Buying a veterinary practice in South Florida
South Florida has 112 established veterinary practices 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, 66% 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
Veterinary practices 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
- $141,000 a year
- Price about
- $437,000
- Your cash
- $61,000
- Could pay you
- up to $62,000 a year
- Earns about
- $228,000 a year
- Price about
- $705,000
- Your cash
- $99,000
- Could pay you
- up to $100,000 a year
- Earns about
- $366,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.1 million
- Your cash
- $159,000
- Could pay you
- up to $161,000 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 3.1 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 | 38 |
| 20 to 29 years | 46 |
| 30 to 39 years | 22 |
| 40 years or more | 6 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 55 |
| $1M to $2M | 17 |
| $2M to $4M | 4 |
| $4M to $8M | 3 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 44 |
| Palm Beach | 33 |
| Broward | 31 |
| Other counties | 4 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami | 27 |
| Davie | 8 |
| Hialeah | 7 |
| Fort Lauderdale | 6 |
| Boca Raton | 5 |
What the best veterinary practices have in common
- More than one veterinarian, so revenue doesn't depend on the owner's own appointment book.
- A growing number of active clients (those seen in the last year or so), with reminders that bring them back.
- A full schedule of dental and preventive work, not only sick visits.
- Equipment that's current and maintained: digital x-ray, in-house bloodwork, dental x-ray, anesthesia monitoring.
- Fees reviewed every year, and every service actually charged for. Missed charges are common in busy practices.
- Technicians who stay, and a practice manager who runs the front desk and inventory.
- A lease or building with room for another exam room.
- A good working relationship with the nearest emergency hospital for after-hours referrals.
What to check before you buy
- Doctor dependence. Look at how much revenue each veterinarian produces. If the seller produces most of it, the practice's value depends on a long handover and on hiring another veterinarian, which can take a long time.
- The permit record. Look up the premises permit and any discipline on DBPR's license search, and ask for the last inspection report.
- Associate agreements. Read the other veterinarians' employment contracts, pay formulas and any noncompete terms.
- Controlled drug records. Logs, inventories and storage should be in order before you take over.
- Medical records. Complete records back up the client list you're paying for.
- Equipment. Note its age, service contracts and any equipment leases you'd take over.
- Pharmacy and food sales. Online pharmacies have pulled this revenue from many practices, so check the trend.
- Local competition. Practices owned by large groups may be nearby and hiring from the same pool of veterinarians and technicians.
- The seasons. In some areas, clients leave for the summer with their pets.
Questions to ask the owner
- How many active clients do you have, and how do you count them?
- How much of the practice's revenue comes from your own appointments, and how long would you stay to introduce clients to the other doctors?
- Do your associates have contracts, and is anyone planning to leave or hoping to buy in?
- Which equipment is owned and which is leased, and what will need replacing soon?
- How do you handle emergencies and after-hours calls?
- How have pharmacy and food sales changed over the last few years?
- When did you last raise fees, and how did clients respond?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a veterinary practice 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.