Start a True Loaded-Labor-Cost Due-Diligence Advisory

1. 1

   Target the headline-versus-true-cost gap

   The whole business rests on a documented trap: a stated 80,000 dollar BCBA salary in practice costs a clinic 115,000 to 120,000 dollars once insurance, benefits, taxes, and workers compensation are loaded in. Owners and buyers who model the base number build pro formas and acquisition prices that are wrong from the start. Your advisory computes the real fully loaded cost so decisions rest on truth, which is a concrete, checkable value.

2. 2

   Build a rigorous loaded-cost methodology

   Create a repeatable model that captures every real cost of a clinical hire: base pay, employer payroll taxes, benefits, malpractice and general liability, workers compensation, paid time off, supervision overhead, and nonbillable time. The methodology is your product, so make it thorough and defensible. A model that misses a cost category quietly recreates the exact error you are hired to prevent.

3. 3

   Apply it to ABA first, then adjacent verticals

   ABA is the clearest starting case because of its documented loaded-cost gap and its active consolidation, which creates a steady stream of acquisitions needing due diligence. The same methodology applies to any licensed-professional-staffed service business (therapy, nursing, allied health, and beyond), so position the loaded-cost model as a reusable due-diligence checklist item across verticals. Start where the pain is documented and expand on reputation.

4. 4

   Sell to buyers, owners, and lenders

   Your buyers are people making decisions on the numbers: acquirers running due diligence, owners building budgets or preparing to sell, and lenders underwriting clinical businesses. Sell on the cost of getting labor math wrong, an overpaid acquisition or a pro forma that never pencils out. A focused loaded-cost analysis is a small engagement that prevents a large mistake, which is an easy value to articulate.

5. 5

   Grow into fractional and recurring work

   One loaded-cost engagement often opens the door to broader financial-modeling, budgeting, or fractional-CFO work for the same clients. Deliver rigorous, honest analysis and let it lead to deeper relationships. In acquisition-heavy fields like ABA, advisors who consistently surface the true numbers earn referrals from the accountants, attorneys, and investors around each deal.

Do not take our word for the money. Put your own numbers in and see what this idea has to earn before it works. Free, instant, no account needed.

Best for: Finance and operations professionals who can model true labor cost rigorously

Not for: Anyone without genuine financial-modeling expertise, since credible loaded-cost analysis depends on it. It is also not for someone who would offer false precision on costs that vary. This is general business information, not financial, tax, or investment advice.