# Allen Business Advisors

> Boutique M&A advisory helping owners of architecture, engineering, and
> land surveying (A/E/LS) firms sell to key employees using SBA-financed
> buyouts. Sell to your employees. SBA Bank financing is arranged with a 5% down payment. Get paid at closing. (Not an ESOP)

## Core pages

- [Step-Up Legacy Plan](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/step-up-legacy-plan): the firm's flagship ESOP alternative for sellers
- [Sell Your Business to Key Employees](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/sell-your-business-to-key-employees)
- [SBA Financing Guide](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/sba-financing-to-buy-a-business)
- [About John Allen](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/about-john-allen): NSPS Approved National Speaker

## Content pillars

- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Buying Out the Boss
- SBA Financing
- Valuation & Deals
- M&A Services

## Articles

- [A Signed Agreement Isn't a Sale: Why SBA Expertise Matters When Selling an A/E/LS Firm](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/a-signed-agreement-is-not-a-sale): A signed purchase agreement is a plan for a sale. Until the acquisition loan is funded, the seller has an agreement, not the proceeds. Here is what SBA acquisition expertise changes.
- [How to Evaluate an A/E Firm Before You Buy It](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-evaluate-an-ae-firm-before-you-buy-it): How to evaluate an architecture or engineering firm before buying it: where the value sits, what to ask for, and how a bank reads the same numbers.
- [How to Tell Your Staff You Sold the Firm](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-tell-your-staff-you-sold-the-firm): The proven way to announce an A/E firm sale: gather everyone the morning after closing, name the buyer, and let them tell the room their jobs are safe.
- [Need, Want, Worth: The Three Numbers Before You Sell](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/need-want-worth-three-numbers-before-you-sell): Every A/E firm owner carries three numbers: what they need to retire, what they want, and what the firm is worth. How to tell which gap actually matters.
- [The Step-Down: How Owners Actually Leave](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/the-step-down-how-owners-actually-leave): Owners fear the day after the sale more than the price. The step-down takes them from 40 hours a week to on call, and transfers what only they know.
- [What a Confidential Firm Sale Actually Looks Like](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/what-a-confidential-firm-sale-actually-looks-like): How confidentiality is protected when an A/E firm goes to market: blind profiles, signed NDAs, staged disclosure, and when staff and clients find out.
- [When One Partner Wants Out and the Other Doesn't](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/when-one-partner-wants-out-and-the-other-doesnt): One partner is ready to retire, the other is not. How to value a single partner's stake and finance the buyout without draining the remaining owner.
- [Why Most Buyouts Need Two Buyers, Not One](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/why-most-buyouts-need-two-buyers-not-one): Running an A/E firm takes a technical lead and someone who wins the work. One person rarely holds both, which is why most employee buyouts involve a group.
- [Most Engineering Firms Are Small. The Succession Advice Is Not Written for Them.](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/most-engineering-firms-are-small-succession-advice-is-not): 87 percent of engineering firms have fewer than 20 employees. The ESOP and large M&A advice online was written for the other 13 percent, not for them.
- [Three State Associations, One Message About Getting Paid at Closing](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/three-state-associations-one-succession-message): Three industry placements this summer: MALSCE, Engineering Georgia Magazine, and the ACEC Georgia podcast. What each one argued and who it was written for.
- [Younger Partners Can Buy Out the Senior Partner, and He Still Gets Paid at Closing](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/younger-partners-buying-out-the-senior-partner): Your partnership agreement may pay a departing partner monthly over years. That is a funding choice, not a rule. Bank financing pays him at closing instead.
- [Why the Employees You Trained May Be Your Best Exit Strategy](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/employees-you-trained-best-exit-strategy): Your best buyer is often already on your payroll. The people you trained hold the knowledge, clients, and culture an outside buyer would pay a discount to get.
