Established Custom Window Treatment Franchise, 20-Year North Carolina Operation

$5.6M

Revenue

$1.4M

SDE

4.1x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a custom window treatment franchise operating in a protected North Carolina territory since 2004. The business runs a full turnkey model: design consultation, product sales, project management, installation, and after-sale service, serving residential homeowners, new construction, commercial clients, builders, and interior designers. It generates $5.6M in revenue with a 56% gross margin and $1.41M in seller's discretionary earnings, which is a genuinely strong profit profile for a home-improvement services operation.

What separates this from the typical owner-dependent home services deal is the infrastructure. The seller has built out documented systems, an integrated CRM and workflow platform, and a 13-person cross-functional team covering sales, operations, purchasing, installation, and admin. That team depth plus a stated customer concentration of under 1% for the largest account is the kind of setup that survives an ownership change, which is exactly what a buyer paying 4.1x cash flow needs to underwrite.

The headline risk is the category itself. Custom window coverings are a discretionary, high-ticket home improvement purchase tied to housing turnover, remodeling activity, and consumer confidence. Twenty years of history and a diversified referral base soften that, but this is not a business that holds its numbers flat through a real downturn, and the multiple should be pressure-tested against a stress-case revenue scenario.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is strong for the category: $1.41M SDE on $5.6M revenue is a 25% owner-earnings margin, and the stated 56% gross profit margin gives real cushion. The largest customer is under 1% of revenue, so there is no single-account cliff risk, and earnings come from a diversified mix of residential, commercial, builder, and designer channels.
The moat here is unusual for home services: a protected franchise territory plus a 20-year reputation and referral network. Combined with franchisor-provided training and systems, a new owner inherits both brand recognition and a proven playbook rather than starting cold in a fragmented, mom-and-pop-heavy market.
This is a manager-run operation, not an owner-doing-everything shop. Thirteen employees across sales, operations, purchasing, installation, and admin, plus documented processes and an integrated CRM, mean the transition risk is lower than a comparable services business where the owner is the salesperson, estimator, and installer all at once.
There is a genuine growth lever in motorized and smart-home window coverings. That product line carries higher ticket values and is riding a real secular trend in home automation, and the seller states existing infrastructure can absorb growth without material new capex.

How to improve it

Push commercial and builder channel share aggressively in the first 90 days. Commercial and new-construction work carries larger project sizes and more predictable pipeline than one-off residential jobs, and the listing flags increased commercial sales as an untapped lever the current owner never fully pursued.
Build a recurring or semi-recurring revenue layer through motorization service, warranty, and maintenance plans. Motorized and smart-home systems break and need servicing, so a paid service plan converts a one-time install into a returning customer relationship and smooths the discretionary revenue base.
Formalize the referral and repeat-customer engine into a measured program. The business runs on referrals from designers, builders, and past clients, but codifying those relationships with tracked incentives and a designer partner program would turn an informal strength into a quantifiable, defensible pipeline.
Add sales capacity, which the seller explicitly names as a constraint. If the existing team is turning away or slow-quoting demand, hiring one or two consultative salespeople against a proven close model is a fast, low-risk way to convert existing lead flow into revenue.
Expand marketing beyond the current referral-heavy mix. A 20-year brand with strong reputation is likely under-investing in digital lead generation, and targeted local search and paid campaigns could feed the added sales capacity without diluting the premium positioning.
Tighten purchasing and vendor terms to protect the 56% gross margin. At $5.6M of revenue, even a two-point improvement on product cost through better supplier agreements or volume commitments drops six figures straight to SDE.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize revenue cyclicality across 2020 through 2025. Custom window coverings are discretionary and housing-linked, so pull monthly revenue through the last downturn and rate-hike period to see how the business actually held up rather than relying on a single strong 2025 figure.
Read the franchise agreement in full before anything else. Confirm remaining term, renewal rights, transfer approval requirements and fees, royalty and marketing-fund percentages, and the exact boundaries of the protected territory, because all of these directly affect the value and portability of the SDE.
Verify the $1.41M SDE build-up and the gap to $1.26M EBITDA. Get the add-back schedule, confirm the owner's actual working role and replacement cost, and check whether a hired manager would be needed post-sale, which would reduce true buyer cash flow.
Assess the depth and retention risk of the 13-person team, especially the key salespeople and installers. In a referral-driven business the relationships often live with individuals, so review compensation, tenure, non-competes, and whether the departing owner personally holds any key accounts.
Review the NNN lease terms and remaining runway on the 8,600 square foot facility. Rent is $10,037 per month, so confirm escalation clauses, renewal options, and that the space supports the growth plan without a forced relocation mid-hold.
Confirm the $426,000 in FF&E and vehicles is accurate and in working condition. Verify vehicle age and maintenance, whether any assets are leased or financed, and that the included equipment genuinely supports operations without near-term replacement capex.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →