For Architecture & Engineering Firms
Sell to your employees without becoming their bank
The Step-Up Legacy Plan lets your key employees buy your firm with as little as 5 percent down while you receive the substantial majority of your proceeds at closing.
It is a bank-financed ownership transition built to preserve your firm's culture and deliver cash to you at closing.
The Problem with Traditional Options
Three familiar paths, three real drawbacks
Traditional ESOP
ESOPs cost $150,000 or more to set up, carry high annual maintenance costs, and work best for firms with net income over $1,500,000.
Seller financing
You become the bank, waiting years for payments while hoping your employees stay profitable.
Third-party sale
Strangers take over your life's work and potentially change everything you built.
How the Step-Up Legacy Plan Works
From owner to paid in three steps
We structure the deal
Professional valuation, SBA financing setup, and legal documentation, structured around the current SBA program so the deal stays aligned with the latest rules for low-down-payment employee buyouts.
Your employees bring as little as 5%
SBA loans call for a 10% equity injection, often split 5% buyer and 5% seller, with personal guarantees, so the people taking over have real skin in the game.
Banks fund the rest
You receive the substantial majority of your proceeds at closing while your employees repay the bank over time.
ESOP vs Step-Up Legacy Plan
A smarter path to succession for $1M to $8M firms
Traditional ESOPs cost $150,000 or more to set up, carry high annual maintenance costs, and work best for firms with net income over $1,500,000.
The Step-Up Legacy Plan is built for the firms ESOPs leave behind.
Ideal size
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Firms with 10 to 50 employees.
- Traditional ESOP
- Net income over $1,500,000.
Seller paid at closing
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Substantial majority, 95 to 100 percent, paid at closing.
- Traditional ESOP
- Mostly deferred and paid over time.
Employee capital required
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Yes, 5 to 10 percent down.
- Traditional ESOP
- None required from employees.
Complexity and setup cost
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Streamlined and cost-effective.
- Traditional ESOP
- High legal and compliance burden.
Bank financing available
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- Readily accessible with the right banks.
- Traditional ESOP
- Limited.
Governance and compliance
- Step-Up Legacy Plan
- No ongoing compliance required.
- Traditional ESOP
- Ongoing, complex oversight.
Why This Works for A/E Firms
Liquidity, legacy, and a simple process
You get paid at closing
Receive the substantial majority of your firm's value in cash. No waiting years for installment payments.
Your legacy lives on
Your employees already know your clients, processes, and values. They will preserve what you built.
A simple process
No ESOP complexity or ongoing regulatory requirements. Just a straightforward business sale with professional financing.
A Legacy That Outlasts You
The people you trained carry the firm forward
Your employees already know your clients, your standards, and the way you like the work done. The Step-Up Legacy Plan keeps the firm in their hands instead of handing it to a stranger who rewrites everything you built.
You walk away paid at closing, and the name on the door keeps meaning what it always has.
Ready to Explore Your Options
See if the Step-Up Legacy Plan fits your firm
The plan is not right for every situation, but when it fits, it solves the employee-ownership challenge elegantly. Schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your situation.