Would You Buy This $1M Painting Business?

Welcome to The Main Street Minute, your shortcut to Main Street dealmaking.

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This week: We break down a buyer’s $1.3M legacy painting deal with strong margins, BIG transition questions, and 6 key items to focus on. TONS of lessons below…

(By the way: If you’re looking to buy or sell a business, BizScout is rapidly becoming the best tool for you.)

NUMBERS

David recently signed an LOI on a more than 40-year-old commercial painting business doing $1.1M in revenue and $530K in EBITDA.

The business is small but steady:

No sales team. No marketing engine. Just decades of local relationships and solid margins.

But this isn’t a solo play. David is coming in with 2 partners, including one who already owns a painting business.

David brought the deal to the community with big questions:

What followed was a masterclass in deal diagnostics.

Veteran buyers lit up with strategies that could save David money long term and years of pain: Employee retention, vision-casting, validating financials, proposing better structuring, and even why to consider pre-negotiating a breakup with partners early on.

Let’s get into it.

KEY IDEAS

With an LOI signed and diligence underway, David brought this deal to the community for a live breakdown. The advice that followed was tactical, no-fluff, and grounded in real operator experience.

Here’s what they told him to pay attention to:

David asked whether conducting a formal financial review was necessary for this deal size. The deal coaches were clear: maybe not a “full-blown QofE” costing tens of thousands of dollars, but a review is required.

At a minimum, he was told to have his accountant for the deal go through and validate the reported revenues, bank statements, and tax returns.

This business is built on long-standing commercial relationships rather than formal contracts. The recommendation: make the handoff personal and intentional.

The seller initially declined a 5% seller financing structure. But members shared ways to reintroduce the conversation post-LOI.

David was told to plant seeds, reference the tax angle, and let the seller’s CPA help carry the ball.

David is acquiring the business alongside 2 partners, one of whom owns a painting company. That could be a strength, but only if structure and roles are crystal clear.

The group emphasized memorializing everything — from work responsibilities to exit mechanics — before any real issues arise. “If someone decides they want to go cruise around Mykonos for a year, they can. But their pay changes.”

With 90% of revenue tied to commercial jobs, one member raised the question: what happens if the market softens?

David shared that revenue dipped during COVID but that the business still held up.

The key: model the downside. Confirm your structure still holds if top-line drops 30%+.

Every coach emphasized the same thing: without the team, this business isn’t worth much.

The consensus: David’s deal has strong fundamentals. But execution — not just the numbers — will make it or break it.

INDUSTRY

Painting and wall covering contractors operate in a growing, highly fragmented market:

This business beats those averages, and for an industry closely tied to economic cycles, interest rates, and regional development patterns, data shows demand has remained steady.

Still, a downturn in commercial real estate could quickly impact this business as 90% of revenue comes from that sector.

According to Vertical IQ, the median EBITDA multiple for painting and wall covering contractors is 2.94x.

David’s deal — $1.3M on $530K in EBITDA — comes in at roughly 2.5x. Slightly below market on a strict multiple basis.

While the business doesn’t come with many formal contracts, marketing systems, or a sales engine, it does have:

The coaches didn’t call it overpriced. But they were clear: at this level, every detail matters. Key questions still need to be answered:

The opportunity ahead may be real, but so is the work required to unlock it.

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