Buying an equipment or electronics manufacturer in Orlando and Central 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 Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter and Marion counties: Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Sanford, Clermont, Leesburg, Ocala and the large retirement communities of Sumter and Lake counties. Tourism is what the area is best known for, built on the theme parks, the hotels, the vacation rental homes around Kissimmee and the Orange County Convention Center. It's far from the only business. The University of Central Florida and the military simulation and training offices near it support a technology base, and health care is a major employer.

Marion County is horse country, with thoroughbred farms around Ocala, and it has added warehouses and distribution centers along Interstate 75. Retirees in Sumter and Lake create steady demand for medical practices, home care, home maintenance and auto services. The building trades, restaurants, and companies that serve hotels and rental homes do well across the region.

Central Florida is inland, so storm surge isn't the worry it is on the coasts. Hurricanes still bring wind damage and flooding, though: Hurricane Ian flooded neighborhoods in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties in 2022. Ask whether the business or its customers were affected.

Tourism keeps demand steadier through the year than in markets that depend on winter residents, with busy stretches around school holidays. Hotels, parks and restaurants compete hard for workers, which pushes up wages for any company that hires hourly staff. New homes have spread fast in Osceola, south Lake and southeast Orange counties and around Ocala, so check whether a company's customers are in growing areas or older ones. Traffic on Interstate 4 limits how much ground a service company can cover in a day.