Prepared for lenders, CDCs, and federal agencies to SBA SOP 50 10 8, USDA 7 CFR Part 5001, and conventional underwriting standards. Fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never the borrower. 4,000+ engagements since 1998 covering $41.2 billion in evaluated project value. So far in 2026: 41 engagements and $1.54 billion evaluated — 17 SBA, 11 USDA.
Veterinary facilities — general practices, emergency and specialty hospitals, and large-animal clinics — combine retail-medicine demand with a cash-pay reality that simplifies the payer question and sharpens the demographic one: pet-owning households, their density, and their documented spending define the market. The study sizes demand from household and pet-ownership data against the competitive census including corporate consolidators, models revenue per veterinarian against the category's production benchmarks, and tests the staffing plan against the veterinarian shortage that constrains the entire sector — recruiting reality is a feasibility factor, not a footnote.
Demand from pet-owning-household density and spending benchmarks, production modeling per DVM at documented revenue norms, service-mix analysis where boarding, grooming, or emergency lines layer onto practice revenue, and recruitment-market analysis treated as the binding constraint it currently is.
Every Wert-Berater financial model is fully linked with no hardcoded values, so any reviewer can stress any input. Deliverables comprise a complete narrative report and the linked Excel model, with ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis at ±5, 10, and 15 percent, interest-rate stress from +0.5 to +3.0 percent, and ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data.
SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8, including its debt-service-coverage minimums of 1.15x operating and 1.00x global. USDA engagements follow RD Staff Instruction 5001 across the Business & Industry, Community Facilities, REAP, and Value-Added Producer Grant programs. Conventional engagements are built to the lender's stated coverage standard, typically 1.20x. Owner-veterinarian projects fit SBA structures directly; emergency and specialty hospitals at scale route conventional; rural large-animal practices can reach USDA frameworks.
The engagement pairs the firm's professional-practice discipline with its agricultural record where large-animal and mixed practices serve producer communities. Independence is non-negotiable: determinations follow the evidence and are not revised under pressure, and studies are built to pass lender, agency, and third-party review without exception items.
A feasibility study for a veterinary clinic or animal hospital is not a repurposed retail or medical-office template. The scope is built around the operating realities of veterinary medicine: cash-pay revenue, production-based staffing, and a competitive landscape that now includes corporate consolidators operating at scale alongside independent practices. Every engagement produces a complete, lender-ready package that addresses each of those realities in writing and in the model.
Demand for veterinary services is a function of pet-owning households, not of general population counts. The analysis begins by defining a realistic trade area — typically based on drive-time isochrones rather than arbitrary radius rings — and then populating that trade area with household data drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Survey. Pet-ownership penetration rates are applied from published national and regional survey data, including American Veterinary Medical Association and American Pet Products Association household surveys, to convert raw household counts into an estimated pet-owning population.
Spending benchmarks are drawn from AVMA economic reports and IBISWorld industry data, allowing the study to translate pet-owning-household density into a defensible estimate of total veterinary expenditure available within the trade area. That aggregate demand figure is then reduced by the documented supply already capturing it.
Competitive supply work involves a systematic enumeration of licensed veterinary practices using state veterinary medical board licensing registries, which are public records in most jurisdictions. Corporate-owned practices are identified through parent-company disclosures and franchise location databases. Emergency and specialty hospitals are mapped separately because they operate on a referral model that overlaps with, rather than directly competes against, general practice revenue. The result is a net-demand figure — total available expenditure minus supply already absorbed — that anchors the revenue projections in the financial model.
Coverage ratios for veterinary clinic and animal hospital projects are sensitive to a small number of inputs. Identifying those inputs, documenting the basis for each, and stress-testing each one is the analytical work that separates a credible feasibility study from a pro-forma exercise. The following assumptions consistently move the coverage calculation for this project type.
SBA, USDA, and conventional lenders each approach veterinary clinic and animal hospital projects with a distinct set of concerns, and a study prepared for one program is not automatically suitable for another.
SBA lenders reviewing projects under SOP 50 10 8 require that the feasibility study be prepared by an independent third party with no contingent fee arrangement. The study must demonstrate debt-service coverage of at least 1.15x on an operating basis and 1.00x on a global basis, and it must address the borrower’s management experience in veterinary practice operations. Owner-veterinarian projects are a natural fit for SBA structures, and the study addresses the owner’s production history and its role in the revenue projection.
