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 San Angelo, TX Metro Area, every asset class together, and what a feasibility study for a project there has to test.
San Angelo stands 382 of 928 by loans, drawing 144 SBA approvals over FY2017 to FY2026, $99.6 million gross. In San Angelo, $232,700 is the median loan, 1.12x the national median. Half of San Angelo loans sit between $90,300 and $632,775, larger tickets than the national norm in San Angelo. Lenders working San Angelo see tickets from $90,300 to $632,775 most often. A San Angelo study should place its project inside that $90,300 to $632,775 range in San Angelo.
In San Angelo, SBA 7(a) carries 128 loans and SBA 504 carries 16. In San Angelo, franchise brands account for 20.1% of the loans. In San Angelo, leading classes: hotel and motel with 11, full-service restaurant with 10 and limited-service in San Angelo restaurant with 7. Another 93 approvals fall in no named class, so San Angelo totals 144 loans, more than its classes combined in San Angelo.
In San Angelo, lender lines come from SBA's listing of loans each institution owns or owned, per the note, and carry no judgment of lenders. San Angelo holders should be read in San Angelo that way in San Angelo. Heading the San Angelo SBA 7(a) list: The First National Bank of Ballinger with 35 loans worth $5.8 million; Wells Fargo Bank National in San Angelo Association with 15 loans worth $4.7 million; Northeast Bank (ME) with 11 loans worth $2.1 million. The San Angelo SBA 504 side shows Capital Certified Development Corporation with 9 loans worth $6.2 million. In San Angelo, concentration among top holders says little. A San Angelo study should stand on evidence alone in San Angelo.
Among San Angelo approvals of FY2017 to FY2024, 9.4% were cancelled after approval, a floor. One more San Angelo figure, a ceiling treating loans not yet disbursed as cancelled remains hidden, nothing guessed for San Angelo. San Angelo charge-offs to date, for the disbursed class in San Angelo of FY2017 to FY2021 is held back in San Angelo, the cohort is small; we leave San Angelo blank and do not call it zero. San Angelo trend: the busiest year is FY2018, at 21 loans. Files place a loan in San Angelo using a project's county, from the file by the July 2023 delineation, meaning the loan whose county fails to match is left out of every area. The 144 loans in San Angelo, TX include those in no named class in San Angelo.
The San Angelo test begins with demand. Measure the trade area around the proposed site in San Angelo, not a metropolitan area, so timing may slip, for San Angelo. After demand, San Angelo cost. Lenders fund a $232,700 median here, so every line item wants a source in San Angelo, and an honest San Angelo contingency. Coverage of debt service is the San Angelo test. Calculate coverage at the loan size next to a in San Angelo case with softer income, letting a San Angelo lender see the margin. The San Angelo appraisal is the final gate: so the study's value logic has to be defensible in San Angelo. In San Angelo, 144 loans spread over many neighbourhoods, and a San Angelo study must say which it targets. With the median at 1.12x the national level, a smaller San Angelo project may look unusual in San Angelo. The study should explain its sizing for San Angelo against $232,700.
| Loans approved, FY2017 to FY2026 | 144 |
|---|---|
| Gross dollars approved | $99.6 million |
| Median loan | $232,700 |
| Middle half of loans, from | $90,300 |
| Middle half of loans, to | $632,775 |
| SBA 7(a) loans | 128 |
| SBA 504 loans | 16 |
| Franchise share of loans | 20.1% |
| Rank among metro and micro areas by loans | 382 of 928 |
| Median loan against the national median | 1.12x |
| Cancelled after approval, FY2017 to FY2024 approvals (a floor) | 9.4% |
|---|---|
| The same, counting loans still undisbursed as cancelled (a ceiling) | withheld |
| Charged off to date, FY2017 to FY2021 disbursed loans (a floor) | withheld |
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 San Angelo, TX Metro Area, by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | 19 | $8.3 million |
| FY2018 | 21 | $7.8 million |
| FY2019 | 13 | $6.3 million |
| FY2020 | 19 | $15.1 million |
| FY2021 | 16 | $21.9 million |
| FY2022 | 11 | $6.2 million |
| FY2023 | 10 | $7.6 million |
| FY2024 | 8 | $3.9 million |
| FY2025 | 10 | $8.4 million |
| FY2026 | 17 | $14.1 million |
| Asset class | Loans |
|---|---|
| Not in any of the 39 asset classes | 93 |
| Hotel and motel | 11 |
| Full-service restaurant | 10 |
| Limited-service restaurant | 7 |
| Dental office | 5 |
Classes with 5 or more loans; smaller ones are withheld, and more where a small one could be derived.
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| Capital Certified Development Corporation | 9 | $6.2 million |
| Lender | Loans | Dollars |
|---|---|---|
| The First National Bank of Ballinger | 35 | $5.8 million |
| Wells Fargo Bank National Association | 15 | $4.7 million |
| Northeast Bank (ME) | 11 | $2.1 million |
| Live Oak Banking Company | 7 | $14.2 million |
| First Financial Bank (TX) | 7 | $4.0 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.
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-41660.
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 San Angelo, 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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