Your business, run on your standards. Ready for whoever’s next.
The Standard is twelve months for owners who plan to step back in the next few years. We take the judgment only you carry and build it into the business, so it runs without you in every room, and whoever comes next can see exactly how.
Could the business run without you in every room?
Eight questions a buyer, or whoever comes next, would ask. Answer them for yourself. Nothing leaves this page unless you choose to send it.
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Pricing
Could someone else price a big job tomorrow, the way you would?
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The numbers
Does anyone else check the numbers each morning, and know what to do about them?
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Customers
Are your best customers looked after by someone other than you?
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Quality
Do your standards get checked when you’re not there?
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The team
When the team gets stuck, can they get an answer without ringing you?
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Suppliers
Could someone else run the suppliers and get the same terms?
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Know-how
If you were away for a month, is what you know written down?
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Holidays
Have you had two weeks off in the last year without being called?
What happens, and when.
- Months 1 and 2
The Owner Audit and your House Rules
Your rules written down in your words, your hours measured, and the first tool working.
- Months 3 to 9
Your judgment, built in
The tools that take your daily judgment off your plate: pricing, checking, the morning numbers, the questions the team brings you.
- Every month
Your hours, tracked
A one-page report of the hours handed back, so you can see the business needing you less.
- Months 10 to 12
The handover pack
What runs, who runs it, what it costs and where it lives, written for a buyer’s due diligence or a successor’s first day.
We build; your accountant or adviser advises. We never give tax, legal or valuation advice, and we’re glad to work with whoever you already trust.
Why it matters, honestly.
Advisers who prepare businesses for sale say buyers discount businesses that depend on their owner, by 15 to 30% in one 2026 estimate. Nobody has measured it independently, so treat it as a rule of thumb, not a promise.
What’s certain is the time it takes. Advisers recommend 12 to 24 months to get a business ready. And the first benefit arrives long before any sale: evenings, holidays and your own time back.
Sources: Deal Advisory Exit Report, May 2026.
Talk it through. In confidence.
The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing. In person or on a call. If AI isn’t the answer for your business, you’ll hear that from us first.
Nothing yet. Most owners start with three or four.
Opens your own email with your list written in, plus anything you picked further up the page. Nothing is sent until you press send, and nothing is stored here.