Dykstra Consulting M&A Advisory

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Selling or buying a fabrication or machine shop

Capability, certifications and repeat programmes — not the resale value of the machines.

I want to sell my Fabrication business I want to buy one

If you own one

Thinking about selling your fabrication or machine shop?

Job shops are routinely undervalued by their own owners, who price the business at what the machines would fetch. A buyer is not buying machines; they are buying capability, certifications, programmed jobs that repeat, and skilled machinists who are hard to replace. Making that visible in the financials is often worth more than any operational change.

What raises the price

  • Repeat production programmes and blanket orders rather than one-off jobs
  • Certifications — ISO, AS9100, weld procedures — that a buyer can inherit
  • Skilled machinists, programmers and welders with real tenure
  • Quoting that has proven accurate, with margin tracked by job
  • Modern CNC capacity with capability the local market cannot easily match

What a buyer will discount

  • The owner programmes, quotes and sets up the difficult work
  • A single OEM customer whose programme could move
  • Machines fully depreciated and genuinely near the end of their life
  • Scrap, rework and setup time that never reach the job cost

None of this is a reason to wait. Most of these are fixable, and knowing which ones apply to you is exactly what a valuation is for.

What is my fabrication or machine shop worth?

Nine questions, an indicative range on screen, and a scorecard showing which value drivers you already have and which are costing you money. No cost, no obligation, and nothing is published.

Get a free valuation

Prefer to talk it through first? Use the form below — it reaches a person, not a queue.

If you want to buy one

Looking to acquire a fabrication or machine shop?

Look for repeat production programmes rather than pure job work, certifications that open doors, and a shop floor that runs to a schedule. A shop where the owner programmes, quotes and sets up is a purchase of equipment with a transition problem.

How this works. Registering tells us what you are looking for. It does not give you company names, financials or locations — none of that is released until the owner agrees to share it with a specific, qualified buyer under a signed confidentiality agreement. That protection is the reason good businesses come to us at all, and it will protect you too on the day you sell.

Not sure you are ready to compete? Take the readiness check — two minutes, and it tells you exactly what sellers compare buyers on.

Get told before it is listed

Most good businesses in this sector are placed with a prepared buyer before they are ever publicly advertised. Buyers on file hear first. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Register what you are looking for

Start the conversation

Tell us which one you are

Whether you own a fabrication or machine shop or want to buy one, this is the same first step: a short, confidential conversation with a person who has done this before.

  • Read personally — never a shared inbox or an auto-responder
  • Confidential. We do not contact your employees, customers or competitors
  • No cost and no obligation to do anything with the answer
  • You can leave anything blank and fill it in later

Handled with care and discretion

Everything you send is treated as confidential. It is read by the person you addressed it to, used only to respond to you, and never sold, shared with foreign entities or used for unsolicited marketing. We do not contact your employees, customers, suppliers or competitors.

Want it in writing first? Say so and we will send a non-disclosure agreement for signature before anything specific is discussed. Plenty of owners prefer that, and nobody is offended by being asked.

Submitting this form does not create a legally binding agreement, an engagement, or a confidentiality obligation on its own — it starts a conversation. Anything binding is a document both sides sign.

Which describes you? *

A word or a number is fine. This blocks automated submissions.

A web form submission is not a legally binding agreement and does not create an engagement. If you would like a signed NDA before anything specific is discussed, just say so.

Questions owners actually ask

Metal Fabrication & Machining: the questions we get

How do I sell my machine shop?

By showing a buyer the business rather than the equipment list — repeat programmes, certifications, margin by job and a team that stays. We prepare that case, value the business at no cost, and approach buyers confidentially.

What is a metal fabrication business worth?

Considerably more than auction value when the work repeats and the people stay, and close to auction value when neither is true. A confidential valuation will tell you which one describes your shop today.

Do my certifications transfer when I sell?

Usually, with planning — and they matter, because certifications are often what a buyer is really acquiring. It is one of the items we confirm before going to market.

Related business types

Also in manufacturing & industrial

Manufacturing

Buyers underwrite customer concentration and management depth before anything else.

Production, Packaging & Assembly

Throughput, yield and contracts — the three things diligence will test.

Engineering & Technical Services

The value walks out at five o'clock. Retaining it is the whole exercise.

Start with a number, not a decision

A complimentary, confidential valuation tells you what your fabrication or machine shop would be worth today and what is holding it back. Whether you act on it is entirely up to you.

Get a free valuation See all business types