repeat, you know, oh, they he did. 60% is repeat customers purchasing spare parts and additional feeders. So it really is mostly just maintaining the systems that are already out there, which That's right. That's right. Yeah. So they've sold in, it seems, 165 of these systems.

And now it's maintenance and spare parts. So, I mean, this is awesome, right? 60 to 70% repeat revenue on these things. And in theory, the other 20% to 30% is probably selling in new ones that then become repeat revenue, right? Yeah. I mean, honestly, that's a characteristic that a lot of people, when they're looking for a business, are looking for. you know, maybe you don't have a ton of new sales, but you don't need it because this business has been around long enough that they've got that portfolio of systems out there already, and they've built up that recurring or repeat customer revenue already. So kind of a dream come true from that perspective. Lots to like here.

A lot to like. I don't know. Let me tell you a little more. Yes, please, please. So the company operates with minimal cap-ex requirements and a highly efficient, essentially. assembly-focused model. Gross margins have ranged from mid-60s to high 70s, producing strong earnings and meaningful operating leverage. The product portfolio includes flagship HVAF thermal spray systems, which they sell for between $120,000 and $200,000. Internal diameter HVAF guns. Ultra-thin-tugsten carbide coatings that serve as a direct alternative to hard chrome plating,

like we read earlier. Gravimetric and volumetric powder features. compatible with HVAF, HVOF, plasma, cold spray, and laser cladding. So this would be what is feeding the powders in to get sprayed on with the parts. Two active U.S. patents protect core powder feeder mechanisms. The patents expire in 2035 and 2037. So you got some time. You got a decade. The business maintains a full proprietary software suite and complete 3D CAD engineering library.

All systems are designed in-house and assembled on-site using outsized. source precision machining partners, which minimizes capital intensity. So they build these $200,000 machines, but they kind of assemble them. They don't actually make all the parts, it seems like, but they have patents on them. So the revenue mix, it says in a representative year, 47% powder feeders, 16% HVAF systems, 20% spare parts, and 17% coding applications and services. It says 50% of revenue is generated through an established international distributor network with the balance from direct global sales. No single customer accounts for more than 15% of revenue.

Okay. The market position, HVAF technology is increasingly replacing traditional HVOF processes due to superior coding density, higher deposition rates, lower operating costs, and regulatory pressure on hexavalent chromium, CR6-plus, hard chrome planning. As specifications evolved to adapt HVAF, adoptions accelerating worldwide. Conventative strengths include 25 years of proprietary HVAS system and precision powder feeder design expertise, strong technical barriers to entry, embedded global installed base, process agnostic powder feeder platform. Their facility, operations are conducted from a purpose-built 6,000 square foot industrial facility on 2.2 acres, with expansion capacity to 15,000 square feet, so you can triple

in size on this site. Real estate is available separately at the appraised value. I think you better buy it because you are not moving this thing. It doesn't sound like. Growth opportunities. The company has operated without a dedicated sales team relying primarily on inbound demand and distributors. Key expansion levers include hiring dedicated sales business development, obviously, expanding powder feeder market share across non-HVAF processes, so converting probably other processes to this one. Geographic expansion into under penetrated regions, scaling their coding services side of their business, which I think they said was 17% of the business today, and also strategic ad-on acquisitions for platform buyers. Again, they're asking $5 million for the business and $1.4 million

bucks for the real estate. It has about $1.4 million of SDE. So you're looking at combined $6.4 million, if I'm doing this right, for the real estate and the business. on 1.4 of SDE. So that is a 4.5x multiple. Wow. And it says it has $200,000 of inventory, which is included in the asking price. Half a million bucks of FF&E,

fixtures and equipment, which is included in the asking price. It has, oh, here's the rub. Five full-time employees, three of whom are the owners, two of whom are employees. Okay, maybe that's the only thing wrong with this so far.

Okay. But, you know, we'll talk about it. I'm seeing if there's anything that's not, that's down here that I've not already said. It says seller will consider an SBA compliance standby note, if required. And seller will provide three months of transition support to ensure continuity. Additional consulting support may be available under mutually agreed agreement, arrangement. They're retiring after 25 years of continuous operation. Wow.

