National Authority
Allen Business Advisors is a nationally recognized M&A advisory firm built around one problem: how the owner of an architecture, engineering, or land surveying firm hands the business to the people who already run it and still gets paid at closing.
Our work is published by the professional associations that A/E/LS owners actually read, and John R. Allen, III is an Approved National Speaker for the National Society of Professional Surveyors.
Sell to your employees. SBA bank financing is arranged with as little as 5% down. Get paid at closing. Not an ESOP.
Published and cited in
Every placement below is organic. None of it was paid.
Our Position in the Industry
Traditional ESOPs only start to make sense above roughly $15 million in sales. Below that line sits the overwhelming majority of the profession, firms with no realistic succession path other than selling to a stranger or winding the practice down.
That is the segment we work in. Allen Business Advisors specializes in internal ownership transitions for A/E/LS firms with $1M to $10M in sales, financed by SBA lenders. We are former commercial loan officers, so the structure is built the way a bank needs to see it from the first conversation.
We look at selling to your employees first. If that is not viable, we run a structured process to sell to an outside buyer.
A bank funds the purchase, so the proceeds arrive in cash on the day the deal closes. No installment plan, no becoming your employees' lender.
SBA financing calls for a 10 percent equity injection, and the deal is structured so key employees can step into ownership without writing a seven-figure check.
No roll-up, no out-of-state acquirer, no rebrand. The people who already know your clients and your standards carry the firm forward.
A firm becomes sellable when it can operate without the owner. Four things decide whether a bank and a buyer will both say yes.
Featured Articles and Publications
State associations and national magazines run these pieces because their members keep asking the same question: what happens to the firm when the founder wants out.
A working conversation about how ownership actually changes hands inside an engineering firm: what the employees have to bring, what the bank needs to see, and why the owner does not have to become the lender.
Listen to the episodeWritten for the Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers. Why the ESOP math stops working below roughly $15 million in sales, and how an SBA-financed sale to employees pays the owner at closing instead.
Read the articleGeorgia's founding generation is retiring and most firms have no plan. This piece walks through the buyout that actually closes: key employees come in with as little as 5% down and the founder is paid at closing.
Read the articleSTRUCTURE Magazine
How engineering firms are valued, marketed, and sold, including deal structure and what an owner should realistically expect.
STRUCTURE Magazine
Why structural engineering firms are increasingly using SBA financing to sell to key employees while keeping the firm intact.
ACEC Minnesota
SBA-financed employee buyouts as an emerging succession path for Minnesota engineering firms.
LegalZoom
Buying an existing business as the lower-risk alternative to starting one from scratch.
LegalZoom
Valuation, due diligence, and financing considerations for acquiring a business.
Podcast and Media Features
Two national association podcasts, the same practical question. What does it take for the people inside the firm to buy it.
Engineering Change, the ACEC Georgia podcast
A working conversation about how ownership changes hands inside an engineering firm. What the employees have to bring, what the bank needs to see, and why the owner does not have to become the lender.
Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast
The generational transition facing surveying firms, and how a structured employee buyout gives an owner a real exit instead of a slow wind-down.
Speaking and National Authority
John R. Allen, III has been selected as an approved speaker by the National Society of Professional Surveyors, the leading national organization representing the surveying profession in the United States. The list is short and it is reserved for people who give firm owners something they can act on.
See the NSPS speaker listingUnlike theoretical succession planning talks, the presentations are built on real transactions, real financing structures, and real outcomes. As thousands of surveying firms approach ownership transition, NSPS points its members here for one of the biggest decisions they will make.
About John R. Allen, III
John is the founder and managing partner of Allen Business Advisors, a boutique M&A advisory firm focused on ownership transitions for architecture, engineering, and land surveying firms across the country. He spent years as a commercial loan officer before that, underwriting the same SBA acquisition loans he now structures for clients.
His firm created the Step-Up Legacy Plan, a bank-financed alternative to an ESOP that lets key employees buy the company with as little as 5% down. He contributes to STRUCTURE Magazine and speaks at state SEA organizations, ACEC chapters, and national industry groups, translating SBA rules and bank policy into steps an owner can actually take.
Industry Associations
Allen Business Advisors is actively engaged with leading organizations across the engineering and surveying professions, including appearances in association newsletters.
Leadership and Recognition
Business Management Review
City of Cambridge, MA Succession Planning Workshop
Moderator
Northeast Transition Initiative
NETI Fellow
New York Cooperative Ownership Conference
Speaker
Speaker
Western Regional Land Surveyors Conference
Speaker
Selected Transaction Experience
A Massachusetts land surveying firm. Advised on the sale, with the seller receiving liquidity at closing.
Watch the seller testimonialA Massachusetts engineering and land surveying firm. Advised on the sale, with the seller receiving liquidity at closing.
Watch the video testimonialCommon Questions
Straight answers on buyers, financing, structure, and timing. If your situation is not covered here, a confidential conversation will sort it out fast.
For many firms, selling to key employees provides the best combination of continuity, cultural alignment, and financial outcome.
Yes. SBA loans require a 10 percent equity injection, and the deal is structured so key employees can acquire the firm with as little as 5 percent down.
The SBA 7(a) program allows buyers to purchase businesses with low down payments and long repayment terms.
In many cases, yes, especially when continuity and independence are priorities. Transactions are structured so that the seller is paid at closing rather than collecting payments from the buyers over a period of years.
Most transactions take between 6 and 12 months depending on preparation and financing.
Considering a Transition?
Understanding your options is the first step. A confidential, no-obligation conversation about your timeline, your team, and an SBA-financed exit that pays you at closing.