The product brief is SBA 7(a) for manufacturing acquisitions. The three-column scorecard is SBA versus ABL versus mezzanine. Asset-based lending is the revolver page. This URL is the payment worksheet.
| Product | What the worksheet will amortize | What it will not invent |
|---|---|---|
| 7(a) | Principal you type, at a rate you already have | A prime-plus quote |
| Standby seller note | Nothing — it is not a payment line | Calling monthly interest “equity” |
| ABL | A sample revolver draw if you enter one | A borrowing-base formula for your AR |
| 504 | A reminder of the occupancy product | A debenture rate |
What box must every 7(a) input respect?
SBA 7(a) still caps at $5 million (Source: SBA). The change-of-ownership injection remains 10% under SOP 50 10 8 (Source: SBA). A seller note counts toward that injection only on full standby — no principal and no interest — for the life of the 7(a), and only up to half the injection (Source: SBA). Seller notes and standby is that instrument. Current-pay paper is a different line.
SBA 504 remains $5 million standard and $5.5 million on a qualifying small-manufacturer project (Source: SBA). Combined 7(a) and 504 can reach $10 million for fitting borrowers (Source: SBA). 504 for plants and heavy equipment is the occupancy product. Buying above the SBA cap is the rebuild conversation when enterprise value will not fit.
This worksheet flags any entered 7(a) principal above $5 million as out of box. It will not silently amortize folklore.
What amortization method is labeled ILLUSTRATIVE?
ILLUSTRATIVE METHOD — not your note, not a quote, not a commitment.
If — and only if — the user supplies a lender-quoted annual rate r, a principal P at or under $5 million, and a term in months n, the teaching identity is a level monthly payment:
PMT = P × (i (1+i)^n) / ((1+i)^n − 1) where i = r/12.
That is ordinary fixed-rate amortization so a buyer can see how principal and interest share a payment. Your 7(a) may be variable, may have a different term, may include guarantee fees, and may reset. This page will not invent r. If r is blank, the output is “rate is lender-specific — no payment computed.”
Do not paste a blog’s “prime plus” into the spec as a default. There is no default rate in the JSON. The default principal example is an illustrative $1,200,000 — near a Main Street file, not a cap fill — and the default injection illustration is 10% of project cost (Source: SBA). Median Main Street manufacturing earnings in BizBuySell’s 2021–2025 set were about $268k of SDE (Source: BizBuySell / Iconic). Coverage still needs a replacement wage.
How is ABL different on the same worksheet?
ABL is a monthly borrowing-base test. Outstanding advances change when eligible AR and eligible inventory change. Interest follows the outstanding, not a frozen amortization of a purchase-price note. The spec’s ABL section asks for a lender-quoted rate on outstanding advances and an illustrative average outstanding — both user-entered. It will not invent advance rates as law. Market-practice folklore (often discussed as 70–85% of eligible AR and 40–60% of eligible inventory, lower on WIP) stays labeled folklore.
Confusing ABL availability with a 7(a) payment is how month-two liquidity dies. The peg is a third calculator. Do not use this page as a peg.
Most lenders ignore earn-outs as a repayment source. Model DSCR on cash at close. Market-practice coverage of about 1.20–1.30x is a habit, not a published SBA rate. Habits still require a wage line. BLS OEWS May 2025 median pay — machinist $58,750, welder $53,750 — is labor context, not the owner’s wage (Source: BLS OEWS).
What calendar and climate sentences belong here?
BizBuySell’s 2025 manufacturing median close ran 223 days (Source: BizBuySell). Packaging sits on that clock. A worksheet that “proves” coverage on an invented rate wastes those days.
IBBA Pulse Q1 2026 still showed majority cash at close across bands (Source: IBBA). The loan is not the whole price. Buy a manufacturing business still wants the buybox in writing.
ISM’s August 2026 PMI of 54.6 and Prices Index of 71.1, and Fed utilization of 76.0% in July 2026, are CIM weather (Source: ISM; Fed G.17). They are not a spread.
Stanford’s 2024–25 search median of about $16 million at ~6.2x EBITDA on a ~25% margin company is not a 7(a) quote and not a job-shop print (Source: Stanford GSB). If the cell implies EV above the $5 million box, rebuild the stack. Do not ask this worksheet to amortize a search-median fantasy inside 7(a).
Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 plants, 68.4% under 20 employees (Source: Census CBP). Most individual files that fit 7(a) live in that majority. Affiliation can still block a sponsor wearing an individual hat. Eligibility is the lender’s lane.
What the spec outputs
For 7(a): in-box flag, illustrative injection dollars at 10%, illustrative PMT only if a lender rate was entered, and a written “rates are lender-specific” line. For ABL: a reminder that interest follows outstanding advances, plus illustrative interest-only math if the user entered both a quoted rate and an average outstanding. For both: a disclaimer that Jason Taken is a business broker, not a lender.
Educational information only. Not a commitment. Not a rate quote. Amortization is labeled ILLUSTRATIVE. The conversion path is a confidential intro call.