A lot to say. And the pictures, if you are with us on YouTube, I strongly recommend checking the pictures out. You can see how this process actually works. It looks like there's a laser type situation or kind of a hot powder coating. I mean, this is like real industrial manufacturing. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. You got to love a for sale by owner listing that is from an engineer.

I mean, look at the detail that we just got in a teaser. It blows all the other teasers away as far as telling us something about the business. I think they did a great job, and that's a lot of information. I think I'm a little concerned about how much rent might not be counted in this EBITDAB, a million dollars. But if the real estate's only worth a million for, let's call it, you know, maybe there's $120,000. you know, if they're not expensing rent because they own the real estate. So maybe EBITDA just drops to like 900-ish, something like that. So I'm kind of trying to do the mental math there.

Still a great, you know, they're still only asking a little over five times for a business close to a million dollars of EBITDA, if not right at it. But with 60 to 70 percent reoccurring revenue. It's not contractually recurring, but it's reoccurring. And, I mean, that is a very fair valuation. Where is Oilville? Because I'm already considering moving. A fair question. So, Oilville, Virginia, in the well-known Goochland County, Heather, I can't believe you don't know where Goochland County is.

Oilville, Virginia is an unincorporated community in Goochland County. It is near Richmond. It's northwest of Richmond, Virginia, probably about. out 45 minutes. So it's probably very pretty. It's like central Virginia. It's probably a pretty place to live. Yeah, it probably is. I mean, it's rural. Definitely rural. I mean, you're on the side of Highway 64. There's not a lot in oil bill, except a couple of gas stations, which I find funny and ironic. Yeah. But so, Heather, are you moving to Goocheland, county if you buy this or somebody?

Yeah, you have to. I mean, you cannot live somewhere else and try to do this remotely. And in fact, I think you may need some engineering background or, you know, some manufacturing in your resume somewhere because this does not look like a super easy little light assembly kind of business. And like I said, I could just tell from the listings, that's an engineer, you know, that's the founder of this technology. You know, you do need to have those kinds of engineering skills, I think, and you've got to live in Oilville, which I've never heard of before today.

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Visit AcquisitionLab.com today to learn more and schedule your free consultation. And when you do, be sure to tell them the Acquisitions Anonymous podcast sent you. And I was born. I grew up in northern Virginia. So it's 35 minutes outside of Richmond. Richmond's a fine place to live. Nothing wrong with Richmond. Yeah.

Let's see how far it is from Washington, D.C. Yeah, that'd be a couple hours. It's three hours from D.C. It's five hours from Charlotte. It's kind of, you know, smack in the middle of Virginia. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right in the meat of Virginia.

It's kind of in between Richmond and Charlottesville. Yeah. But Virginia is a beautiful state, you know, as it really is, especially central Virginia is very pretty. So it's not, I mean, it's, it's, and 35 minutes outside of Richmond doesn't sound like you're too far in the sticks. So I don't think that's too bad. But yes, you do have to, for a deal like this, you've got to move there and you've got to, you've got to live there. And it is SBA size. So I do love that. And I love that they, these sellers, even without a broker representing them already seem to know about, you know, a seller note and what, what SBA would require for that. So I think that's kind of cool. If Andrew Barr is the, owner, which it seems imply that he is. Bravo to you, Andrew Barr. This is an exceptionally well-done listing. Your pricing expectations are reasonable and app market. Andrew Barr here has a second career as a business broker. He's really done a phenomenal job, I think. Yeah. But you know what?

The problem for Andrew Bar, if he became a business broker, would be finding sellers who would let them, you know, have this kind of information and be reasonable with their valuation. I think that's the challenge. Yes. So, yeah, so you're moving to Oilville because it seems like three of the five employees are about to retire. Yeah, now there's the problem. So three people you've got to replace. That is a challenge for anybody because we need to know what each of the three people are doing. If there's only five employees, you can't convince me one of those stories where they only work 10 hours a week or something, because if there's five people, these three owners are all working full time, is my guess. And probably they are all engineers and doing something fairly high level,

is my guess, as well. So we're placing three people like that. That's a little tough. And if you go with an SBA loan, you have this one little weird problem. The SBA has a rule. And I think these are the cases where it really doesn't work for the bank or the SBA or the buyer. The rule says if you buy these folks out, they have to leave the business within 12 months. You cannot have a transition. They can't even have a W-2. It would literally be against the rule. So you have to, you're forced into a situation where you're on your own in 12 months. You better be able to figure it out. So, I mean, let me ask you this. Now, I do think these sellers want to retire, which separately means they probably want to be gone in 12 months also. But let's say I do, let's say they are not retiring and they want it. They are willing to stick around on sort of a salting basis. Can I w-2 them for a year and then 1099 them five hours a week after that?

