A 26.6-person Front Range shop is Main Street math
Census CBP 2023 printed 5,031 Colorado manufacturing establishments, 133,767 employees, a 26.6 average, 76.5% under 20, and 0.56% at 500-plus. That is a small-shop map. Valuation stays on national size bands. BizBuySell’s manufacturing median 2.75x SDE is the instrument most of these files deserve (Source: BizBuySell). Rank 20 is not a sponsor multiple and not a Boulder premium.
Research allows qualitative clusters only: aerospace and electronics, beer and food, fabricated metal, outdoor-product shops. Sub-sectors keep those packets apart. A Fort Collins beer plant and a Colorado Springs electronics shop share a flag. They do not share inventory classes or customer holders.
Buy a manufacturing business is the nationwide pillar. This page is the Colorado overlay. Buy a manufacturing business in Denver is the Front Range overlay. Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Boulder, and Pueblo stay sourcing labels. If you will not relocate, say so. Most operators will not.
The sell page is the owner’s voice. Oregon and Washington sit in the same writing batch. They do not share this 26.6-person cell.
The listed license cell is the buyer’s counsel question
The 2026 briefing table lists Colorado as a license state (Napkin). If the person being paid to market the 5,031-shop file required a license and did not have it, counsel should say so before you rely on the CIM. Business-broker licensing is the briefing. Do not invent a statute name. Jason Taken is a business broker. Conveying the plant still needs a licensed real-estate broker for the deed.
| Cell | Colorado posture | Buyer question on a 26.6-person shop |
|---|---|---|
| Broker license | Listed as license state (Napkin) | Did the engagement require a license, and does the broker have it? |
| Env. transfer | N | Phase I / AAI still required if dirt or wet process |
| Sales tax on M&E | MfgEx / Occ | What does the Colorado CPA say on this conveyance? |
| Bulk / successor | F | Fact-dependent; do not assume a clearance certificate |
| Mini-WARN | N | Federal WARN if facts fit — a 26.6 average often sits under 100 FT |
Why would a Colorado buyer refuse a Boulder radius search?
Because 76.5% of the shops sit under 20 people and most of them are not interchangeable. A radius dump wastes seller goodwill and mixes beer, outdoor-product, and electronics files that do not share a packet. Write process, size band, certificates, concentration ceiling, real-estate stance, and capital path first. HedgeStone will not send every employer establishment in the 5,031-count file.
How it works still puts returns before a Denver walk. A 26.6-person shop usually means the owner quotes and holds the customer. If you cannot replace that person in Pueblo or Fort Collins, the teaser is a brochure.
The research file has no Colorado wage table. National May 2025 OEWS medians — machinist $58,750, welder $53,750 — are backdrop (Source: BLS OEWS). Recast the burdened payroll. Do not invent a Denver print.
Occupancy and 504 on mountain dirt
SBA 7(a) for manufacturing acquisitions is the product page. Published 7(a) still shows a $5 million maximum and a 10% injection (Source: SBA). Boulder seller paper counts toward the 10% only on full standby for the 7(a) life, and only for half. A current coupon is just another loan.
504 can carry an occupied plant: $5 million standard, $5.5 million small-manufacturer. Occupancy is a fact. A building you will not use after the wire is not a 504 story. Combined programs are not a cash-out on a thin check against a 26.6-person shop.
| Stack | Fits a 5,031-shop Front Range file | Dies when |
|---|---|---|
| 7(a) | Operating company inside the published box | Asking EV treats a 26.6-person shop as a platform |
| 504 | Occupied Denver or Springs plant | Mountain dirt kept “for optionality” |
| ABL | Eligible AR | Beer WIP the exam kicks |
| Equipment | Owned serialized cells | Hidden liens on a press |
| Seller paper | Honest stretch | Current-pay note called injection |
Write the peg before anyone counts. Beer-plant chemistry and electronics WIP do not share a class. Physical count at close.
Phase I when transfer is N
Environmental transfer is N. That is not a holiday on a finishing line or a beer plant. Phase I supports All Appropriate Inquiries (Source: EPA / 40 C.F.R. Part 312). Phase I and Phase II ESA follows ASTM E1527-21. Studies stale. Lease the plant and you still want process history. Buy the dirt and you want a current study.
If you later cut or move work, federal WARN tests 100 or more full-time employees. Mini-WARN N. A 26.6-person average shop often sits under the federal test. The 0.56% 500-plus share is small. If a teaser implies a campus, ask for headcount in week one.
Buyer types price Front Range files on different earnings bases. An aero add-on will not pay a program print for an owner-quoted outdoor-product shop. A searcher who imported a services median will miss a 26.6-person metal book. A 7(a) operator stops when asking EV plus fees plus the peg miss the published box.
Use BizBuySell’s 223-day manufacturing median as a staffing clock for QoE and the Napkin license confirm (Source: BizBuySell). IBBA’s Q1 2026 print that 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers describes a room most 5,031 shops never enter. Park ISM’s August 2026 PMI 54.6 and Fed G.17 July 2026 utilization 76.0% in the year file — they do not underwrite a Boulder teaser.
On a Front Range close, the quarter is keeping the estimator, locking the beer or electronics accounts you priced, and recounting. The 7(a) box is closed (Source: SBA). A 26.6-person shop does not run itself from Denver International.
Pull serials and liens before a Fort Collins walk. Appraise FMV, OLV, and FLV separately. When asking EV is basically iron plus a cleaned peg, you are buying a small payroll. Concentration above about 25–30% of sales is still structure.
Jason Taken will write aero, beer and food, metal, or outdoor-product work — then cut Front Range radius language. We will not hide a listed license cell because the Boulder teaser photographed well.
Colorado counsel picks APA or SPA. Neither form answers the Napkin listing. Confirm cells locally. No outcome is guaranteed.
A beer plant in Fort Collins still needs tank history. An electronics shop in the Springs still needs the qualification card. An outdoor-product shop in Boulder still needs a seasonal peg. Those three files do not share a QoE exhibit because they share a Front Range zip. Write the process. Then ask who quotes when the owner is out. Then ask whether you will occupy the dirt you are financing.
Book a confidential intro call after you can name the process and whether you will live on the Front Range.
Pueblo is not Boulder. Fort Collins is not Colorado Springs. A 76.5% under-20 share means most 5,031 shops are owner-quoted Main Street files. Ask who programs, who quotes, who can run second shift, and who holds the customer. If you cannot name those four people after the binder, you are not ready to tour.
Beer-plant chemistry still needs a Phase I even though transfer is N. Outdoor-product seasonality still belongs in the peg. Aerospace and electronics still need the qualification card live. Do not average those three because they share a Front Range zip code.
Occupancy on mountain dirt is a 504 fact. A building you will not use after the wire is not a debenture story. Combined 7(a) and 504 capacity is still not a cash-out on a 26.6-person check. Rates stay lender-specific. This page will not invent a prime-plus quote for Denver.
Pull serials before a Pueblo walk. A crashed spindle dressed as “included iron” is a chip. Undisclosed UCC filings on a press line are a chip. WIP the field exam will kick is a chip. Write those three before exclusivity.
A 0.56% 500-plus share means campuses are rare on this map. If the CIM says platform, ask for heads. Most of the 5,031 shops sit under 20 people. A letter that pretends otherwise wastes Front Range seller goodwill.
Educational briefing only. Colorado counsel, a CPA, a lender, and qualified environmental and M&E professionals own the Napkin license cell and the tax cells. No outcome is guaranteed.
A Front Range buyer who will not live in Denver, the Springs, Fort Collins, Boulder, or Pueblo should say so before anyone spends seller goodwill. Most operators will not relocate for a 26.6-person shop. Occupancy, the Napkin license confirm, and a written process beat a Saturday drive past a press line. Ask who quotes when the owner is skiing.
Colorado’s CBP 2023 file counted 5,031 shops, 133,767 employees, a 26.6 average, 76.5% under 20, and 0.56% at 500-plus. The license cell is listed. Mini-WARN is N. Write a small-shop buybox.