Laundromat SBA Loan Payment Calculator
This SBA loan calculator sizes a laundromat acquisition the way a lender does. It computes the injection on total project cost, caps a seller note at half that requirement and only on full standby, shows the monthly payment at your rate and at the program ceiling, and tests debt service coverage after a market-rate salary.
Key takeaways
- Injection is 10% of total project cost, not of the purchase price — the difference is usually thousands of dollars (Source: SBA SOP 50 10 8).
- A seller note covers at most half the requirement, and only on full standby: no principal, no interest, for the life of the loan.
- Rate ceilings are shown alongside your rate: base + 6.5% / 6.0% / 4.5% / 3.0% by loan size. Ceilings are maximums, not offers.
- DSCR is computed after a market-rate salary, because a lender assumes someone has to run the store.
- Reflects SOP 50 10 8. SOP 50 10 8.1 does not take effect until October 1, 2026.
Policy date: September 24, 2026. This illustration uses SOP 50 10 8. SBA lists version 8.1 as effective October 1, 2026. Ask your lender which policy applies before relying on these figures.
How Does the Calculation Work?
Total project cost is the base for everything. Purchase price plus closing costs plus working capital plus any capital spending funded in the loan. Buyers who budget 10% of the purchase price arrive at closing short by 10% of everything else.
The injection is what you contribute. The SBA minimum on a complete change of ownership is 10% of the project. Lenders apply their own overlays and commonly ask a first-time operator for more, plus personal reserves they want to see remaining after closing.
The seller note is capped in the calculation at half the required injection, which is the current rule, and it applies only when the note sits on full standby for the life of the loan. Any seller note beyond that limit is not injection — it is separate subordinated debt behind the bank, with its own terms and its own risk.
The rate is yours to enter, as a base rate plus a lender spread. The calculator separately shows the program ceiling for your loan size and what the payment would be at that ceiling, because ceilings are what the SBA permits rather than what a lender offers.
DSCR divides cash flow after a market-rate salary by annual debt service. The salary field is deliberately mandatory in the layout: a coverage figure that assumes the owner works for free is the single most common overstatement in acquisition modeling.
Reading the Output
| Output | What to do with it |
|---|---|
| Cash you need at closing | Compare against your liquid assets, then add reserves the lender wants to see remaining |
| Loan amount | Confirm it is under the $5 million 7(a) maximum |
| SBA guaranty | 85% at $150,000 or less, 75% above — this affects the lender's risk, not your payment |
| Monthly payment at the ceiling | Your stress case if you end up at the program maximum |
| DSCR | Below 1.25 is where most files run into trouble |
| Total interest | Useful for comparing a shorter term against a lower payment |
The Test Most Buyers Skip
Recompute DSCR with $10,000 of add-backs removed.
Lenders strike add-backs without source documents as a matter of routine: recurring repairs presented as one-time, family labor performed unpaid, personal expenses without receipts, a second owner's compensation. Each strike reduces the SDE your coverage is computed from.
On the default figures, coverage is comfortable. Take $10,000 out of SDE and it moves meaningfully closer to the threshold. If a $10,000 haircut breaks your file, you are relying on add-backs you have not documented — and that is a problem to solve before an offer, not after an application.
What This Calculator Does Not Do
- It does not price your credit. Rate and spread are inputs, not outputs.
- It does not apply lender overlays. The 10% figure is the SBA floor; your lender's requirement will likely be higher.
- It does not model a 504 structure. If real estate is included, the fixed-asset portion is typically financed separately with different maturities.
- It does not check eligibility. Borrower, business, and use-of-proceeds eligibility are determined by the lender under the current SOP.
- It does not include the SBA guaranty fee separately. Include it in your closing-costs input.
Where Should the Inputs Come From?
Three of the four inputs have a correct source, and using an assumed figure instead is the most common modelling error in a first acquisition.
The bank loan amount equals total project cost minus buyer cash minus the full seller note. The eligible standby portion can help meet the injection requirement; it is not counted twice. The payment shown excludes separate payments on remaining seller debt. Project cost includes price, financed closing costs, working capital and funded capital spending. Have the lender reconcile all sources, uses and payments before relying on coverage.
The rate should come from a lender's written term sheet, not from an assumption. Ask for it as a quoted figure, and ask whether it is fixed or variable and what it is tied to — a variable rate means the payment moves during the loan's life, which is a different risk, not a worse one.
The term matters more than most buyers expect. Amortisation moves the payment more than any plausible rate difference does, and on a business where coverage is the binding constraint, a longer term is frequently what makes a deal workable. The trade is more total interest and slower equity build in exchange for monthly survivability.
The earnings used for coverage should be normalised: from filed returns, after striking add-backs without documents, and after deducting a market-rate salary for whoever will actually run the store. That last deduction is the one buyers most often omit from their own model, and it is never omitted from the lender's.
What Should You Test Beyond the Base Case?
Three scenarios, because approval turns on coverage and coverage is what fails first.
Revenue down 10%, then 20%. Because rent and much of the utility base are fixed, laundromat margin moves sharply in both directions. The question is whether the store still services its debt in the downside case, and if it does not, the base-case figure is not the number that matters.
