Buy CNC machine shops

What should you open before touring a machine shop?

Tour last. Open tax returns, the machine list, and concentration first. If the owner is the only person who can quote a tight-tolerance job, you are buying a training period. SBA math still has to fit $5 million and SOP 50 10 8. Do not apply a 6x EBITDA headline to a $400k-SDE shop.

Machine list with make, model, year, control, serial, and liens. Crash history and spindle rebuilds. Probe and pallet evidence if the CIM claims lights-out. CMM calibration certificates. ISO 9001 / AS9100 / ISO 13485 status and last CB audit. Concentration by customer and by part number. Backlog aged into firm versus forecast. WIP that is percentage-complete, not hope. Who programs the 5-axis when the owner fishes.

How does SBA or cash still fail on a CNC / precision machining plant?

A machine-shop peg dies on WIP that is percentage-complete in the owner's head. Raw bar and plate are easy. Fixtures the shop built for a customer who owns the print are not finished goods. Unbilled first-article hours are not inventory. Write the LOI to count raw, owned fixtures, and WIP only where a traveler and a packing list agree. Consigned customer material stays off the peg. If JobBOSS or ProShop cannot produce a job-cost versus quote file, the true-up will be a physical and an argument. Do not copy a restaurant definition of inventory.

Controls and 5-axis hold orderly liquidation value better than tired verticals with no probing. A crate robot is deferred capex, not automation. CMM calibration certificates belong next to the machine list — a shop that cannot show them is telling you the quality story is a sticker. Useful-life comments on this site are broker practice, not IRS MACRS and not an appraisal. Lenders will hire their own M&E appraiser. If OLV on the cells plus clean NWC exceeds earnings value, the file is an asset-floor conversation even if the teaser said "precision."

Which CNC / precision machining peg and capex fights belong in the first letter?

Open tour-last discipline on a quoting-owner shop before you tour a machine shop. A clean CNC / precision machining bay does not replace that tab. If the file cannot produce it, rewrite the buybox. Spindle math is climate, not permission to skip the work. Put “tour-last discipline on a quoting-owner shop” on this machine shop buy list.

Underwrite serial-and-lien machine lists before chrome photos the way a lender will on this CNC / precision machining file. Finding it in week eleven is a retrade, not a surprise. SBA 7(a) still caps at $5 million (Source: SBA). The tab still has to fit the box on a machine shop. Put “serial-and-lien machine lists before chrome photos” on this machine shop buy list.

Put concentration by part number not just customer in the first letter. Tour last. HedgeStone will not invent a CNC / precision machining listing so you can skip that order. A machine shop buybox that cannot name this item is not ready for a plant visit. Put “concentration by part number not just customer” on this machine shop buy list.

Capital has to match the file. Backlog split into firm versus forecast is how CNC / precision machining deals die after LOI when nobody opened the tab. Do not apply a neighbor-process multiple because the phrase sounded national. Put “backlog split into firm versus forecast” on this machine shop buy list.

People risk on CNC / precision machining often shows up as SBA math that still fits the five-million box. Price a hire before you argue the cell. Jason Taken is a business broker. He will not walk a machine shop floor while this item is still a slide. Put “SBA math that still fits the five-million box” on this machine shop buy list.

Working-capital fights on a machine shop start when who programs the 5-axis when the owner is gone is undefined. Write the method into the letter. Quote discipline is useful climate. It is not a reason to skip the peg definition. Put “who programs the 5-axis when the owner is gone” on this machine shop buy list.

If spindle-rebuild invoices that match the serial fails, rewrite the machine shop buybox before you fall in love with a CIM photo. Cell honesty does not authorize a hope multiple. Tour last. Put “spindle-rebuild invoices that match the serial” on this machine shop buy list.

A first-time CNC / precision machining buyer often tours first and reads WIP that a traveler and a packing list both accept later. Reverse that. The letter should already assume the ugly version of this item. Put “WIP that a traveler and a packing list both accept” on this machine shop buy list.

Ask who owns consigned bar that never belongs on the peg on this machine shop — seller, customer, or folklore. Ownership mistakes become peg mistakes. Write the answer before you count inventory. Put “consigned bar that never belongs on the peg” on this machine shop buy list.