USDA lenders working under 7 CFR Part 5001 — most commonly the Business & Industry program for rural general practices or mixed large-animal clinics — require the study to document community need, which in a rural context means demonstrating that the trade area is underserved relative to the pet-owning and livestock-owning population. Large-animal and mixed practices that serve producer communities align with USDA’s rural-development mandate and are documented accordingly.
Conventional lenders typically require 1.20x coverage and place particular weight on the competitive analysis and the DVM recruiting plan, because both represent execution risk that the lender cannot control after closing. The study addresses both in writing and in the sensitivity tables, so the credit officer has a documented basis for the coverage determination under adverse assumptions.
The engagement begins with a fixed fee quoted in writing within one business day of the initial inquiry. The fee does not vary with the finding, and no portion of it is contingent on loan approval or any other outcome. That structure is not incidental: it is the foundation of the independence that makes the study usable by a lender or agency reviewer.
Once the fee is accepted, the firm opens a secure client portal and provides a data-room checklist specific to veterinary clinic and animal hospital projects. The checklist covers practice financial history for acquisitions, equipment schedules, lease or purchase agreements for the facility, the recruiting plan with any signed or pending employment agreements, and any existing referral relationships for specialty or emergency practices. A complete data room is the clock-start for the delivery window.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from a complete data room. Rush delivery is available and is discussed at engagement. The deliverable package — bound narrative report, ten-year pro forma, sensitivity analysis, interest-rate stress tables, ratio analysis benchmarked against RMA and IBISWorld data, and the explicit statement of conditions — is published to the secure client portal. The financial model remains live in the portal and recalculates when any input changes, so a lender who wants to run an alternative scenario does not need to request a revision; the model is available to the reviewer directly. Wert-Berater, Inc. has completed 4,000+ engagements representing $41.2 billion in evaluated project value since 1998, and the same standards apply to every engagement regardless of project size.
The fee is fixed and quoted in writing within one business day of the initial inquiry. It does not vary with the finding and no portion is contingent on loan approval. Because scope varies by project type — a single-DVM general practice differs materially from a multi-specialty emergency hospital — the quote is specific to the engagement after a brief intake conversation.
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from the date the data room is complete. Rush delivery is available and is discussed at engagement. The most common cause of delay is an incomplete data room, so the firm provides a project-specific checklist at the start of the engagement to keep the timeline on track.
The binding constraint is veterinarian supply, not patient demand. A practice can be located in a demonstrably underserved market and still fail to perform if it cannot recruit and retain licensed DVMs. A credible study treats the recruiting plan as a feasibility variable — not a footnote — and stress-tests revenue against delayed or partial staffing scenarios. Lenders who receive studies that ignore this risk are carrying unquantified exposure.
Not automatically. SBA engagements are prepared to SOP 50 10 8 and USDA engagements follow 7 CFR Part 5001, which has distinct community-need and program-eligibility documentation requirements. If dual-program compliance is needed, the engagement scope is structured accordingly from the outset. Retrofitting an SBA study for USDA review after the fact typically requires material revision.
Yes. Acquisitions require the historical financial performance of the target practice, adjusted for any ownership or staffing changes the buyer intends to make. The study documents the adjusted historical production, applies it to the pro forma, and addresses any transition risk — particularly client retention and the departing veterinarian’s production share — as a named assumption in the statement of conditions.
The data-room checklist covers trade-area location and facility details, the proposed service mix, the DVM staffing plan with any signed employment agreements, equipment schedules, three years of financial history for acquisitions, and any existing referral relationships for specialty or emergency practices. The firm provides the checklist within one business day of engagement and the delivery clock starts when the data room is complete.
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Wert-Berater, Inc. is an independent provider of feasibility studies and other related services. The firm does not provide financing or equity investment advice, and does not arrange, broker, or place debt or equity capital of any kind.
All appraisal assignments are performed by Bruce E. Jones, MAI, ASA-GC, BCA, CMEA, a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2006, a staff member of Wert-Berater, Inc. and owner of Special Purpose Realty Valuation.