Your Employees Want to Buy Your Firm. Here's How They Can Afford It.
The Step-Up Legacy Plan™: Your key employees buy your A/E firm with just 10% down. You get paid 100% in cash at closing.
If your key employees only have 5% to put down, you get 90% of your cash at the closing.
You Don't Have to Choose Between Legacy and Security
Most A/E firm owners think they face an impossible choice:
Option 1: Sell to strangers who might change everything you built
Option 2: Finance your employees' purchase and hope they pay you back
There's a third option. The Step-Up Legacy Plan™ gives you both—your employees preserve your legacy while banks ensure your financial security.
Your Legacy Lives On
Your employees already know your clients, your processes, and your values. They'll preserve what you've built, not gut it.
You Get Paid at Closing
Banks fund 90% of the purchase price. Walk away with cash in hand, not IOUs from your employees.
Simple & Fast
No six-figure ESOP setup costs. No years of regulatory compliance. Just a straightforward business sale with professional bank financing.
The Step-Up Legacy Plan™:
An ESOP Alternative That Actually Works
Traditional ESOPs cost $150,000+ to set up and only work for firms with 50+ employees. Most A/E firms don't qualify.
The Step-Up Legacy Plan™ works for firms with as few as 10 employees and costs a fraction of an ESOP.
How It Works:
We Structure the Deal
Professional valuation, SBA financing setup, legal documentation
Your Employees Invest 10%
Manageable down payment, personal guarantees, skin in the game
Banks Fund the Rest
You get paid 90% at closing, employees repay the bank over time
About John R. Allen, III
John helps owners of architecture, engineering, and land surveying companies sell their companies to either strategic third parties or key employees. A former Commercial Loan Officer, he approaches every engagement with a banker’s discipline, aligning financial and non-financial factors that drive deal success. John specializes in the “neglected niche”: firms too complex for Main Street brokers yet below the threshold of large M&A shops. He has developed a reputation for ensuring his Seller clients are paid at the closing.
About Allen Business Advisors
Allen Business Advisors (www.AllenBusinessAdvisors.com) is a nationwide boutique firm that focuses solely on ownership transitions for architecture, engineering, and land surveying companies. The firm is known for its expertise in SBA financing and its proprietary Step-Up Legacy Plan, providing practical alternatives to ESOPS for companies with annual sales between $1 million and $8 million.
Why Owners Choose Allen Business Advisors
Specialization: Focused solely on A/E/LS firms.
Banking Expertise: A team of three former commercial loan officers with SBA mastery.
Proven Results: Faster approvals, more aggressive financing, and higher close rates.
Former Commercial Bankers Who Understand Your Concerns
We're not business brokers trying to flip your firm to the highest bidder. We're former commercial loan officers with 70+ years of combined banking experience.
We've been on both sides of the table. We know how banks evaluate A/E firms, what they worry about, and how to structure deals that get approved.
A/E Specialists Only
We work exclusively with architecture, engineering, and land surveying firms. We understand the unique rhythms of project-based revenue, fixed-fee, time-and-materials, and retainers as prepayment, and retainers as holdbacks.
Banking Expertise
Three former commercial loan officers who "speak banker." Banks trust our deals because we prepare them properly.
Step-Up Legacy Plan™
Our proprietary employee buyout program that's faster, cheaper, and simpler than traditional ESOPs.
You Get Paid at Closing
We structure deals so banks provide the financing, not you. No seller notes, no payment plans, no becoming your employees' bank.
Start Planning 5-7 Years Before You Want to Retire
Most A/E firm owners underestimate how long succession takes. The ones who get the best outcomes start early.
Years 1-2: Understand your options, increase firm value
Years 3-4: Identify successors, prepare for transition
Years 5-7: Execute the plan, close the deal
Success Stories from A/E Firm Owners
"I thought I'd have to sell to a competitor or carry a note for my employees. Allen found a third option that protected my retirement and kept my firm in good hands."
"The Step-Up Plan cost a fraction of what an ESOP would have cost and took months, not years."
"I’ve worked with many brokers and M&A advisors, and John is a cut above. My Credit Committee highly respects him because he consistently presents solid, bankable deals. Additionally, his transactions are well-structured, and he has educated the borrowers to avoid surprises."
"My employees wanted to buy the firm but local banks wouldn't help. Allen's Step-Up Plan got them SBA financing and I got paid $3.2 million at closing."
Ready to Plan Your Legacy?
You spent decades building your A/E firm. You deserve to exit on your terms—with your legacy intact and your financial future secure.
Schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your goals and explore your options. No pressure, no cost, just honest advice from specialists who understand your business.
✓ Confidential consultation ✓ No obligation ✓ A/E industry specialists ✓ Former commercial bankers