Phase I still belongs on many CNC / precision machining plants even when the teaser is about a hire priced before the multiple is argued. Environmental cost does not wait for a pretty machine list. Counsel and a credentialed environmental professional own that lane. Put “a hire priced before the multiple is argued” on this machine shop buy list.

Ninety-day risk after close on CNC / precision machining is often Phase I still required when tanks or solvents exist. If the owner is the only person who can do that work, price a consulting week or a hire in the letter. Put “Phase I still required when tanks or solvents exist” on this machine shop buy list.

After the first five tabs, a CNC / precision machining buyer should know whether ninety-day quoting risk written into the LOI kills the deal. If you still do not know, you toured too early. Book the call with a folder, not a photo. Put “ninety-day quoting risk written into the LOI” on this machine shop buy list.

Write a kill rule for backlog split into firm versus forecast in the CNC / precision machining buybox. If the rule is “we will see on the tour,” you do not have a buybox. Quote discipline is not a kill rule. Put “backlog split into firm versus forecast” on this machine shop buy list.

If a lender cannot underwrite SBA math that still fits the five-million box, you should not tour the machine shop. Ask the capital path first. Cell honesty does not create a borrowing base. Put “SBA math that still fits the five-million box” on this machine shop buy list.

Bring a machine shop process list that already includes who programs the 5-axis when the owner is gone. A buyer who cannot name the item will waste a plant visit. Traveler proof is not the process list. Put “who programs the 5-axis when the owner is gone” on this machine shop buy list.

Inventory and WIP arguments on CNC / precision machining often hide inside spindle-rebuild invoices that match the serial. Demand a class definition before you accept a peg. Spindle math is not a class. Put “spindle-rebuild invoices that match the serial” on this machine shop buy list.

A second machine shop (a platform add) still has to pass WIP that a traveler and a packing list both accept. The first plant’s folklore does not transfer. Quote discipline does not transfer either. Put “WIP that a traveler and a packing list both accept” on this machine shop buy list.

Do not model consigned bar that never belongs on the peg as the seller’s problem after close. On CNC / precision machining, it becomes yours the day you wire. Write the cost into the letter. Cell honesty is not a reserve. Put “consigned bar that never belongs on the peg” on this machine shop buy list.

Your first CNC / precision machining LOI should already mention a hire priced before the multiple is argued. Finding it after exclusivity is how retrades start. Traveler proof is poor LOI language. Put “a hire priced before the multiple is argued” on this machine shop buy list.

After you close a CNC / precision machining plant, Phase I still required when tanks or solvents exist is an operating fact, not a CIM line. Budget the first ninety days as if the ugly version is true. Spindle math is not a ninety-day plan. Put “Phase I still required when tanks or solvents exist” on this machine shop buy list.

Foreign-buyer calendars (CFIUS, ITAR notice) do not pause because ninety-day quoting risk written into the LOI looked domestic. Read the clocks before exclusivity on a CNC / precision machining plant. Quote discipline is not a clock. Put “ninety-day quoting risk written into the LOI” on this machine shop buy list.

Job-cost versus quote is the CNC / precision machining earnings test. Tour-last discipline on a quoting-owner shop is how that test usually fails. Open it before you model synergy. Cell honesty is not synergy. Put “tour-last discipline on a quoting-owner shop” on this machine shop buy list.

Red flags on CNC / precision machining are specific. “I did not like the vibe” is not a flag. Serial-and-lien machine lists before chrome photos is. Write it down. Traveler proof is a maybe; this item is not. Put “serial-and-lien machine lists before chrome photos” on this machine shop buy list.

When the first five CNC / precision machining tabs survive, concentration by part number not just customer is the question that decides whether you keep going. If you cannot answer it, you are not done. Spindle math is not a sixth tab that replaces it. Put “concentration by part number not just customer” on this machine shop buy list.

Where does a machine shop buyer go after the first five tabs?

Parent hub: CNC machine shops. Read sell if you need the seller calendar and CNC / precision machining valuation for the cell. Buyer pillar: buy a manufacturing business. Capital box: SBA 7(a) for manufacturing acquisitions.

This CNC / precision machining buyer page will not publish invented listings or skip the first tabs. Counsel, a CPA, and credentialed environmental or M&E professionals own the licensed questions.