You know, it's a gray area. Everybody asks this question because the rule is so weird and it puts you in a risky position potentially in a case like this. What everyone usually would say to that question is the banks nor the SBA police this rule after close. They don't, they don't police it. So, however, you've got to convince a bank going in that you can transition fully those three people. Like your story has to be, I can run this whole thing without these three people within 12 months. So you're still going to have to, because to your point, Bill, they still may want to leave in 12 months, even if you wanted to have them as a consultant. Depending on their ages and their motivation to truly retire, they may not really be willing to do that. Yeah.

It's a challenge. I'm showing, on the screen on YouTube, I don't know if this is the company, there's a number of companies that do this, but I pick this website because the photos are really good. You know, you can see like this is high temperature blasting, you know, of powder coating. This business, like I said, I don't know if this is the one. I'm not claiming it is. But it says HVAF technology is suited for tungsten carbide coatings on pump housings and axles for the oil and gas industry. It's special type of protecting coating is commonly used to repair technology for the oil drilling and gas industries. So this is probably this business, a bet on domestic drilling. Yeah, right, which is a good bet right now. Which is a bet I would love to make right now, right? Absolutely. Man, there is just so much I really, really like about this. This is one of the best listings I think we've ever just pulled up randomly off Biz by Sell.

Absolutely. I mean, we just, we pulled this totally randomly before the pod. And I always like to look on biz by cell for the owner listed ones because they tend to have less broker BS. But this is a lot more detail in this case. A lot more detail. Yeah. And it seems like they've got, I mean, there's a ton you could learn about this process. You know, I'm just clicking around on Google. But they've got real technology, it seems, patents. They got an installed base with reoccurring revenue. It's, The AI is not coming for this. Like there is a manufacturing moat here. Yeah. I would be interested to understand what the competitive landscape actually was like. They gave us a little hint, and maybe not on the competitive landscape, but I was concerned about, as I always am, with technology, is this the leading technology or is something coming along to replace us? And they gave us a hint in the listing. If you scroll down, they said, this is more environmentally safe and it is increasingly replacing.

I think they said the eight. Yeah, exactly. And increasingly replacing traditional HVOF processes. So it seems like this is sort of the winning technology in terms of what it does. If that's true, I like it even more. Because that's what I usually worry about when I think about something that's pretty high tech like this. So that sounds super exciting to me too. But then I say, this business is 26 years old.

And it has not displaced HVOF in 20. years, what is happening now? If the answer to that question is regulatory pressure on hexavalin chromium, hard chrome plating, that's a great answer. Like if there have been recent regulations passed that you can't do HVOF anymore, finally the time has come for HVAF and you could be in a perfect position. That could be. Yeah. And you just made me think of one thing because when you said chrome plating, anytime, you know, there's a lot of environmental problems when you've got a building real estate that that's had any kind of process like that done on it. They've got to do soil sampling and whatnot. That would be my next question. If I'm going to buy this real estate now,

like you said, Bill, we probably want to do that so we can stay there forever. Is there any environmental concerns with buying the real estate? You know, you're probably going to have to go straight to a phase two environmental report, which is drilling core samples of dirt. and having them tested. So you have to make sure that, you know, the real estate is clean and there's no liability to clean it up. Yep. Yep.

