How much does a Painting Business cost to buy?

A typical Painting Business sells for 1.5x to 2.5x seller's discretionary earnings. With estimated SDE of $50K, expect to pay roughly $75K to $125K before adjustments for assets, debt, growth, and local market quality.

What are the profit margins for a Painting Business?

The average profit margin for a Painting Business is around 20%. Labor is 40-50% of revenue, followed by paint and materials (15-20%), vehicle costs, insurance, and marketing.

How much does it cost to start a Painting Business?

Startup costs range from $10K to $35K depending on location, equipment, and scale.

Service

Painting Business

Fresh coats, fresh profits — every 5-7 years they call again

Bottom line

Accessible entry point; validate local supply before buying.

Painting businesses provide interior and exterior painting services for residential and commercial properties. The business benefits from a built-in repaint cycle — every property needs repainting every 5-7 years. Commercial and new construction painting offer higher-volume project work.

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Acquisition score

Strong

Avg Revenue

$250K

Profit Margin

20%

Acquisition Multiple

1.5x - 2.5x

Startup Cost

$10K - $35K

How It Works

Estimate jobs based on square footage and complexity. Crews prep surfaces, apply primer and paint, and perform finishing work. Residential interior jobs average $2,000-$5,000, while exterior and commercial projects run $5,000-$30,000+. Growth comes from building a referral network and hiring crews.

Revenue Range

Low End

$80K

Typical

$250K

High End

$600K

BizBite underwriting snapshot

Pass for now

Painting Business has enough high-level data for a first look, but BizBite has not assigned a category-specific operating model yet. Treat the score as preliminary.

Speculative / 100

Data confidence

medium

52/100

Financing fit

medium

Category-level fit before lender-specific diligence.

Confidence cap

Weak source data caps the final score.

Why it may work

+SBA dataset shows 49 recent comparable loans

Be careful

!Source link status has not been verified yet
!No last-checked date yet
!No category operating model yet
!No category model yet

Real Acquisitions in This Category

SBA 7(a) change-of-ownership loans · NAICS 238320 · Painting and Wall Covering Contractors

Deals tracked

128

49 in last 24 mo

Median loan

$431K

$220K–$907K p25/p75

Implied deal size

$508K

median · ~85% LTV

Charge-off rate

—

not enough resolved loans

Deal Size Distribution

<$150K

$150K–500K

$500K–1M

$1M–2M

>$2M

Deal Flow Over Time

12-month momentum

-4.0%

deal volume vs prior 12 mo

Median loan Δ

+73.7%

24 recent · 25 prior

Financing Profile

Median rate

9.50%

4% fixed · last 24 mo

Median term

120 mo

standard 10-yr

Collateralized

of loans secured

Median jobs

supported per deal

Top lenders in this space

Live Oak Banking Company25

The Huntington National Bank12

Merchants Bank of Indiana5

Customers Bank4

Old National Bank4

Where deals happen

FL12

CO11

CA10

TX8

OH8

NC7

IL6

SC5

NJ5

MI5

Franchise vs independent

Franchised acquisitions finance at $314K median vs $500K for independents — a -37% franchise discount. Franchises make up 33% of deals tracked.

Recent Comparable Deals

Closed	State	Loan	Implied deal	Jobs	Franchise
Feb 2026	MO	$250K	$294K	18	—
Feb 2026	MO	$3.5M	$4.1M	18	—
Feb 2026	MI	$241K	$284K	8	—
Jan 2026	CO	$320K	$377K	4	—
Jan 2026	CA	$3.5M	$4.2M	—	—
Jan 2026	AZ	$3.9M	$4.6M	16	—
Nov 2025	CO	$4.5M	$5.3M	10	—
Nov 2025	CO	$500K	$588K	10	—
Nov 2025	UT	$1.9M	$2.3M	2	—
Sep 2025	MO	$400K	$471K	7	—

Volume rank #58/544Deal-size rank #452/544Momentum rank #199p90 loan: $1.9MData as of Mar 2026

Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA dataset, filtered to acquisitions (loans where business age is "Change of Ownership"). Implied deal size assumes an 85% loan-to-purchase ratio, a common SBA change-of-ownership structure. Charge-off rate shown only when 10+ loans have resolved (paid in full or charged off). Interest rates reflect last 24 months only. Actual deal values vary with equity injections, seller financing, and working capital terms.

Pros

+Low startup costs — basic equipment and a vehicle
+Built-in repaint cycle creates natural repeat business
+Easy to learn and train new painters
+Exterior and commercial work scale revenue significantly

Cons

-Seasonal slowdowns in cold climates (exterior work)
-Labor-intensive with slim margins on employee-operated jobs
-Estimating accuracy directly impacts profitability

Best For

Detail-oriented operators who can estimate accurately and manage crews

Operating Costs

Labor is 40-50% of revenue, followed by paint and materials (15-20%), vehicle costs, insurance, and marketing.

SBA Financing Estimator

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

$-1443/mo

after debt service

Deal price — $510K

Range: $250K (1.5×) to $880K (2.5×+)

Down payment — 15% ($77K)

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

Interest rate — 9.50%

SBA median for this category: 9.5%

Loan term — 10 years (120 mo)

SBA median for this category: 120 months

Down payment

$77K

15% equity injection

Loan amount

$434K

85% SBA-financed

Monthly payment

$6K/mo

$240K total interest

Monthly profit

$4K/mo

at 20% margin

Monthly cash flow after debt service

$-1443/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.