Buying a machine shop in Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay has 132 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, 82% 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 Tampa Bay 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
- $314,000 a year
- Price about
- $1 million
- Your cash
- $145,000
- Could pay you
- up to $127,000 a year
- Earns about
- $832,000 a year
- Price about
- $2.7 million
- Your cash
- $384,000
- Could pay you
- up to $337,000 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 | 24 |
| 20 to 29 years | 48 |
| 30 to 39 years | 39 |
| 40 years or more | 21 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 19 |
| $1M to $2M | 14 |
| $2M to $4M | 14 |
| $4M to $8M | 11 |
| Over $8M | 15 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Pinellas | 66 |
| Hillsborough | 33 |
| Polk | 24 |
| Pasco | 5 |
| Other counties | 4 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Clearwater | 23 |
| Tampa | 21 |
| Lakeland | 12 |
| Largo | 10 |
| St. Petersburg | 10 |
| Oldsmar | 6 |
| Pinellas Park | 6 |
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 Tampa Bay
The local economy
Tampa Bay, as we draw it, runs from Citrus County south through Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, and east into Polk: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Wesley Chapel, Brooksville, Inverness, Lakeland and Winter Haven. Tampa is the business center, with Port Tampa Bay, Tampa International Airport, the University of South Florida and MacDill Air Force Base, home to the headquarters of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. Financial services, insurance and health care employ many people, and the Gulf beaches of Pinellas bring tourists and seasonal residents.
Polk County sits on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando and has become a center for warehouses and distribution, alongside its older citrus and phosphate industries. To the north, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus are more suburban and rural, with many retirees. Home service companies, the building trades, medical practices and auto businesses all have a deep customer base across the region.
What's different about owning a company here
Hurricane Helene's storm surge in September 2024 and Hurricane Milton two weeks later both hit the region hard. Flood zones and insurance costs now matter in any deal near the water. Ask how the business came through those storms, what it claimed, and whether its building sits in a flood zone.
The labor market is deep by Florida standards, though skilled tradespeople can still be hard to find. New homes have pushed north and east into Pasco and eastern Hillsborough, and along Interstate 4 in Polk, bringing demand for services with them. Coastal Pinellas is more seasonal than inland Tampa or Lakeland. The bay itself shapes a service company's territory: crossing a bridge at rush hour can turn a short distance into a long drive, so look at where the customers actually are.