How do I find a sandblasting or media blasting business for sale?

Blasting businesses are easy to miss because they rarely list under one name. Some clean steel for industrial customers, some strip paint from vehicles and some prepare surfaces for coating. A good search starts by deciding which kind of work you want to own, then looks in the places that kind of owner would use to sell.

Search under every name

Owners use “sandblasting”, “abrasive blasting”, “media blasting”, “soda blasting”, “dry ice blasting” and “dustless blasting”, and some of these name a distinct method rather than a synonym. Try each term on the listing sites, and add “mobile” or “shop” to narrow results. Brokers who handle industrial and trades businesses may also hold a blaster who has not advertised. Our page on finding a manufacturing business explains how to approach them.

Shop, mobile or a division

A shop works on parts that customers bring in. A mobile business travels to bridges, tanks, buildings or equipment. Many blasters are really a division of a powder coating, fabrication or restoration shop, and the owner may sell the whole company or only that line. If the listing says “blasting” among several services, ask how much of the revenue and equipment belongs to it.

Ask the people who use blasters

Coaters, fabricators, restorers and contractors buy blasting work and know who does it well and who wants out. Abrasive suppliers also see which businesses are buying less or winding down. A short, private conversation with these people can surface a sale long before a listing. Say what you want and whether you would consider keeping the owner on for a while.

• Is the work industrial, automotive, restoration or a mix?
• Which equipment, trailers and trucks are included?
• Which customers return, and which are one-off?