- [The Hardest Part of Selling Your Engineering Firm Has Nothing to Do with Money](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/hardest-part-selling-engineering-firm-not-money): The hardest part of selling your A/E firm is not the price. It is identity, the fear of the unknown, and letting go. Here is how owners work through it.
- [The Hidden Value Drivers in an A/E Firm, and How to Build Them Before You Sell](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/hidden-value-drivers-ae-firm-before-you-sell): The biggest hidden driver of your A/E firm's value is how much it depends on you. Reduce owner reliance and build these value drivers before you sell.
- [Why the Bank Decides Your A/E Firm Sale, and What It Weighs](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-banks-decide-ae-firm-transaction): In a bank-financed A/E firm sale, the lender has the loudest voice. It sets the value and approves the structure. Here is how banks decide a transaction.
- [Ownership Transition for Land Surveying Firms](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/ownership-transition-land-surveying-firms): How land surveying firm owners transition ownership: the licensure wrinkle, the value drivers banks reward, and how employees buy in with SBA financing.
- [The Step-Up Legacy Plan: A New Framework for A/E Firm Ownership Transition](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/step-up-legacy-plan-framework-ae-ownership-transition): A framework for transitioning an A/E firm to its own employees using SBA financing, so the seller is paid at closing and the buyers own it outright.
- [Selling to a Third Party vs. Keeping It in the Family](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/third-party-sale-vs-keeping-it-in-the-family): A third-party sale hands your A/E firm to a stranger. Keeping it in the family, your employees, preserves the culture. How the two exits actually compare.
- [How Much Cash Does an Employee Need to Buy a Business?](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-much-cash-does-an-employee-need-to-buy-a-business): How much cash an employee really needs to buy a business: the 5 percent down math, where the money comes from, and how co-buyers shrink the number.
- [How to Buy Out Your Boss: A Step-by-Step Guide](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-buy-out-your-boss-step-by-step): A step-by-step guide to buying out your boss with SBA financing, from confirming the numbers privately to closing the deal and taking ownership.
- [Key Employee Buyout: What Happens After You Say Yes](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/key-employee-buyout-what-happens-after-you-say-yes): What happens after you commit to a key employee buyout: valuation, financing, the letter of intent, closing, and the transition into ownership.
- [Risks and Red Flags Before Buying Out Your Employer](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/risks-and-red-flags-before-buying-out-your-employer): The risks and red flags to check before buying out your employer, from client concentration to cash flow quality, and how SBA underwriting protects you.
- [SBA Financing for Employees Buying Their Employer's Business](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/sba-financing-for-employees-buying-employer-business): How SBA 7(a) financing lets employees buy their employer's business with as little as 5 percent down, what the loan covers, and how the equity injection works.
- [Seller-Financed MBO vs SBA-Financed MBO](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/seller-financed-mbo-vs-sba-financed-mbo): Seller-financed and SBA-financed management buyouts differ on one thing that matters most: when the owner gets paid. Here is how the two structures compare.
- [What Is a Management Buyout?](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/what-is-a-management-buyout): A management buyout is when a firm's own managers buy it from the owner. Here is how an MBO works, how it is financed, and how it compares to an ESOP.
- [What It Takes to Buy the Company You Work For](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/what-it-takes-to-buy-the-company-you-work-for): What you actually need to buy the company you work for: the down payment, the cash flow banks require, and the personal readiness that makes a buyout work.
- [Why Minnesota Engineering Firms Are Positioned for the Coming Ownership Transfer](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/why-minnesota-engineering-firms-positioned-ownership-transfer): Minnesota engineering firms face a wave of owner retirements. Here is why an internal sale to key employees with SBA financing fits them well.
- [Beyond the ESOP: Exit Strategies for A/E Firm Owners](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/beyond-the-esop-exit-strategies-ae-firm-owners): The real exit options for architecture and engineering firm owners, from a third-party sale to an ESOP to a bank-financed employee buyout, and how to choose.
