Buying a cabinet and millwork shop in South Florida
South Florida has 218 established cabinet and millwork 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, 70% 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
Cabinet and millwork shops 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
- $138,000 a year
- Price about
- $455,000
- Your cash
- $64,000
- Could pay you
- up to $56,000 a year
- Earns about
- $374,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.2 million
- Your cash
- $173,000
- Could pay you
- up to $152,000 a year
- Earns about
- $1.1 million a year
- Price about
- $3.8 million
- Your cash
- $529,000
- Could pay you
- up to $464,000 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 | 66 |
| 20 to 29 years | 104 |
| 30 to 39 years | 33 |
| 40 years or more | 15 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 56 |
| $1M to $2M | 17 |
| $2M to $4M | 13 |
| $4M to $8M | 10 |
| Over $8M | 11 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 147 |
| Palm Beach | 35 |
| Broward | 34 |
| Other counties | 2 |
| Town | Companies |
|---|---|
| Hialeah | 54 |
| Miami | 53 |
| Medley | 10 |
| West Palm Beach | 10 |
| Doral | 8 |
| Hialeah Gardens | 7 |
| Deerfield Beach | 6 |
| Pompano Beach | 5 |
What the best cabinet and millwork shops have in common
- Repeat builders and contractors who pay on fair terms, plus some homeowner work for margin.
- A CNC router and design software that turn drawings into cut lists quickly, which saves labor on every job.
- Estimates based on what past jobs actually cost, so prices cover real hours and material.
- A shop lead and installers who don't need the owner on site.
- Signed jobs lined up for several weeks or months.
- Good warranty records and few callbacks after installation.
- A clean, well-ventilated shop with dust collection and a proper spray booth.
- Relationships with designers and architects who specify the shop's work on their projects.
- A showroom or portfolio that helps homeowners say yes.
What to check before you buy
- How much depends on the biggest customers, especially one or two builders whose pace could slow when the housing market cools.
- Money owed to the shop: builder payment terms, slow payers, and any liens filed to get paid.
- Job costing on recent jobs: estimated versus actual hours and material.
- Machine condition, especially the CNC router and edgebander, with service records.
- Warranty claims and callbacks, and what they cost to fix.
- Formaldehyde compliance paperwork and labels, and supplier statements for the panels in stock.
- The finishes the shop sprays, how it disposes of solvent waste, and any DEP permits or notifications.
- The building: electrical service, dust collection, fire protection, spray booth and lease terms. Wood dust and finishes are a real fire risk, so ask about inspections.
- Deposits already collected for jobs not yet built, which you'll be expected to honor.
Questions to ask the owner
- Which builders or contractors give you the most work, and how long have they been with you?
- Who estimates and designs jobs today?
- How far ahead are you booked?
- How often do you get callbacks, and what causes them?
- How do you handle formaldehyde paperwork and labels, and do you glue veneer onto panels yourselves?
- Who runs the shop floor when you're with customers?
- What equipment would you buy next?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a cabinet and millwork shop 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.