Worked Example: SBA 7(a) Flex-Serve Car Wash Feasibility Study in Texas
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a car wash project in Texas, financed with an SBA 7(a) loan.
What SBA's own loan files show about lending in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
Across Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, the agency's approval files hold 16,031 approvals from FY2017 through FY2026, worth $11.93 billion of gross dollars. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington lands within all such areas nationwide, by loans, at rank 5 of 928. The core of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington lending runs from $140,000 to $900,000, centred on a middle figure of $350,000; and the median sits at 1.68x the national median. In Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington the program mix is 15,247 loans in 7(a) against 784 under 504. Franchises make up 21.1% of the record.
Worth noting, of the classes we show for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, the leader is full-service restaurant with 914 loans, followed by limited-service restaurant, 726 loans and fitness center with 414. Another 10,455 loans in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington sit outside every class. County by county, Dallas County, TX carries 5,147 loans, and behind it come Tarrant County, TX (3,876), Collin County, TX (3,045) and Denton County, TX (2,262).
Banks and development companies named for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington come from SBA's published Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington records of the 16,031 approvals in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, naming each current or past holder; those files show every loan though reveal nothing about lender underwriting. Worth noting, for 7(a) lending in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, SBA lists The Huntington National Bank, holding 1,093 loans worth $621.8 million; next, Wells Fargo Bank National Association (1,037 loans, $326.0 million). Worth noting, in the 504 program near Dallas County, TX, the holders include Greater East Texas Certified Development Company at 249 loans and $418.2 million; after it, Capital Certified Development Corporation at 194 loans and $297.4 million. A borrower near Dallas County, TX is free to ask the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington lender The Huntington National Bank or other Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington holders near Dallas County, TX what evidence it requires, then build the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington study around it.
Among Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington approvals from FY2017 to FY2024, at least 11.1% ended in cancellation after approval in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, which is a floor; the true Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington rate may be higher. Besides, among disbursed Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington loans approved from FY2017 to FY2021, 8.1% have ended in charge-off up to now, a second floor; 4.9% had been charged off within five years, within a set of 6,477 loans. On the calendar, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington was strongest in FY2025 at 2,277 loans and $1.63 billion, and was weakest in FY2020 at 1,093 loans and $893.1 million.
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington study starts with customers: who lives in Dallas County, TX, who shops in Tarrant County, TX, set against the rest of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, and what gap the 914 full-service restaurant loans leave. Cost: $350,000 is the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington median and $140,000 to $900,000 the central range, so a Dallas County, TX site must price itself against this $350,000 marker. Coverage: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington repayment survives a sluggish year against the 11.1% rate of cancellation and the 8.1% charge-off rate. An appraisal in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington must back the worth assumed. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington uses the 2023 July area list; a case whose county entry is unmapped is excluded from every other area, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington no exception, yet the totals count loans apart from the classes we track.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 16,031 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $11.93 billion |
| Median loan | $350,000 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $140,000 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $900,000 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 15,247 |
| SBA 504 loans | 784 |
| Franchise share of loans | 21.1% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 5 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.68x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 11.1% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | 12.2% |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | 8.1% |
| Charged off within five years of approval | 4.9% |
| Loans in that cohort | 6,477 |
Both rates are floors. SBA withholds the status of open loans, so a loan counts as charged off only once SBA reports it; a rate needs at least 30 loans in its cohort and is otherwise not reported.
SBA loans approved in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 1,780 | $1.01 billion |
| FY2018 | 1,635 | $1.09 billion |
| FY2019 | 1,328 | $968.8 million |
| FY2020 | 1,093 | $893.1 million |
| FY2021 | 1,468 | $1.43 billion |
| FY2022 | 1,312 | $1.11 billion |
| FY2023 | 1,472 | $1.06 billion |
| FY2024 | 1,898 | $1.26 billion |
| FY2025 | 2,277 | $1.63 billion |
| FY2026 | 1,768 | $1.49 billion |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Greater East Texas Certified Development Company | 249 | $418.2 million |
| Capital Certified Development Corporation | 194 | $297.4 million |
| North Texas Certified Development Corporation | 130 | $172.3 million |
| LiftFund, Inc. | 111 | $169.9 million |
| Alliance Lending Corporation | 27 | $33.9 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| The Huntington National Bank | 1,093 | $621.8 million |
| Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 1,037 | $326.0 million |
| PNC Bank, National Association | 755 | $242.8 million |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association | 749 | $216.4 million |
| Northeast Bank (ME) | 499 | $92.3 million |
Lenders with 5 or more loans here; a lender with fewer is not listed, and loans SBA or a receiver holds are counted but never listed as a lender.
| County | Loans |
|---|---|
| Dallas County, TX | 5,147 |
| Tarrant County, TX | 3,876 |
| Collin County, TX | 3,045 |
| Denton County, TX | 2,262 |
| Ellis County, TX | 307 |
| Rockwall County, TX | 307 |
| Johnson County, TX | 302 |
| Parker County, TX | 285 |
| Kaufman County, TX | 240 |
| Hunt County, TX | 140 |
Counties with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are not listed.
Metro is the CBSA (metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area) of the loan's project county, July 2023 delineation (OMB Bulletin 23-01). The county is matched by name (manifests/ld2/county-cbsa-map.csv); a loan whose county cannot be placed in a 2023 CBSA is left out of every metro.
All assets: every 7(a) and 504 approval in the metro, including those outside the 39 asset classes.
A value marked withheld rests on fewer than 5 loans, or is withheld so that such a figure cannot be derived from other published figures.
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) and 504 loan-level FOIA files (data.sba.gov), as of 2026-09-30; areas from the U.S. Census Bureau CBSA delineation, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01); Loan Analytics metro cell MT-19100.
A worked example of the feasibility study a lender would read for a car wash project in Texas, financed with an SBA 7(a) loan.
Loan Analytics prepares the feasibility study a lender reads before it commits: for a commercial project in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro Area, financed under SBA 7(a), SBA 504, USDA Business and Industry or a conventional bank loan. Tell us the project and the lender's deadline, and we reply with scope, timeline and fee.
Start with the data.
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