That's a good point. I kind of view this business as you're buying the real estate. Like, it's just part of it. Like, you got to do it. Luckily, it's in a low-cost area in Oilville, you know, so it's not like totally breaking the deal to include $1.4 million of real estate. In fact, it might help you finance. the deal a little bit more easily by ascribing a little more value to the real estate over a longer

time. Heather, what's the SBA rule? What percent of the deal can or has to be real estate to unlock the special financing structures? If you want a 25-year term on enterprise and real estate together, the real estate has to be 51 percent or more of the loan. So in this case, you won't get there. But you could do a couple things. You could do just one 7-A loan, because since your purchase price is five million for the enterprise, you're going to come pretty close to maxing out your 5 million 7A loan once you add fees and all of the stuff that goes in there. So what you could do, though, is you could use then a 504, an SBA 504 loan for the real estate. And that would, so the enterprise loan would be a 10-year loan in this case. And the 504 real estate loan would be

a 25-year loan. So you have enough runway to do both if you did it that way. The times where you combine them are where the real estate is worth almost the same or slightly more than the enterprise. And then you could get a 25-year loan if you put them together in one 7-A loan. But this one's a better case for a 7-A plus a 504. Okay. And tell me, so this is right over home plate domestic manufacturing. And I believe there are some new SBA rules that have just been passed about that, right? Tell me about that. There is one that's been passed and one that we're still hoping for. So the one that's been passed has like a special line of credit against equipment for manufacturers. You wouldn't use it here because this is a business acquisition. The one that is pending and everyone is still hoping for

is that certain manufacturing industry codes, and I'm sure this would fit that, will get up to 10 million of SBA runway instead of the usual five. So that is still, I think, going through the Senate and we don't have that final yet, but it looks like it's coming. So if you bought this, and you wanted to do add-ons or you wanted to expand the facility. I mean, they said you've got, I think, two plus acres of land here. You could add on to the facility if you're going to grow. You would still have SBA runway to do all those things, which is nice. So you could do this with a $5 million loan,

and then in six months they could expand your capacity to $10 million, and that's fantastic for you. Yes, correct. Because banks love doing an ad-on. Yeah, it's just something that every bank would love. to have some manufacturing deals to make, you know, for good things for the economy and make, you know, the SBA happy that they're doing it. So, yeah, it makes financing will be easier in this industry. Okay.

If you've got some background, though, where you're going to have a hard time is if you have just a financial background and no manufacturing and no engineering in your education or your background, SBA lenders are going to be a little more iffy on you as the right person, especially because you've got to replace three people who I better all of them. If you're like a, you know, KPMG ripcord puller, this might be tough to convince a bank that you can run. You can replace the three owners in a five-person engineering manufacturing business into oilville. But what you could do, if you're that kind of person, guy or gal, you could bring in a partner that's also searching for a business who does have an engineering background. And this would be a good case for something like that because you are trying to sell the story that you can replace three sellers. So this might be a good one for, you know, someone to team up, a couple of searchers to team up and do it, as long as one of them's got more of the manufacturing background.

Or a searcher, I mean, man, if I was a searcher, like a self-funded searcher or I was trying to raise capital for a search, man, I would love to invest in this deal. Like if there is an operator here that wants to move to Oilville, Virginia and run this thing, I would love to invest in that deal. Yeah. This is just a great business, but I can't move to Oilville, Virginia. There's a lot of reasons to love this. Yeah.

So let's talk about, so you buy this business. You've got, in Oilaville, you've got five people coming into work every day. Three of them owns this business. Two of them are employees. The three that own this business, I assume they're all roughly the same age and want to retire. The other two are probably also not 30 years younger than them. Right? So all of a sudden, you're these other two guys. Three guys each get a check for two million dollars each, roughly, and retire. And you look around like, who is this guy Bill Alessandro that's not from Oilville, just showed up here, is wearing a button down shirt, and thinks he's going to tell me what to do. That's a risk. That's a real problem. And I bet you're exactly right that these are not young employees. They know, they're, know a lot about this process and about this business and you need them and you've only got two

Heather is there a way to structure a deal where you cut those two guys in yeah yeah you can so you could uh do a couple things and the bank is probably going to ask you a lot of questions and want you to do this you could bring them into the cap table you could bring them into the ownership structure without them having to contribute any any you know equity dollars to the deal you basically just reward them some sweat equity and put them in your own ownership structure. That's probably the thing the banks would want to see the most, like 5% or whatever it is you think would work. And for sure, you need to meet these two people before you close. You know, sometimes larger businesses with, yeah, you can't close without having dinner with

these folks a few times, probably. So one way is bring them into the cap table. Another way is phantom equity, which would be trying to approximate the same thing through an incentive plan or an employment agreement of some kind. You want to sign them up for the long term and have that all agreed to before you close. Yep. Yeah. Securing these two guys is going to be really key. Because the first thing you do on day one,

let's say you got a couple months of runway with the owners, right, where they're still going to work there. First thing you do is you've got to replace three owners. So you're putting out want ads and you're trying to bring people on in Oilville, Virginia, which might be a bit of a long put, right? I don't know how technically this work is. Maybe, you know, just somebody who's a little bit good with their hands and reliable is what you're trying to find.

