How much does a Mobile Document Shredding cost to buy?

A typical Mobile Document Shredding sells for 2x to 5.8x seller's discretionary earnings. With estimated SDE of $182K, expect to pay roughly $364K to $1.1M before adjustments for assets, debt, growth, and local market quality.

How much does it cost to start a Mobile Document Shredding?

Startup costs range from $80K to $450K depending on location, equipment, and scale.

Route

Mobile Document Shredding

Q: What are the profit margins for a Mobile Document Shredding?

The average profit margin for a Mobile Document Shredding is around 28%. Costs include shredding trucks or plant equipment, locked bins, drivers, fuel, maintenance, insurance, NAID-style security controls, recycling logistics, uniforms, and sales to offices and professional firms.

Compliance by the bin, shredded in the parking lot

Bottom line

Worth studying, but do not buy without strong local proof.

Mobile document shredding routes send secure shredding trucks to offices, medical clinics, law firms, banks, schools, and government customers. Clients pay for recurring locked-console pickups or purge days, and the operator sells peace of mind: confidential records are destroyed on-site with a certificate of destruction.

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Acquisition score

Strong

Avg Revenue

$650K

Profit Margin

28%

Acquisition Multiple

2x - 5.8x

Startup Cost

$80K - $450K

How It Works

Operators place locked shred consoles at customer sites, run scheduled pickup routes, shred paper on-site or at a plant, issue certificates, bale the material, and sell recycled paper where possible. Revenue comes from recurring console service, one-time purge jobs, hard-drive destruction, and compliance-heavy accounts.

Revenue Range

Low End

$180K

Typical

$650K

High End

$2.2M

Pros

+Recurring route revenue from offices and clinics
+Compliance needs make switching vendors annoying
+Purge jobs create high-ticket bursts
+Route density improves margins quickly

Cons

-Shredding trucks are expensive and maintenance-heavy
-Security processes and chain-of-custody documentation matter
-Paper volumes can decline in some office markets

Best For

Route-service, records-management, janitorial, or B2B local-service buyers who can sell trust and reliability

Operating Costs

Costs include shredding trucks or plant equipment, locked bins, drivers, fuel, maintenance, insurance, NAID-style security controls, recycling logistics, uniforms, and sales to offices and professional firms.

SBA Financing Estimator

Adjust the deal — see if it cash flows after debt service

$-8347/mo

after debt service

Deal price — $2.3M

Range: $980K (2×) to $4.4M (5.8×+)

Down payment — 15% ($342K)

SBA minimum equity injection is 10% for change-of-ownership

Interest rate — 8.00%

Current prime-based SBA rates: 7.5–10.5%

Loan term — 10 years (120 mo)

Standard SBA 7(a): 10 years for business acquisition

Down payment

$342K

15% equity injection

Loan amount

$1.9M

85% SBA-financed

Monthly payment

$24K/mo

$884K total interest

Monthly profit

$15K/mo

at 28% margin

Monthly cash flow after debt service

$-8347/mo

Margin does not cover debt service at these terms. Lower the deal price, increase the down payment, or extend the loan term.

Estimates only. Excludes owner compensation, capex, working capital draws, and taxes. Margin assumes average occupancy and volume. Actual SBA terms vary by lender and borrower profile.