What Do Trades Businesses Sell For? SBA Acquisition Loan Sizes by Trade
The closest public, transaction-level record of what trades businesses trade for is the SBA's own lending file — and it says the median SBA loan to acquire a plumbing/HVAC business was $735,000; electrical, $801,250; roofing, $957,000; landscaping, $500,000; and janitorial, $400,000 (FY2020–2025, 4,370 loans nationally). Read these as a scale reference, not a price list: a loan is not a purchase price. SBA rules generally require roughly a 10% minimum equity injection on a change of ownership, and loan proceeds fund a total project cost that can include working capital and fees alongside the business itself. Loan size tracks deal size closely without equaling it.
| Trade | Loans | Dollars | Average loan | Median loan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auto repair (general) | 797 | $645.5M | $809,852 | $591,700 |
| Other specialty trades | 716 | $830.4M | $1,159,714 | $654,750 |
| Plumbing / HVAC contractors | 707 | $805.0M | $1,138,681 | $735,000 |
| Landscaping services | 588 | $498.5M | $847,763 | $500,000 |
| Janitorial / cleaning | 312 | $192.3M | $616,296 | $400,000 |
| Electrical contractors | 300 | $396.8M | $1,322,826 | $801,250 |
| Local freight trucking | 270 | $322.7M | $1,195,068 | $982,500 |
| Roofing contractors | 147 | $206.4M | $1,403,822 | $957,000 |
| Painting contractors | 126 | $92.0M | $730,421 | $431,350 |
| Site prep / excavation | 112 | $148.8M | $1,328,379 | $843,750 |
| Flooring | 104 | $108.1M | $1,039,783 | $619,400 |
| Pest control | 72 | $42.7M | $592,560 | $402,500 |
| Finish carpentry | 63 | $70.5M | $1,118,975 | $667,300 |
| Masonry | 38 | $44.7M | $1,175,053 | $895,900 |
| Appliance repair | 18 | $11.2M | $619,778 | $569,050 |
FY2020–2025 approvals. Plumbing and HVAC share a single SBA industry code and cannot be separated. "Other specialty trades" is a catch-all classification.
What the table can and can't tell you
It can tell you the shape of the market. The trades divide into a clear structure: an entry tier (janitorial, pest control, painting, landscaping — medians of $400K–$500K), a core (plumbing/HVAC at $735K median on the highest construction-trade volume), and a premium tier (electrical at $801K, site prep at $844K, masonry at $896K, roofing at $957K, local freight trucking at $982.5K). Roofing changes hands least often among the major construction trades through SBA channels — 147 loans in six years — but at the largest average check in the table, $1.40M.
It cannot tell you what your business is worth. These are financing amounts for other people's deals, shaped by each deal's earnings, revenue mix, and structure. What moves an individual business's value is its earnings and the multiple buyers apply — driven by recurring revenue, owner-dependence, and financial cleanliness — which is a different analysis entirely.
Source and definitions: Lodestar Research analysis of the SBA 7(a) FOIA loan-level dataset (FY2020–2025 approvals; acquisitions = change-of-ownership loans in trades industry codes). Full definitions, the loan-versus-price relationship, and all limitations: methodology. Part of Who's Buying the Trades.
Cite as: Lodestar Research analysis of SBA 7(a) FOIA data, 2026.
Lodestar Research publishes market analysis for general information. Nothing on this page is a valuation of any specific business, legal, tax, or lending advice, or an offer to buy or sell securities.
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