How it works is the process spine. LOI to close is the second-half clock. Do not collapse those pages into one slogan.
What does 223 days actually describe?
A median on a sold manufacturing set in one marketplace review (Source: BizBuySell). Half the files in that set took longer. Files that never closed do not appear. A shop that leaked in week two and rebid in month ten is not in the pretty half.
Census CBP 2023 counted 284,452 plants, 68.4% under twenty employees (Source: Census CBP). Small files can still take a full season because the owner is also the quote desk.
| Clock | What it is | What it is not |
|---|---|---|
| 223-day median | Sold-set manufacturing median in the 2025 review | Your promised close |
| Phase I 180-day stale rule | AAI component life (Source: EPA) | A reason to start the report at wiring |
| SBA packaging | Valuation, injection, standby paper | A two-week rubber stamp |
| Exclusive you just granted | A process decision | A substitute for a staged room |
| “We can close in 45 days” | A wish | A plan |
SBA 7(a) still needs a supported valuation inside a $5 million box and a 10% injection (Source: SBA). That work sits on the calendar whether you like it or not.
What actually burns the season?
An undefined peg. A machine list without serials. A 32% customer with no contract. A Phase I ordered after exclusivity. All Appropriate Inquiries still governs the environmental start (Source: EPA / 40 C.F.R. Part 312). Components generally stale after 180 days — which is shorter than the 223-day median. Order the work so it lives to close.
Sell a manufacturer is the pillar if you are three years out. Starting the recast now is how you refuse to live the median as a surprise.
How should you use the median without worshipping it?
Use it to refuse a 45-day exclusive from a buyer who has not seen the serial list. Use it to budget counsel, an appraiser, and a Phase I. Use it to decide whether you can run Monday and a sale at the same time. Do not use it as a guarantee to a spouse or a lender.
What a manufacturing broker charges is a related question because time is part of the fee. The FAQ index keeps fee and calendar on separate slugs.
What can you stage in year minus one so the median is not a surprise?
Recast the last three years while you still remember why the legal bill existed. Serialize the machine list while the maintenance guy still works here. Roll up the customer file while the bookkeeper still answers email. Order a current Phase I if you already know the dirt is wet — or at least find the stale one so the buyer is not the first person to see it.
Decide whether the building sells. That single decision changes counsel, lenders, and the calendar. Decide whether you are still the quote desk. An owner-dependent shop that also tries to run a process will live the 223-day median as a double shift.
Clean the add-back binder. A perk you cannot document is not a perk. It is a QoE death scheduled for month two of exclusivity. Start second-source work if concentration is the cliff. Starting it after the first tour is a rescue, not a plan.
Do not grant a 45-day exclusive to a buyer who has not seen the serial list. Do not promise a spouse a third-quarter close because a neighbor closed in fourteen weeks. The neighbor’s file is not in your drawer.
What should you bring if you want a timeline conversation that is not theater?
Whether the building sells. Whether you are still on the floor. Whether a 7(a) buyer is the likely room. Whether prior environmental reports exist. Whether the machine list is already serialized. Whether you can staff a process for two or three quarters.
A file that is ready — serialized list, recast, customer rollup, dirt history, building decision — can still take a season because lenders, appraisers, and counsel own their own clocks. Readiness removes surprises. It does not mint a 90-day promise this site will not print.
A file that is not ready will live the median as a series of restarts. Each restart looks like “the buyer was slow.” Often the file was slow. Stage year minus one. Then ask for the calendar. The owner timeline is the long clock. This FAQ only quotes the national median so you stop promising a quarter you have not staged.
Jason Taken is a business broker. He will not promise a close date. Refuse a 45-day exclusive from a party that has not seen the serial list. The national median is a warning, not a dare.
Readiness removes restarts. It does not mint a 90-day promise this site will not print.
Educational information only. After the owner URL, the path is a confidential intro call.