East Tennessee Exterior Cleaning & Dryer Vent Companies, Manager-Run

$1.3M

Revenue

$525K

SDE

3.8x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is two complementary East Tennessee service businesses sold as one package: a pressure washing and high-rise window cleaning operation and a dryer vent cleaning company focused on multi-family apartment communities. Both run out of a single 2,500 sq ft leased flex facility under one shared operations manager, with the owner handling commercial sales and key accounts rather than field work. Combined 2025 revenue was $1.27M with $524,588 in SDE, and the asking price of $2M reflects a 3.8x multiple.

The real story here is the shift toward recurring multifamily work. Roughly $653K, or 51% of 2025 revenue, came from apartment communities, and that share has climbed to 63% through September 2026. Dryer vent cleaning in particular is a mostly repeat business, with communities booking yearly or more often, some clients retained for 7 to 8 years, and over half of next year's revenue already expected from existing multifamily accounts. No single customer exceeds 10% of revenue, and the business has served 3,000 customers in three years with 5,000 contacts in its database.

What makes this notable is that it is already de-risked from a labor standpoint: 7 W-2 employees including an operations manager who runs scheduling, phones, crews and equipment for both companies. The owner works 30-40 hours a week and is selling to launch a software venture, not because the business is tired. That creates a clean handoff opportunity for a buyer who can plug in a dedicated commercial salesperson to replace the one function the owner still personally owns.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is solid for the size: $524,588 SDE and $410,169 EBITDA on $1.27M revenue means real margin, and the seller states the $1.27M matches tax returns. Revenue grew from $1.05M in 2024 to $1.27M in 2025, so you are buying momentum rather than a declining book.
The moat is the recurring multifamily base, which climbed from 20% of pressure washing revenue three years ago to roughly 50% today, with some property-manager relationships running 7 to 8 years. Dryer vent cleaning is a compliance-adjacent, mostly-repeat service that apartment communities rebook on a cycle, which makes the revenue sticky and hard for a one-truck competitor to dislodge.
Market tailwinds favor essential maintenance services. Dryer vent cleaning reduces fire risk and is increasingly expected by property managers, and pressure washing is a periodic upkeep need for multifamily and commercial buildings regardless of the economic cycle, which is why both services hold up in a downturn.
Operator advantage is unusually clean: a manager already runs both companies day to day, the only owner-held function is commercial sales, and the seller is leaving for a new venture rather than burning out. A buyer who hires one salesperson or works the pipeline themselves inherits a functioning org with 2027 bookings already underway.

How to improve it

Convert repeat multifamily clients onto annual service agreements immediately. The seller flags this as an open opportunity, and locking communities into scheduled yearly or twice-yearly contracts would turn soft repeat revenue into contracted recurring revenue that lifts both predictability and exit multiple.
Hire the dedicated commercial salesperson the owner currently is. Nearly all commercial growth has come from one person, so replacing and then scaling that role de-risks the single largest key-man dependency while opening capacity to chase the $80K+ open healthcare bid and similar institutional work.
Expand the dryer vent service into Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, where the listing says property managers are already requesting quotes. This is a low-capital adjacency because the crews, skid equipment and playbook already exist, so geographic expansion is mostly a routing and sales problem.
Work the 5,000-contact database with a structured reactivation and reminder campaign. With 3,000 customers served in three years and no formal marketing to the list, email and SMS re-engagement for annual rebookings is a near-free revenue lever.
Build out the healthcare and institutional vertical. The business already has $36K in recurring hospital work, a completed $30K+ project at a sister hospital, and an $80K+ proposal outstanding, so landing a few institutional accounts could meaningfully diversify revenue toward higher-value, lower-churn clients.
Add a second dryer vent crew to capture the 25% growth rate. Dryer vent revenue is up 25% through September 2026 and is the higher-margin line, so adding capacity there rather than letting demand sit unserved is the most direct path to margin expansion.
Tighten the equipment and fleet replacement plan. One rig is a 2012 vehicle, so budgeting for replacement and documenting maintenance protects uptime and avoids a surprise capex hit in the first year of ownership.

Diligence notes

Verify the $1.27M revenue and $524,588 SDE against three years of tax returns and bank statements, and reconstruct the SDE add-backs line by line. The split financials (pressure washing TTM vs dryer vent 2025) use different periods, so confirm the combined figure is apples-to-apples and not double-counting any seasonal months.
Stress-test the recurring revenue claim. The listing calls multifamily and dryer vent work 'mostly repeat' and says over 50% of next year is expected from repeat clients, but confirm how much is actually contracted versus merely likely to rebook, and pull the 2027 bookings to date to validate.
Scrutinize the owner's role before committing. The owner works 30-40 hours a week on commercial sales and key accounts, so quantify how much revenue is tied to his personal relationships and build a concrete plan to transfer those accounts during the extended transition.
Confirm the lease runway and facility fit. There are only 2 to 3 years left on the lease expiring 10/31/2029 at $3,600 a month, so understand renewal terms and whether the 2,500 sq ft flex space can support the planned dryer vent and geographic expansion without a move.
Validate the asset values and fleet condition. Total vehicle and equipment value is stated at $235K to $250K with FF&E of $240K included, but inspect the RO/DI system, dryer vent skid and the aging 2012 vehicle, and confirm all assets transfer free of liens.
Assess labor concentration and key-man risk among the 7 employees. The single operations manager runs both companies, so understand compensation, tenure, non-compete status and what happens to continuity if that manager leaves shortly after close.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →