$1.6M Revenue/$230k SDE Architectural Metal Fabrication & Commercial Stainless Steel Shop | Central Pennsylvania

The business is a custom architectural metal fabrication and commercial stainless steel shop in central Pennsylvania. 40 years of continuous operating history under the current ownership group — founded in 1985 — with deep customer relationships and a 9-person production team. The shop operates from a 30,000-square-foot leased facility at approximately $4,000 per month in rent, with an established raw material supplier network within an hour of the shop providing delivery. Service mix. The business has two distinct customer lanes. The first and primary lane is architectural metal fabrication — canopies, sunshades, and related building exterior products — sold approximately 80% through general contractors with the remaining 20% direct to shopping centers, retail stores, and restaurant groups. The shop services projects across 11 states from its Pennsylvania base. The second lane is commercial stainless steel fabrication — primarily restaurant equipment including hoods and food service equipment — sold to mom-and-pop restaurant operators and through relationships with food service equipment suppliers within roughly a 100-mile radius of the shop. Financials. Revenue was approximately $1.6 million in###-###-#### Gross profit was approximately $100,000 on a P&L basis, with owner W-2 compensation of approximately $130,000 — implying adjusted SDE in the rough range of $230,000 before further owner add-back diligence. The headline gross margin is thin by industrial fabrication standards and will require honest scrutiny — a buyer should plan to do real diligence on cost-of-goods accounting, owner add-backs, customer concentration on the GC side, and project margin variance across the architectural canopy lane versus the restaurant stainless lane. Owner asking. The seller has indicated a $400,000 asking price for the business. Real estate is not part of the deal — the shop leases its facility. Ownership and exit. The business is 90% owned by the founder with 10% held by the estimator. Both owners intend to retire by the end of 2026 regardless of whether the business sells. The founder is willing to stay on for approximately six months post-close to support transition. There is no successor or internal management bench to take over — a buyer will need to bring or build the management team. The remaining 7 production employees would stay through transition. Prior process. The business was previously listed with a broker in 2019 and received an offer that fell through when COVID hit. The owner is now actively exploring a sale again on an unrepresented basis. The good. 40-year operating history with deep general contractor relationships across 11 states and an established restaurant-supplier referral network. The asking price of $400,000 against approximately $230,000 of estimated SDE is light — roughly 1.7x SDE — which leaves meaningful room for a buyer to absorb the management-team buildout cost and still acquire below typical service-business multiples. The 30,000-square-foot facility provides material operating capacity and is leased at a reasonable rate, which protects against landlord risk while keeping the buyer's capital deployed in working capital rather than real estate. The 7-person production team would stay through transition, preserving operational continuity at the shop floor. The bad. The thin gross margin is the dominant concern. At approximately 6% on a P&L basis, the business has minimal cushion against material cost variance, project pricing pressure, or labor cost increases — a buyer needs to understand whether this reflects accounting choices and owner add-backs (in which case adjusted gross margin is higher) or genuine pricing/cost structure pressure (in which case real margin improvement work is required day one). Both owners are exiting with no internal successor — a buyer must bring a general manager or step into the operating role themselves. The architectural canopy and the restaurant stainless lanes are quite different operationally and a buyer should clarify whether to continue running both or simplify the mix. The shop leases rather than owns the facility, which limits SBA collateral options compared to a real-estate-included deal. The prior failed broker process in 2019 means some local awareness of the business being for sale, though the COVID timing gives a credible explanation for why a buyer should not view this as a stale listing. Why this is interesting for a searcher or independent sponsor. This is a 40-year custom fabrication business with real customer relationships and a built-out production team, available at an asking price that maps cleanly to SBA 7(a) sizing for an individual operator with modest equity. The two distinct service lanes (architectural and restaurant stainless) provide diversification and optionality — a buyer can choose to specialize, expand both, or rebuild the mix toward higher-margin work. The 7-person production team carries the operational know-how that allows the business to function while the buyer recruits or steps into a management role. For an SBA-financeable searcher with operational instincts and willingness to do real margin-improvement work on the production floor, the price-to-SDE math creates room for both the management transition cost and meaningful upside if margin can be expanded through pricing discipline, customer mix optimization, or product line focus. CT Strategic Partners is engaged exclusively on the buy side with the seller and expects buy side compensation from the acquirer at close. The seller pays no fees. We are not brokers and we are not running a process. This is a single buy side introduction made to a qualified acquirer who completes diligence and reaches terms with the owner directly. If this is interesting, reach out by DM or directly at redacted