On paper, this moving business passes. But once you account for reality, the entire deal changes.
This business operates in Northern California and has been around since 1996, offering full-service moving including packing, transport, storage, and supplies. It serves both residential and commercial customers and has built a long-standing reputation.
At first glance, this looks like a solid, stable service business. Nearly 30 years of history, steady demand, and a relatively simple model.
But moving businesses are extremely labor-heavy and operator-dependent, and that is where most buyers get this wrong.
Deal Snapshot
Now let’s run this through a standard SBA financing scenario, and then adjust for reality.
SBA Scenario (Before Operator)
But here is the key issue: if you are not running this business yourself, you need to hire an operator.
Adjusted Scenario (With Operator)
After accounting for an operator, the buyer is left with only about $79K per year. That is a completely different deal than what it looked like initially.
What Stands Out
- Long operating history: Nearly 30 years in business.
- Simple service model: Moving services with predictable demand.
- Decent headline cash flow: $300K SDE before adjustments.
- Home-based: Lower overhead compared to facility-heavy businesses.
- Established reputation: Long-term presence in the local market.
Potential Risks
- Operator dependency: Requires active management or paid operator.
- Low real income: Only about $79K after debt and operator.
- High valuation: Around 3x cash flow for a labor-heavy business.
- High default rate: Moving industry sits around ~8%, indicating elevated risk.
- Labor churn: Hiring and retaining movers is difficult and inconsistent.
- Seasonality risk: Revenue can fluctuate significantly throughout the year.
- No SBA prequalification: Financing may be harder than expected.
BizHub Verdict
This deal scores a 5.9 / 10. Not because the business is bad, but because once you price in reality, the margin for error disappears.
This is the trap with “working” deals. They pass the math at first glance, but fall apart when you account for how the business actually operates.
If you plan to be the operator, this might work. If not, the economics change fast.
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