Buying a personal services business in South Florida
South Florida has 181 established personal services businesses 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, 57% 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
Personal services businesses 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
- $92,000 a year
- Price about
- $221,000
- Your cash
- $31,000
- Could pay you
- up to $52,000 a year
- Earns about
- $270,000 a year
- Price about
- $647,000
- Your cash
- $91,000
- Could pay you
- up to $153,000 a year
- Earns about
- $520,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.2 million
- Your cash
- $175,000
- Could pay you
- up to $295,000 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 2.4 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 | 77 |
| 20 to 29 years | 72 |
| 30 to 39 years | 22 |
| 40 years or more | 10 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 58 |
| $1M to $2M | 16 |
| $2M to $4M | 9 |
| $4M to $8M | 1 |
| Over $8M | 4 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 72 |
| Broward | 57 |
| Palm Beach | 46 |
| Monroe | 6 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami | 37 |
| West Palm Beach | 11 |
| Fort Lauderdale | 10 |
| Sunrise | 8 |
| Boca Raton | 6 |
| Boynton Beach | 5 |
| Davie | 5 |
| Doral | 5 |
What the best personal services businesses have in common
- A brand and reputation that don't rest only on the owner's name and face. A business named after its founder can still sell, but plan for a long handover.
- A steady referral network of venues, vendors, attorneys or other professionals that sends work to the company, not just to the owner.
- Staff who can deliver the service and manage clients without the owner.
- Written client contracts with clear deposits, cancellation terms and scope.
- Booked future revenue, such as signed weddings or events for the coming year.
- Good client reviews and few complaints.
- Systems for proposals, scheduling and payments, rather than everything on the owner's phone.
What to check before you buy
- How much revenue depends on the owner personally, and whether clients would stay with someone else.
- Bookings and deposits for future events, and how they're handled in a sale.
- Client contracts: cancellation and refund terms, and any disputes.
- Vendor and venue relationships: in writing, or only personal?
- Reviews and complaints, including any filed with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which takes consumer complaints in Florida.
- Busy and slow seasons, and cash flow through the slow months.
- Any licenses required, and who holds them.
- Liability insurance, especially for events.
- How prices are set, and whether they've kept up with vendor and venue costs.
- How much the owner works, including nights and weekends, and who would cover that time after a sale.
Questions to ask the owner
- Where do most new clients come from?
- How many clients know you personally, and how would they feel about a new owner?
- What bookings and deposits do you have for future events?
- Who on your team handles clients from start to finish?
- What contracts do you use with clients and with vendors?
- Does any part of the business need a license, and who holds it?
- What does your slowest season look like?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a personal services business 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.