Buying a machine shop in South Florida
South Florida has 188 established machine shops by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 77% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Machine shops in South Florida come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $202,000 a year
- Price about
- $665,000
- Your cash
- $93,000
- Could pay you
- up to $82,000 a year
- Earns about
- $443,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.5 million
- Your cash
- $205,000
- Could pay you
- up to $179,000 a year
- Earns about
- $995,000 a year
- Price about
- $3.3 million
- Your cash
- $460,000
- Could pay you
- up to $403,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 3.3 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 44 |
| 20 to 29 years | 83 |
| 30 to 39 years | 43 |
| 40 years or more | 18 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 35 |
| $1M to $2M | 23 |
| $2M to $4M | 17 |
| $4M to $8M | 12 |
| Over $8M | 8 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 107 |
| Broward | 48 |
| Palm Beach | 30 |
| Other counties | 3 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Hialeah | 44 |
| Miami | 41 |
| Pompano Beach | 13 |
| West Palm Beach | 10 |
| Opa Locka | 7 |
| Fort Lauderdale | 5 |
| Oakland Park | 5 |
What the best machine shops have in common
- Repeat orders for the same parts from many customers, with no single customer a large share of sales.
- Skilled machinists and programmers who have been there for years and are paid fairly, since they're hard to replace.
- Well-maintained machines, including some newer, more capable equipment such as multi-axis mills.
- The quality certifications customers require, such as ISO 9001, or AS9100 for aerospace work, backed by a quality system people actually follow.
- Quotes based on what past jobs really cost, so the owner knows which jobs make money.
- A foreman or lead who can schedule the shop floor without the owner.
- Strong on-time delivery and little scrap or rework, tracked and shared with customers.
What to check before you buy
- How much of the business comes from the top customers, their history with the shop, and whether any are moving work elsewhere.
- A machine list with age, hours, condition and any leases. Have an expert inspect the key machines.
- Who can program and set up the machines, and their ages, pay and plans.
- Quality records: certifications, audit findings, rejected parts and on-time delivery.
- Job costing: whether quotes reflect real hours and material, and which jobs lose money.
- Tooling and material in the shop that belong to customers, and a clear record of who owns what.
- The building: power supply, cranes, floor space and lease terms. Moving heavy machines is costly, so a secure lease matters.
- Programs and setup sheets for repeat parts: are they saved and organized, or only in the owner's head?
Questions to ask the owner
- Who are your top five customers, and how long have they been ordering from you?
- Who could program and quote if you were away for a month?
- Which machines would you replace first?
- Does the shop make any defense parts, and is it registered under ITAR?
- What certifications do your customers require, and when's the next audit?
- How do you find new machinists?
- What work do you turn away, and why?
- Do any of your contracts depend on small business, woman-owned or veteran-owned status?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a machine shop in Florida.
Owning a company in South Florida
The local economy
South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.
Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.
What's different about owning a company here
Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.
Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.