Cleveland, Ohio, USA Manufacturing Established 1997 24 employees
The shop runs multi-axis CNC equipment on repeat production orders and short-run custom work. Real estate is included in the asking price. Customer concentration is meaningful and should be reviewed carefully.
Overall 62/100 — Fair. Each dimension is scored independently and weighted.
Seller's discretionary earnings are 17.6% of revenue.
Asking price is 3.26× SDE compared with a common small-business range of roughly 2×–4×.
29 years of operating history with a 15.6% earnings margin.
Reported revenue trend of +6% year over year.
Category-level demand outlook based on WhatBiz industry model (sample data).
Business is described as managed with 24 employees.
Largest customer represents about 31% of revenue.
Seller indicates financing is available (about 10% seller-carried).
55% of revenue is recurring or contracted.
Estimated exposure to automation and AI substitution in this category.
Comparable SDE multiples of 3.63x – 5.10x for Manufacturing produce an estimated range of $2,628,000 – $3,756,000.
Specific questions to raise with the seller for this listing, based on its reported figures.
Ask for three years of tax returns and the add-back schedule line by line. Owner salary and genuine one-off costs are fair add-backs; ongoing vehicle, phone, insurance or family payroll usually are not.
WhatBiz estimates $2,628,000 – $3,756,000 for a manufacturing business with these figures. Ask the seller which comparable sales support their asking price.
Request the top-10 customer list with revenue and tenure, and ask whether contracts survive a change of ownership. Concentration this high is normally reflected in the price or in an earn-out.
Ask for the contract or subscription list with start dates, renewal terms, churn over the last two years, and whether agreements are assignable.
The owner is reported as managed. Price a replacement salary for the hours they work, and check whether any licence, certification or key relationship is held personally.
Request tenure, wages against local market rates, and any certification or licence held by individual staff. Agree stay bonuses for key people before closing, not after.
Seller financing keeps the previous owner invested in a clean handover. Negotiate the term, interest rate and any performance offset in the same conversation as the price.
Check remaining term, renewal options, rent escalations, and whether the landlord will assign the lease to you. A short lease on a location-dependent business is a real risk.
This is demo data provided for product demonstration. Figures are illustrative, are not verified, and are not an offer to sell a business. WhatBiz analysis is educational and is not financial, legal, tax or investment advice.
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