And you take six months to train them. But, you know, at a business, this size employee retention is always a risk. I mean, always, right? If you got five employees, you lose one of them, it's always going to hurt you. But here especially that you immediately go on the clock with the three most senior employees, the owners. Right. and then now the other two become hugely risky. Because if you lose them,

suddenly you own an HVAF business that you have about two months of experience in in rural Virginia and you are on the line powder coating stuff. Right. So you also have to make sure you're compatible with these two people. I mean, how many times have we heard stories

where people bought a business? There's not a lot of employees and some of them are just, they just don't like the change. They don't like the fact that you're new. And you don't want to keep them. So that's the other thing is you've got to really make sure if you wrap them up in these longer-term agreements that they've got the right attitude for you. Because that can be tough too.

Man, that's just, I mean, this is a huge risk, right? The people, like you don't have a business if you can't operate it. But, man, like with no sales force, like this is used in oil field services. Like, you get on a plane, you go down to Midland, you pound the pavement. You know, you start selling this. HVOF, this is a business, I don't know a ton of about it, but you could triple it. I mean, you could, I don't think there is a ceiling on this thing. And what's cool is, this is, to be clear, I think 20% of the revenue is providing the

service, the HVAF coding, but most of their business is selling the picks to the miners, if you will, right? They're making the machines and the hoppers and all the stuff to enable lots of HVAF coding businesses all over the country. Yeah. And it's probably when you do your diligence, you're probably going to find that this is a lifestyle business for these three sellers. They wanted to live near Richmond and have their homes there. And so they didn't hire a Salesforce. They didn't want to hassle with that. But that's your growth opportunity. So I think there's almost everything to like about this listing.

Amazing. Yeah. I mean, your Salesforce here is probably selling to existing powder coating shops, existing shops that provide MRO-type services to the oil field industry who need to repair these drill boards, things like that, there is just probably a huge amount of pound-in-the-pavement sales to be done here. And if you explode it, you're just building this recurring revenue base also once you get these machines installed at 200 grand-bought. It's got this long tail of recurring revenue. Love it. Yeah. So what's interesting, too, though, is let's look at the scale of this business. The gross revenue is $2.5 million a year. And they're saying they sell these machines for 120K to 200K. And they also said 70% of their businesses are recurring, reoccurring,

which means they sell one or two of these a year. Yeah, they're not selling the systems much at all. Right? I mean, like a handful every year, and the rest is parts and service and maintenance and all that stuff. So, man, I mean, if you could start moving these systems, you would explode this business in a couple years. Yeah. Man, if you were a searcher and want to buy this, I want to invest in your deal. I mean, I'm putting that out to the podcast world right there. If you are buying this, email me, hit me up on X.

I want to invest in your deal. And I want to get you the SBA loan. And when I get you the SBA loan, I'm not allowed to invest. Otherwise, I would be saying what Bill is saying. But I want to get you your SBA loan because this is a great deal. I love this. How cool. How cool.

Thank you to future sponsor of the pod, Biz. I sell. And props to Andrew Barr, who I presume is one of the owners for a killer listing and building an awesome business. If you get the NDA and buy this business, first of all, tell me because I want to invest or just tell me because I would just love to see what happens here. Yeah. How neat. Let's wrap it up. If you enjoyed this one, I mean, and I did, there are a ton of other ones just like it. Almost 500 just like it on our website, acqueu,an.com, where we break down different small businesses just like this one for sale, a week. Subscribe to our podcast, anywhere podcasts are listed, and get on our email address.

If you're not an audio person, we email summaries of the episodes out twice a week in case you can't get to get around to listening to me and Heather Yap for 30 minutes twice a week. You can just scan it on email. So you won't miss it. You get kind of build your context for small businesses. So thank you for listening to this week's episode of Acquisitions Anonymous. We'll see on the next one.