Veterinarians · BC · AB
Buying the clinic, and the building it sits in.
Everything that applies to a medical or dental purchase applies to a veterinary one — the same full-project financing, the same structure, the same leverage. That has not always been the market’s reputation, and it is worth saying plainly.
Arranged by Ramin Hallaji, licensed mortgage broker — working directly with the healthcare lending teams at Canada’s major banks.
The four pillars
What gets financed
The purchase is rarely one number. It is four, and they are underwritten together — which is exactly why the down payment can come out at nothing.
Real estate
The clinic building or your unit in it — often freestanding real estate with parking, kennels and a surgical wing.
Usually 25 yearsPractice acquisition
The going concern you are buying: the client base, the records, the referral relationships and the goodwill.
About 12 yearsLeasehold & equipment
Surgical suite, dental and digital radiography, ultrasound, anaesthetic monitoring, in-house lab, kennels and runs.
About 12 yearsWorking capital
A revolving corporate line of credit — not a term loan — covering payroll for technicians and support staff, drug and supply inventory, and the float through the transition.
Revolving lineThe shape of the deal
Two clocks, one project — and no down payment
For licensed healthcare professionals this category commonly reaches full-project financing: the building on an amortisation of twenty-five years in most cases — occasionally thirty — with the practice, equipment and build-out written over about twelve. The expensive, faster-amortising piece clears first, so the heaviest year of the loan is the first one, not the tenth.
A year or two of interest-only is usually available while the appointment book fills — and the facility is commonly fully open, so any part of it, the mortgage included, can be cleared early without penalty.
These deals are commonly held across two companies — a holding company for the real estate, an operating company for the practice, with guarantees crossing between them. Have your accountant in the room early; that structure has tax consequences well beyond the loan.
The shape of the deal
- Down payment
- None required
- Real estate
- Usually 25 years, sometimes 30
- Practice, equipment, build-out
- Written over about 12 years
- Opening period
- 1–2 years interest-only
- Prepayment
- Fully open, no penalty
The terms this category commonly reaches, not a quote. What lands on your own file is confirmed to you in writing before you are asked to commit to anything.
Affordability
Practice-acquisition estimator
Set the clinic’s cash flow and your own assumptions; the estimator shows the borrowing the cash flow could support. It quotes nobody’s pricing — the rate is your input.
Arithmetic on figures you supplied — not an approval, a pre-approval, or an offer. Real estate in a project runs on its own longer clock and can carry further than this single-term illustration.
Veterinary specifics
What is different about a veterinary file
A veterinary practice is unusually equipment-dense for its size. Digital radiography, ultrasound, anaesthetic monitoring, an in-house lab and a full surgical suite can add up to a meaningful share of the project — frequently more than a comparable dental or optometry deal.
That matters, because equipment bought on standalone lease finance is usually the most expensive money in the building. Rolled into the project instead, it is underwritten as part of the practice — and repays on the practice’s clock rather than a short lease term.
The other veterinary particular is the building. Clinics far more often occupy freestanding real estate than a suite in an office tower — boarding, runs, isolation and after-hours access do not fit a standard commercial floorplate. Where the real estate comes with the practice, it moves onto the long amortisation and quietly becomes the most affordable part of the deal.
On the reputation problem. Veterinary buyers are often told their file will be assessed like any other small business — leverage uncertain until late. That is not the position here. Veterinary practices reach the same full-project financing described on this page, on the same structure. If you have been told otherwise, it is worth a second opinion.
We work alongside your healthcare practice broker, your accountant and your financial adviser — the financing is built around the deal they helped you shape, not the other way round.
Questions
The ones that come up first
Yes. Everything described for medical and dental purchases applies to veterinary purchases as well — the same full-project financing and the same structure. Veterinary buyers are frequently told the opposite, which is why it is stated this directly.
No. A first practice purchase is judged on the practice you are buying rather than on a personal earnings history you have not had time to build. What matters is the practice’s cash flow, the price, and your licence.
Yes. There is no goodwill component in a start-up, so the build-out, equipment and working capital carry more of the project. It is judged on your projections and the catchment rather than historical statements, so the plan and the location analysis do real work.
The same four pieces apply, with a heavier equipment and build-out component and a larger working-capital float for overnight staffing. The staffing model is the part underwriters look at hardest, so bring your rota assumptions to the first conversation.
Get started
Bring the deal you are actually looking at
A purchase agreement, a set of clinic financials, or just the practice you have been offered and a question about whether it works. Early is better — the structure is easiest to influence before anything is signed.