Buying an equipment or electronics manufacturer in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida

• Products the company owns, with designs, software and patents documented and in the company's name.
• Customers spread across industries, including some on long-term contracts, so one program ending doesn't empty the order book.
• Repair, spare parts and service work on equipment already in use, which tends to repeat.
• Engineers besides the founder who understand the designs and can support customers.
• Current certifications that customers need: quality systems, safety listings, aerospace or medical standards.
• More than one source for critical parts, or enough stock to ride out shortages.
• Low warranty and return rates that are actually tracked.
• A backlog of firm orders, not just forecasts.
• Products designed so they can be updated when parts are discontinued.

• Who owns the designs, software and patents, and whether employees and contractors have signed agreements assigning their work to the company.
• How much of the business rests on a few customers, and contract terms, including warranties and limits on liability.
• Inventory: how old it is, how much is excess or obsolete, and how it's valued.
• Past product liability and warranty claims, and what the company has promised on products already sold.
• Certifications, their next audits, and whether they're tied to the site or to the company.
• How the products are classified for export, and any past export problems.
• Agreements with key engineers, and whether they're likely to stay.
• Parts that will soon be discontinued, and the cost of redesigning around them.
• For a shipyard: the waterfront lease or submerged land lease, Longshore insurance and claims history, and an environmental assessment of the yard.

• Which products do you own the designs for, and which do you build to customer designs?
• Who besides you understands the core designs?
• What share of sales comes from your top three customers?
• Do you sell to defense, aerospace or medical customers, and what do they require?
• Have you had any product recalls, failures or liability claims?
• Which parts are hardest to get, and who else makes them?
• Which certifications or registrations will need updating after a sale?
• For a shipyard: who are your main customers, and how do you handle Longshore insurance?

This region covers Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker and Putnam counties: Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra Beach, Orange Park, Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Macclenny and Palatka. Jacksonville merged with most of Duval County in 1968, which makes it the largest city by land area in the lower 48 states.

The economy leans on logistics, the Navy and financial services. Logistics runs through JAXPORT, major rail lines and the meeting of Interstates 95 and 10. The Navy has Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport. Insurance and health care matter too. St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, and Amelia Island draw steady tourism. Trucking and logistics firms, the building trades, medical practices and home services all fit this market.

Northeast Florida is less seasonal than South or Southwest Florida, with fewer winter residents and more year-round employers. Direct hurricane landfalls have been less common here than on other parts of the coast, but storms still bring flooding along the St. Johns River and the beaches, so check insurance costs and flood zones.

Military families bring skilled workers and working spouses into the labor pool, though they also move on when orders change. St. Johns, Clay and Nassau have added the most new homes, and companies serving those suburbs have grown with them. Georgia is close, and some companies here serve customers across the state line. Work in Georgia may need Georgia licenses, so ask how much revenue comes from there and who holds those licenses.