Established Stone Supply Company, 35-Year Ulster County New York Distributor

$2.5M

Revenue

$1.0M

SDE

3.0x

Multiple

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a stone supply distributor in Ulster County, New York that has operated for more than 35 years since its founding in 1991. The company sells a wide variety of stone materials and adds value through custom stone cutting, project consultation, and delivery. Its customer base skews toward contractors, builders, landscapers, and homeowners in the Hudson Valley who need natural and dimensional stone for hardscape, masonry, and construction projects.

The numbers are attractive on paper: roughly $2.5 million in revenue against approximately $1 million in owner benefit, a 40 percent SDE margin that is well above typical building-materials distribution. The asking price of $2,995,000 includes about $1 million of inventory and $500,000 of equipment, which means a meaningful slice of the price is tangible working capital and hard assets rather than pure goodwill. Note the listing internally contradicts itself on inventory (the narrative says $1M, the data block says $100k), which materially changes what you are actually buying.

The major catch is that this is not a turnkey site transfer. The seller is keeping the operating property and the business must be physically relocated, and separately owns a 24-acre parcel available to lease at $10,000 per month with a future purchase option. A buyer is therefore acquiring a brand, a customer list, inventory, and equipment, then rebuilding the operation at a new location. That relocation risk is the single biggest variable in this deal.

Why we like it

The reported earnings quality looks strong on the surface, with about $1 million of SDE on $2.5 million of revenue, a 40 percent margin that far exceeds normal distribution economics. That premium margin usually signals either genuine pricing power on specialty stone or an owner benefit figure padded with personal add-backs, and it deserves hard scrutiny in diligence.
The moat is a 35-year local reputation plus custom cutting and consultation, which turns a commodity product into a specified, relationship-driven sale. Contractors return to a known supplier who can cut, source, and deliver reliably, and that switching friction protects margin better than pure price competition.
A large share of the asking price is backed by hard assets: inventory and $500,000 of equipment are included. That gives a buyer real downside protection versus a goodwill-heavy service business, since inventory can be liquidated and equipment holds resale value if the operation underperforms.
The Hudson Valley construction and renovation market provides a durable local demand base, and the 3x cash flow multiple with some seller financing available is reasonable for an established regional distributor with this profit level.

How to improve it

Lock the relocation site immediately and treat it as the number one workstream. Negotiate the 24-acre lease down from $10,000 per month or secure a purchase price on the option up front, because $120,000 of annual rent is real and directly cuts the SDE you just paid 3x for.
Reconcile and reprice the inventory before closing. The listing says $1 million in the narrative but $100,000 in the data block, a ten-fold discrepancy that changes the deal, so verify the true stock value and cut aged or slow-moving stone that ties up capital.
Build a contractor account program with volume tiers, delivery scheduling, and net terms to convert one-off buyers into repeat commercial accounts. Repeat contractor revenue is stickier and higher-margin than walk-in homeowner sales and would meaningfully de-risk the topline.
Add a simple online catalog, quote request, and Google Business presence, since a 35-year stone supplier likely under-invests in digital. Capturing homeowner and landscape-designer search traffic in the Hudson Valley is a low-cost lever to grow leads without adding fixed cost.
Systematize the custom cutting and consultation function that currently lives in the owner's head. Document specs, pricing, and vendor sourcing so the value-add survives the transition and does not walk out the door with the seller.
Push a delivery radius expansion into adjacent counties like Orange and Dutchess where comparable suppliers already operate. With trucks and equipment included, incremental delivery revenue carries strong marginal profit.
Formalize supplier relationships and negotiate volume rebates on core stone SKUs. Better landed cost on the top-moving materials flows straight to the bottom line in a distribution model.

Diligence notes

Resolve the inventory contradiction first. The narrative claims $1 million of inventory included while the data block lists $100,000, and this single question swings hundreds of thousands of dollars of value, so demand a dated, valued inventory count and tie it to the purchase agreement.
Fully bridge the $1 million SDE. A 40 percent margin in stone distribution is unusually high, so scrutinize add-backs, owner compensation, personal expenses, and whether the current property was being used rent-free, since the buyer will now pay $10,000 per month in rent that the historical financials never carried.
Model the true cost and timeline of relocation. The business must move because the seller is keeping the property, so quantify permitting delays, site preparation, moving heavy stone inventory, downtime, and potential customer attrition during the transition.
Assess customer concentration and revenue durability given the cyclical construction end market. Stone supply demand tracks new build and remodeling activity, so pull the customer list, check for over-reliance on a few contractors, and stress test revenue against a housing slowdown.
Verify years in business and owner reliance. Confirm the 1991 founding date, employee roles across the four-person team, and how much of sourcing, cutting expertise, and contractor relationships depend on the departing owner.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →