A 15.7-person shop is the whole company
National under-20 share is 68.4%. Montana’s 83.6% is the thin end of this batch. The 500-plus cell is 0%. This page will not underwrite a large-plant thesis the CBP file does not show. Most files are owner-run wood, food, and fab rooms serving resource and tourism. The seller is usually the estimator, the cell, and the customer call.
Research allows wood products, food, fabricated metal, and small shops serving resource and tourism. Confirm any NAICS count before a teaser uses one. A Missoula wood shop is a mill book. A Great Falls food room is an audit. They share a 1,393-shop flag. They do not share a calendar.
The national habit lives at Buy a manufacturing business. Sub-sectors keep wood apart from food. The owner sequence is the sell page. South Dakota has a 45.8-person average. New Mexico has a 22.2-person average. Those are different benches. Do not treat “small Western state” as a buybox.
Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, and Helena are sourcing words. This site does not publish city slugs for them. Employment of 21,825 is the smallest employment cell in this batch. That is a labor-bench fact, not a mountain premium.
HedgeStone will not invent listings. Write size band, certificates, a concentration ceiling, lease-versus-buy, the capital path, and whether you will live in the plant. A 15.7-person average means if you cannot staff a Great Falls food room without the seller, write that in the letter.
| Tiny-shop fact | 15.7-person meaning | Live-in test |
|---|---|---|
| 83.6% under 20 | Owner is the shop | Who quotes when you are in another city |
| 0% 500-plus | No campus thesis in CBP | Ask heads in week one if the teaser implies one |
| 21,825 employees | Thinnest bench in this batch | Hiring plan, not a lifestyle slide |
| Rank 40 | Sourcing universe | National size-band cells decide price |
| Resource / tourism | One mill or one ranch | Concentration is structure |
Will you live in the Billings or Missoula plant?
Write it. A buyer who likes Bozeman and lives in another time zone is a buyer who will not run a 15.7-person shop. Buyer types will not pay a sponsor print for an owner-estimator wood shop because the plant sits near a mountain. Lifestyle is not a multiple.
If you later cut or move work, open WARN. Federal WARN is the 100-full-time-employee statute (29 U.S.C. § 2101). A 15.7 average and a 0% 500-plus cell make that rare. Rare is not never. Mini-WARN is N. An N is not a speech that no notice law exists.
Do not invent a Montana transfer act
The 2026 table marks env. transfer / ISRA-style as N. Tax on M&E is F. Bulk / successor is F. Mini-WARN is N. Broker license: no dedicated rule widely cited. Counsel confirms. Do not invent an ISRA clone because the plant has a finishing history. Do not invent a mini-WARN threshold because you read New York.
How it works still puts returns before a Missoula walk. Phase I and Phase II follow ASTM E1527-21 (Source: EPA / 40 C.F.R. Part 312). Finishing, tanks, and food wastewater still get a study. A missing transfer-act row is not a holiday from dirt. Licensing briefs the missing dedicated rule. Jason Taken brokers the company. A deed still needs the other card.
| Resource book | Who the customer is | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | One mill | Consent and mix |
| Food | One ranch or grocer | Lots and certificates |
| Fabricated metal | Resource-adjacent account | Job-cost versus quote |
| Tourism-adjacent | Seasonal buyer | Peak year treated as run-rate |
How tiny-shop Montana files get financed
A 15.7-person average does not enlarge SBA 7(a). Published terms still show a $5 million maximum and a 10% injection (Source: SBA). A Helena seller note helps that injection only on full standby and only up to half. 504 remains $5 million standard, $5.5 million for a qualifying small-manufacturer project. Occupancy includes whether you will live near the plant.
| Lane | Carries a 15.7-person shop when | Dies on this map |
|---|---|---|
| 7(a) | EV plus fees plus peg fit the box | Asking EV that only works above the cap |
| 504 | You occupy — and live near — the plant | A building used as optional |
| ABL | Eligible AR | Wood residuals the exam will not advance |
| Equipment | Serialized owned cells | Mixed personal iron; undisclosed UCCs |
| Seller paper | Honest stretch | Monthly coupon labeled as injection |
An 83.6% under-20 share is not a $15 million cash-out on a thin check. Tiny shops often hide owner-used trucks and mixed personal iron. Those are not collateral until a UCC search says so. Freeze the peg in the letter. Wood inventory is not retail.
