Preparing to sell an owner-operated business on the Space Coast.

The Space Coast business mix

• Aerospace and defense supply chain: machine shops, electronics assembly, engineering services, test and inspection firms, and specialist subcontractors supporting Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral and the defense employers based in Melbourne and Palm Bay.
• Technical services: IT, cybersecurity and engineering staffing firms working for prime contractors.
• Tourism and marine: businesses around Cocoa Beach and Port Canaveral, boat service and storage, charter and marine supply.
• Home and building services for a growing residential market from Titusville to Palm Bay.
• Healthcare practices and services across the county.

Who buys Space Coast businesses

Strategic acquirers

Larger aerospace and defense suppliers buying capabilities, certifications, equipment and engineering teams they cannot easily hire.

Private-equity add-ons

Aerospace, defense and industrial platforms adding precision manufacturing or engineering services.

Individual operators using SBA 7(a) financing

Engineers and managers who want to own the shop they understand, financing with an SBA 7(a) loan of up to USD 5 million.

Search funds and ETA buyers

Searchers attracted by technical businesses with long customer relationships and repeat orders.

What Space Coast sellers typically get wrong

• Concentration on one prime contractor. If most orders come from one customer, show the length of the relationship, the programs it covers and how purchase orders are placed.
• Certifications and registrations assumed to transfer. Quality certifications, export-control registrations and facility or staff clearances can depend on ownership. Ask counsel early how each one is affected by a sale.
• The owner as chief engineer. If quoting and the hardest jobs depend on you, document the process and develop a second technical lead before buyers arrive.
• Equipment that is not on the books. Fully depreciated machines still have value. A current equipment list with condition and replacement cost supports the asset floor.
• The lease and the property. Where the sale involves real property or a lease, that part is handled by a real estate professional who holds the right Florida license, working alongside us.

Before you go to market

For a technical business, preparation is mostly documentation. Buyers want to see the quality system working, the routings and work instructions written down, the equipment list current, and the customer approvals and supplier qualifications in order. They also want to know that the people who hold the knowledge are staying. Retention arrangements for key machinists, engineers and quality staff should be thought through before the sale is discussed inside the business. Owners who start this twelve to twenty-four months ahead keep control of timing and avoid a buyer setting the terms after finding the gaps in diligence.

How we value a Space Coast business

We build seller's discretionary earnings from tax returns, bank statements and payroll, and read them against the order book and the programs behind it. A multiple reflecting size, customer concentration and certification depth gives the first view. The debt-service test asks whether a buyer financing the purchase could pay the loan from cash flow with room to spare. For equipment-heavy shops the asset floor often matters more than elsewhere. You get a range and the reasoning.

How the process runs

1. Conversation. A confidential discussion of the business, the numbers and your timing. No cost, no obligation.
2. Valuation and preparation. A written range from tax returns, bank statements and payroll, and a list of what to fix before buyers look.
3. Marketing, buyer introductions and negotiation. In Florida, these steps are run alongside a broker licensed in Florida, and we work with them. We prepare the valuation, the file and the figures the process relies on.
4. Deal structuring advice and closing. Advice to you on structure, seller financing, earn-outs and working capital, with diligence and closing handled alongside your attorney and CPA.

Every engagement is agreed in writing and signed before any work begins. The first conversation is confidential and carries no cost or obligation. See also Orlando and Central Florida and Daytona Beach.