- [SBA-Financed Employee Buyouts: The Exit Path Owners Miss](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/sba-financed-employee-buyouts-exit-path): How A/E firm owners sell to their key employees with SBA financing and get paid at closing, the exit path most owners never hear about until too late.
- [The Succession Timeline Most A/E Firm Owners Get Wrong](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/succession-timeline-ae-firm-owners-get-wrong): How long succession really takes for architecture and engineering firms, the three-to-four year countdown that works, and why selling to employees is faster.
- [What Is Your Engineering Firm Actually Worth?](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/what-is-your-engineering-firm-worth): A plain-language guide to valuing an engineering or architecture firm: the cash flow that drives value, the rule-of-thumb multiples, and why banks care.
- [Retiring TO Something: Life After Selling Your A/E/LS Firm](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/retiring-to-something-after-selling-ae-firm): The owners who handle the sale well built a life waiting. How the step-down process gives A/E/LS firm sellers runway instead of a cliff.
- [Why the Spouse Belongs at the Table in A/E/LS Firm Buyouts](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/spouse-at-the-table-ae-firm-buyout): Every A/E/LS firm buyout has four decision-makers, not two. Bring the buyer's spouse in early so the household is aligned before the bank is.
- [Buying the Boss Out: 2026 SBA Financing Guide](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/buying-the-boss-out): Updated 2026 SBA rules make employee buyouts viable with as little as 5% down and cash at closing. The Step-Up Legacy Plan beats ESOPs for $1M-$10M A/E firms.
- [Case Study: How a 28-Person A/E Firm Owner Exited with Step-Up](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/case-study-28-person-ae-firm-owner-exits-with-step-up): How a 28-person A/E firm owner exited with Step-Up: SBA financing, independent valuation, paid at close, and a clean control transfer.
- [Who Bears the Risk? Capital Structure in A/E Firm Ownership Transitions](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/capital-structure-risk-ae-firm-ownership-transitions): Compare 6 A/E firm ownership models by seller risk and liquidity. SBA buyouts, ESOPs, MBOs, EOTs, co-ops, and seller financing analyzed by who bears the financial risk.
- [Common Deal Structures for A/E Firm Buyouts: SBA, Seller Notes, and Hybrid Models](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/common-deal-structures-ae-firm-buyouts): Compare the most common deal structures for architecture and engineering firm buyouts. SBA 7(a), seller financing, hybrid models, and earnouts explained for both buyers and sellers.
- [EBITDA Multiples for A/E Firms: What Your Firm Is Actually Worth in 2026](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/ebitda-multiples-ae-firms-2026): A/E firms with $2M to $10M in sales run 4.0x to 8.0x EBITDA. Firms below $2M are valued on 1.5x to 4.0x SDE. See what moves your multiple.
- [ESOP Alternatives for A/E Firms: SBA-Friendly Employee Buyouts](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/esop-alternatives-a-simpler-way-to-transition-ownership): ESOPs cost $150,000 or more to set up and rarely fit firms under $10 million in sales. See how your employees come in with as little as 5% down and you are paid at closing.
- [How to Find and Evaluate Confidential A/E Firm Listings](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-find-evaluate-confidential-ae-firm-listings): Most A/E firms worth acquiring never appear on public listing sites. Learn how confidential deals work, common deal structures, and how to value an engineering business.
- [How to Value Your A/E/LS Firm for a 3-4 Year Exit](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-value-your-ae-firm-for-an-exit): A/E firm valuations run 1.5x to 4.0x SDE below $2M in sales, or 4.0x to 8.0x EBITDA from $2M to $10M. Learn what drives your firm's worth.
- [What SBA Lenders Actually Look For When Financing an A/E Firm Buyout](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/sba-lender-requirements-ae-firm-buyout): SBA lenders approve A/E firm buyouts based on DSCR, backlog, client mix, and management depth. Learn the 5 factors that determine if your deal gets funded.
- [SBA Employee Buyout vs. ESOP vs. MBO vs. EOT vs. Co-Op vs. Seller Financing](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/employee-ownership-structures-compared): Compare 6 employee ownership models by seller risk, cash at closing, and complexity. SBA buyouts deliver the lowest seller risk and highest upfront liquidity.
- [How to Sell Your Engineering Firm to Key Employees](https://www.allenbusinessadvisors.com/blog/how-to-sell-your-engineering-firm-to-key-employees): A/E firm owners can sell to key employees using SBA 7(a) loans with as little as 5% down. The Step-Up Legacy Plan pays cash at closing.