Valuation stays on national bands. IBBA Pulse Q1 2026 said 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers. Most 1,393-shop files are not in that room. Do not stretch past the published box because you like the mountain.
Four names on an 83.6% under-20 floor
The research file has no Montana OEWS table. National May 2025 medians — machinist $58,750, welder $53,750 — are backdrop (Source: BLS OEWS). Recast the burdened payroll. On a 15.7-person average, that person is the seller. Wood hides key people in the mill. Food hides them in QA. Fab hides them in estimating. Ask for the four names — there may only be four.
I-9 and OSHA 300 logs are diligence. Repeat citations are priced. ISM August 2026 PMI 54.6 and Fed G.17 July 2026 utilization 76.0% describe the year. They do not underwrite your target’s top mill.
BizBuySell’s manufacturing median 2.75x SDE is Main Street (Source: BizBuySell). Staff QoE and the relocation file against the 223-day manufacturing median close. Stanford medians assume a margin profile most 15.7-person shops do not have.
Plant visits come after paper. Confirm the cell exists and the inventory cage matches the report. An 83.6% under-20 share makes a walk-in louder — the owner is the shop.
Jason Taken will cut “anywhere in Montana” and source quietly. We will not invent a transfer act. We will not send a letter the published $5 million box cannot carry.
Counsel confirms the cells. No outcome is guaranteed.
Form 8594 still splits iron and intangibles on a 1,393-shop file. Tax on M&E is F, not MfgEx. A CPA still checks occasional-sale treatment. Do not invent an exemption row because the plant sits in Helena.
Asset versus stock is a counsel fork. Neither structure invents a transfer act. A 0% 500-plus cell means a large-plant thesis is not in the CBP file.
Should you prefer a Missoula wood shop or a Great Falls food room? Write the resource or tourism calendar before you write the radius. Rank 40 does not make those files interchangeable.
Book a confidential intro call after you can name wood, food, or metal — and whether you will live in Billings, Missoula, or Helena.
Montana CBP 2023: 1,393 shops, 21,825 employees, 15.7 average, 83.6% under 20, 0% 500-plus. Do not invent a transfer act. Tiny-shop math is the overlay.
Housing and the plant are the same diligence file on a 15.7-person shop. A buyer who likes Bozeman and lives two time zones away will not run the cell on Monday. Write the live-in answer before the radius. Mixed personal trucks and shop iron sit on tiny-shop UCC searches. Those are not collateral until the search says so.
21,825 people is the smallest employment cell in this batch. That is a hiring plan, not a mountain adjective. Great Falls food and Missoula wood do not share a calendar. One mill or one ranch is structure. A 0% 500-plus cell means a campus teaser is a week-one headcount question.
Do not invent an ISRA clone because the finishing history is long. Do not invent a mini-WARN threshold because you read another state’s page. Phase I still applies. AAI still applies. Helena’s missing dedicated license rule still dies when a deed appears.
APA versus SPA is Montana counsel’s fork after the live-in answer is written. We source quietly. We do not invent a transfer act. Book the intro call when wood, food, or metal — and whether you will stay — is already named.
Billings bay photos do not replace the live-in answer, the personal-iron UCC, or the resource calendar. Rank 40 is a sourcing count. Leave the PMI print in the year file. Demand serials in Missoula before the walk. Separate fair-market from orderly and forced. Asking EV that equals iron plus a cleaned peg is a 15.7-person payroll. An 83.6% under-20 share often means four names. Ask for all four.
Bozeman is a label. Helena is a label. A mountain preference does not enlarge the published 7(a) box on a 1,393-shop map. Name whether you will stay before you name the mountain. A 0% 500-plus cell is a CBP fact, not a lifestyle discount.