Security Guard Company for Sale and What It Costs to Buy an Existing Security Company

An existing US security company cost a median $750,000 to buy across 2021 to 2025, based on closed BizBuySell sales, on median revenue of $862,943 and median owner earnings of $241,687. Financed with an SBA 7(a) loan at 10 percent down, the cash you bring to that purchase is about $90,188 for the equity injection and the SBA guaranty fee, and a guard company needs payroll working capital on top, about $70,927 at 30 days of receivables. The median deal finances, but it is above the price line where the SBA lender must order an outside valuation.

Most pages that answer this question price starting a guard company: a license application, insurance, uniforms and a few officers. Buying a security guard company for sale is a different purchase. You pay for client contracts that already bill every week, a trained roster, a state license history and a schedule that already covers every post. The price is set by earnings. Whether it is a good buy is set by how long those contracts last and whether they come with you.

How much does it cost to buy a security guard company?

The median security company sold for $750,000, which is 3.10 times its $241,687 of seller discretionary earnings and about 0.87 times its revenue. The published median multiple is 2.61x earnings, and half of all sales landed between 1.95x and 3.29x. The readings differ because the median price, the median earnings and the median multiple come from different businesses; larger companies sell at higher multiples and pull the median price up, so $241,687 at 2.61x gives $630,803, about 16 percent below what the middle company actually sold for.

BizBuySell's security category mixes guard services with alarm and camera installation and monitoring, and most companies for sale do more than one. Seller discretionary earnings (SDE) is net profit plus the owner's pay, benefits, interest, depreciation and one-time costs, the cash one full-time owner takes out. Read the price off the earnings of the company you are looking at:

Which column applies depends mostly on size and contract quality. BizBuySell states that a security company generating $2MM in revenue may command an earnings multiple of 3.3 or higher, while a smaller business with sales below $500k may trade below 2 times its discretionary earnings. A guard company with one large client and month-to-month terms sits at the bottom; one with forty clients on multi-year contracts and a monitoring book sits at the top. The full distribution, the year-by-year prices and the comparison with 15 other service businesses are on our security company valuation page. If the seller has handed you a profit and loss statement rather than an SDE figure, start with how to calculate SDE.

How much money do you need to buy a security company?

On a $750,000 security company financed with an SBA 7(a) loan, plan on about $90,188 for the 10 percent injection and the guaranty fee, plus payroll working capital, which takes the total to about $161,115 at 30 days of receivables. Here is the arithmetic at three price points, computed at 10 years and 10.5 percent:

The small company is the lower quartile of earnings at the lower quartile multiple; the 2025 column uses the median sale, revenue and earnings BizBuySell published for companies sold that year. Fee tiers follow the SBA schedule in SOP 50 10 8.1: 3 percent of the guaranteed portion on loans from $150,001 to $700,000, and 3.5 percent on larger loans up to $1,000,000 guaranteed. Working capital is our estimate, revenue times 30 days over 365; at 45 days it is $106,390 on the median company. Replace it with the seller's real receivables aging.

Now read the "left after debt service" row against the salary you need. On the median company, an $80,000 salary leaves $52,391 of cushion. The small company leaves $91,913, so an $80,000 salary leaves only $11,913, which is why a lower quartile guard company is a job you buy: right for a former supervisor or officer who wants to own the company, thin for anyone who has to hire a manager.

Can you get an SBA loan to buy a security company?

Yes, and the median deal has room: $241,687 of earnings supports about $887,610 of price at an $80,000 owner draw, 18.3 percent above the median sale. Three parts of SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, shape the deal.

First, the valuation. When the business purchase price is $350,000 or less, the lender may do its own valuation. Above that line, which covers the median and the 2025 median security sale, the lender orders a valuation from a qualified source, a seller's own report cannot be used, and the loan cannot exceed what the valuation supports; any part of the price above it has to be paid in equity. What you spend on that report counts toward your injection. Our guide to business valuation for an SBA loan covers who qualifies and what they ask for.

Second, the environmental review. Security guard, patrol and systems services are NAICS 5616, which is not on the SOP's Appendix 6 list of environmentally sensitive industries, so the industry itself does not force a Phase I. Third, the debt service test: the lender wants 1.25 times coverage after your salary. Working it backwards, a buyer can draw at most $105,067 a year and still pay exactly $750,000 for the median company.

Do you need a security license to buy a guard company?

You usually need state approval to run one, and the approval belongs to the person, so plan the licensing before the closing date. Florida is a clear example. Its private security law requires the application of every individual, partner or corporate officer to be approved by the state before that person assumes their duties, while investors who do not participate in, direct or control the agency's operations do not have to apply (Florida Statutes 493.6105). Agency licenses run for three years, and each branch office holds its own license (493.6111).

Other states run their own private patrol and guard licensing, and a company with posts in two states answers to both. Make the approval a closing condition, agree how long the seller stays on to keep the company compliant while your application is processed, and keep the licensed qualifier or manager the company already has. If you are buying as an investor, budget for that manager from the first day. Replacing the owner with a first-line supervisor of security workers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 median wage of $55,940, plus payroll tax, takes the median company's earnings to $181,468 and makes a $750,000 price 4.13x earnings.

Is buying a security guard company a good investment?

For an operator who can keep and win contracts, the sold record is good: margins have risen and prices have followed. Median earnings went from 23.4 percent of revenue in 2021 to 35.9 percent in 2025, and the median sale rose 215 percent over the same five years, from $342,500 to $1,078,000. Security sits seventh of 16 service categories on average earnings multiple, 2.73x, but its $750,000 median sale is second only to funeral homes.

Sellers do discount, though. The average sale closed at 0.89 of its asking price, and only catering and funeral homes negotiated harder in the peer set. Listings ask a median 3.35x earnings while sold companies closed at 2.61x. If a listing asks 3.5x on a company doing $800,000, the earnings, the contracts or the monitoring book has to justify it. Security companies also take time to sell, a median 186 days on the market, so a buyer with financing lined up has leverage on terms: a seller note on full standby, an earnout tied to contract renewals, or a longer transition.

What to check before you buy a security guard company

The value sits in the contracts, the payroll and the people who hold the licenses, so check those before anything else.

• Every client contract. Term, notice period, bill rates, wage pass-through clauses and whether the contract can be assigned in an asset sale or survives a change of control in a stock sale. The top five contracts decide most of the price.
• Client concentration. Revenue by client for three years. A company where one client holds a third of the hours is priced well below one with the same earnings spread across forty clients.
• Bill rate against wage. Officers earn a national median of $38,020 a year (BLS, May 2025). Check each post's bill rate against the wage, overtime and payroll tax, and find out which contracts let you raise rates when wages rise.
• Payroll and receivables. Payroll registers, overtime by month and the receivables aging. Agree whether receivables come with the sale, and set up a working capital line before closing.
• Insurance and claims. Five years of loss runs, current premiums and the coverage limits clients require. Clients ask for proof of coverage on every contract, so confirm the company can produce current certificates and that someone tracks certificates of insurance for its own subcontractors too.
• Monitoring accounts, if any. The account list with monthly charge, contract term and cancellations by year, priced separately from guard revenue. If the company sells remote video monitoring, ask what camera video analytics it runs on client systems and whether those subscriptions transfer with the accounts.
• The license and the transition. Who holds the agency license and the qualifier role, what each state requires of a new owner, and how many weeks the seller will stay while you meet every client.

Before you make an offer, put the seller's revenue and earnings into the estimator at the top of this page. It places the company against real security company sales and shows whether the asking price sits inside the range the market has paid, before you pay for the appraisal the lender will order anyway.