Today’s boring business is a residential pool service company in New Jersey that was sent in by a follower.
It’s listed at $1.6 million, with $439K in cash flow on about $1.63 million in revenue.
When we run it through the BizHub calculator with standard SBA terms, you are left with roughly $202K a year after loan payments.
That is solid cash flow - but the real story is the quality of the business underneath it.
This company has been around since 1989 and serves affluent residential neighborhoods in New Jersey.
That matters because high-income residential service territories can be very attractive when the work is recurring and route density is strong.
The listing also says every customer signs an annual service agreement, with about 325 pool openings and closings completed each year.
That creates a more predictable revenue base than one-off project work.
Even better, 95% of new business reportedly comes from referrals.
That is usually a strong sign that the reputation is real.
Unlike a lot of home service businesses, this one already has an Assistant Service Manager handling day-to-day operations.
That is a big deal.
Owner-dependence is one of the biggest risks in small service businesses.
If the seller is the one handling estimates, scheduling, customer relationships, technician oversight, and service quality, the business can get shaky after the sale.
Here, the Assistant Service Manager has 11 years of tenure and is reportedly capable of handling scheduling, estimates, repairs, customer communication, and technician oversight.
That makes the business far more transferable than the typical owner-run home service company.
The tradeoff is valuation.
This deal is priced at about a 3.65x cash flow multiple, compared to an industry average closer to 2.38x.
So no, this is not cheap.
But this is also not a messy, owner-dependent service business with no systems.
You are paying for recurring contracts, route density, affluent customers, long history, and a second-in-command already running operations.
That can justify a premium - but only if those contracts, employees, and customer relationships survive the transition.
One thing buyers often miss on deals like this is the SBA guarantee fee.
In this case, the fee is about $39.5K. The good news is that this can usually be rolled into the loan, but it still affects the total acquisition cost and debt structure.
The BizHub score lands around a 6.8 out of 10.
Not cheap, but not trash either.
This is the kind of business where stability, route density, recurring contracts, and management depth can justify paying up.
The diligence question is simple: are you buying a durable pool service platform, or are you paying a premium for relationships that may weaken after the owner exits?
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