What factors lead Landscaping companies to default on SBA loans?

searcher profile

August 26, 2021

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in New York, NY, USA

I was reading this article today. I hadn't seen an analysis like it before
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/study-1-in-6-sba-small-business-administration-loans-fail

I had known the stat of 1-2% SBA loans default per year, but
-- 1 in 6 SBA loans overall default
-- Landscaping is one of the industries with the highest SBA loan volume
-- ###-###-#### cumulative Landscaping loan default rate was 15.82% (1,020 defaults out of 6,449 loans)

This seemed really high. It included the time period of the great recession which probably had some landscapers exposed to residential sub-prime

Has anyone heard of done actual further analysis on the reasons for default? Some hypotheses below which are not supported by data:
---- Over-leveraged purchase (too low coverage ratio, purchase multiple was too high, etc)
---- General Buyer was unable to manage the business?
---- Too much project rather than recurring exposure?
---- Poor / incorrect diligence work? (e.g. not understanding the amount of capex replacement needed, or actual fraud in Seller representations?)
---- Loss of a major one or more clients?
---- Seller competing with buyer after 5 (or less) year non-compete expires?
---- Do smaller landscapers default more?
---- Do single-family-focused landscaping firms default more?
---- Certain areas of the country defaulting more?
---- Abnormal event puts company out of business (e.g. flood destroys facility, fire destroys customer structure, excessive snow and no cap to customer snow coverage in contract, etc)

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commentor profile
Reply by a professional
from Taylor University in Indianapolis, IN, USA
As an SBA microlender we see a lot of loan applications for lawncare and landscaping businesses. My hypothesis for why defaults might be high:
1. There are low barriers to entry for someone to start a landscaping business so existing businesses are constantly hit with new competitors that compete on price.
2. It is actually easier to get an SBA loan for this type of business because there is typically equipment that can be used as collateral, so I think it could be easier for an early stage, less experienced landscaping business to get an SBA loan in the first place compared to other types of businesses that might be applying for SBA loans.
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Reply by a lender
in Yorba Linda, CA, USA
The default rates highlighted in this piece are heavily influenced by a huge spike in defaults on SBA Express loans during and after the The Great Recession. Large banks were churning out $50,000 +/- SBA Express lines of credit as a stand-alone product for very small businesses from their retail banking franchises. Credit decisions were being made with scorecard methodology, and businesses were borrowing that often did not have any sophistication with debt. It was an unmitigated disaster for the banks. If you could look at a subset of data that excluded those defaults, the % would be much, much lower.
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