Add-backs struck. Test what coverage does when several thousand dollars of unsupported adjustments disappear. An underwriter will make that deduction whether or not you did.
A higher rate, if the rate is variable, or if closing is some way off.
Two things this calculation deliberately does not include. It does not include a replacement reserve, and it should — a store harvesting cash by deferring maintenance is borrowing from a future year. And it does not value your own labour, so a comfortable-looking result on a store where you intend to work thirty hours a week is describing a return plus a job instead of a return.
Take the output to a lender rather than treating it as an answer. It tells you whether a deal is worth pursuing; only a term sheet tells you what it will actually cost.
What Does Coverage Actually Have to Survive?
A bad year, not a normal one — and that is the difference between a number that gets a file approved and a number that gets a buyer into trouble.
Lenders commonly require debt service coverage of 1.25 or better, computed as cash flow available for debt service divided by annual principal and interest. A store clearing that comfortably in its best twelve months and failing it in a soft quarter has not really cleared it.
Three things move coverage against you after closing, and all three are foreseeable.
Utilities. They ran at a median 20% of gross revenue for surveyed owner-operators in 2023 (Source: CLA, 2024), and rates do not pause. A few points of margin lost to a rate increase flows straight through.
Equipment. A machine failure is a cash event that competes directly with the loan payment, and that is why a replacement reserve belongs in the model even though no lender requires one.
A competitor. A new store nearby produces a period of trial that takes months to stabilise, and the trough falls wherever it falls.
Model the payment against earnings that already carry a market-rate salary for whoever runs the store, a replacement reserve, and a revenue decline. If it still covers, the structure is sound. If it only works on the base case, the deal is relying on nothing going wrong.
What Should You Take to a Lender?
A file that answers the questions before they are asked, because an underwriter's caution rises with their uncertainty and every gap they fill themselves gets filled conservatively.
The store's evidence, reconciled rather than raw: filed returns, deposits tied to the reported revenue, machine-level exports where they exist, and two to three years of utility bills. Show the reconciliation rather than leaving it as an exercise.
The add-back schedule with a document behind each line. Anything unsupported will be struck, and a schedule that has already dropped the marginal items reads as credible rather than optimistic.
The complete lease with every amendment, and the arithmetic on controllable term against the loan term.
The equipment schedule with install years, grouped into replacement waves and priced.
Your own position: personal financial statement, credit, and where the injection is coming from with evidence that it has been there a while.
A written explanation for anything unusual — a revenue dip, a one-off cost, a credit blemish. Offered upfront these are context; discovered later they are risks.
Limits and Disclaimer
Figures are illustrative and calculated from your inputs. This is not an offer of credit, a financing commitment, or legal, tax, or investment advice. Program terms change: this calculator reflects SOP 50 10 8, and SOP 50 10 8.1 takes effect October 1, 2026. Confirm current requirements with an SBA lender before relying on any figure here.
What Should You Do Next?
Run your real numbers, then run them again with a 10% larger injection requirement and $10,000 less SDE. If the deal still works in that version, take it to a lender. If it only works in the base case, keep looking.
The Next Step
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the injection larger than 10% of the purchase price?
Because the SBA requirement is 10% of total project cost, not of the price. Project cost includes closing costs, working capital, and any capital spending funded in the loan. On a $290,000 purchase with $65,000 of those items, the 10% floor is $35,500 rather than $29,000.
How much of my injection can a seller note cover?
At most half of the required injection, and only when the note is on full standby for the life of the 7(a) loan — no principal and no interest during that term (Source: SBA SOP 50 10 8). The calculator caps the note at that limit and tells you the cash you still need.
Is the rate the calculator shows an offer?
No. You enter a base rate and a spread, and the calculator also shows the program ceiling for your loan size — base plus 6.5% at $50,000 or less, plus 6.0% to $250,000, plus 4.5% to $350,000, and plus 3.0% above that. Ceilings are maximums, not quotes.
What DSCR will a lender want?
Many apply a threshold around 1.25, computed from cash flow after a market-rate salary for whoever runs the store and after striking add-backs without source documents. The calculator asks for that salary explicitly, because leaving it out is the most common way a coverage figure gets overstated.
Does this account for the SOP changes coming in 2026?
This model was reviewed against SOP 50 10 8 on September 24, 2026. SBA lists SOP 50 10 8.1 with an October 1, 2026 effective date. Confirm the applicable version, transition rules and eligibility with an SBA lender; this is a dated illustration, not an automatically updated eligibility check.
Sources
- U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) Loans — https://www.sba.gov/loans/7a-loans/
- U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 8 Technical Updates effective 2025-06-01 — https://legacy.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/SOP%2050%2010%208%20Technical%20Updates%20effective%206.1.2025.docx
- U.S. Small Business Administration, SOP 50 10 versions — https://legacy.sba.gov/document/sop-50-10-lender-development-company-loan-programs
- U.S. Small Business Administration, lender program comparison and terms — https://www.sba.gov/sba-lenders/
This page is general information about laundromat transactions, not legal, tax, or investment advice, and not a guarantee of sale price, timing, or financing approval. Verify current rules with your own CPA, attorney, lender, and the relevant state or municipal agency before acting.