A vet practice valuation is worked the same way as any owner-run practice: the last twelve months' profit with the owner's salary and the one-off costs added back, times the multiple the veterinarian was quoted, plus the drugs, supplies and equipment on their own lines. The particulars are the drug inventory, which is larger than most practices carry, and the owner's clinical production, which a buyer has to replace. This page works the veterinary practice valuation calculator on the hub's example and then the allied practices, optometry, chiropractic and physical therapy, which differ in their add-backs and their inventory and not in the arithmetic. The free small business valuation tool on this site does the sum from your own figures, with no account, and publishes no multiple.
The veterinary practice valuation calculator: earnings, the multiple, the inventory
Discretionary earnings are the profit plus the owner veterinarian's salary, benefits, interest, depreciation and one-off costs; $180,000 on the hub's example. Value is that times the multiple you enter: $450,000 at 2.5, $360,000 at 2.0, $540,000 at 3.0. Then the inventory, which for a veterinary practice is the drug and supply stock at cost, is added on its own line: $36,000 on the example, taking the value to $486,000. Equipment, the surgery, imaging and lab, is a further line at its agreed value. The American Veterinary Medical Association is where the profession's own guidance on practice ownership and transition lives; the arithmetic is the calculator's and the multiple is yours.
Optometry practice valuation: the dispensary is the inventory
An optometry practice is the same sum with the frames and lenses as the inventory line and the exam equipment as the equipment line, and with the owner optometrist's clinical production as the add-back a buyer must replace. On $180,000 of discretionary earnings at the user's 2.5, the earnings value is $450,000 and the dispensary stock is added at cost on top. The question that moves an optometry multiple between buyers is whether the practice's revenue is exam-led or dispensary-led, because the dispensary carries a different risk from a managed-care exam base; that is a fact the owner enters as the multiple, not a figure this hub publishes.
Chiropractic practice valuation: the patient base and the owner's production
A chiropractic practice carries little inventory, so its value is almost entirely discretionary earnings times the multiple, and the whole negotiation is about whether the patient base follows the sale when the owner leaves the table. The add-back is the owner's clinical salary, and the buyer's counter is the cost of an associate to replace that production. On the hub's example the arithmetic is the same $450,000 at 2.5, with the equipment, the tables and any imaging, added at its agreed value. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational wage data, linked below, is where a market salary for the replacement associate is read.
How to value a physical therapy practice: contracts, referrals and the same sum
A physical therapy practice is valued on its discretionary earnings at the multiple you enter, with the owner therapist's salary as the add-back and the payer contracts and referral relationships as the facts that decide the multiple. Inventory is small; equipment is added at its agreed value. On the hub's example the earnings value is $450,000 at 2.5, and the report tool on this site turns the value at two or three multiples into a range with a midpoint. The Small Business Administration's guide to selling a business, linked below, covers the sale; the free small business valuation tool does the arithmetic for any of these practices from the owner's own figures.
Questions people ask about vet practice valuation
How is a vet practice valued?
Discretionary earnings, the profit plus the owner's salary and the one-off costs added back, times the multiple you enter, plus the drug and supply inventory at cost and the equipment at its agreed value. $180,000 at 2.5 is $450,000, $486,000 with $36,000 of inventory.
Are optometry, chiropractic and physical therapy practices valued the same way?
Yes: the same arithmetic with different add-backs and inventory. Optometry carries the dispensary as inventory, chiropractic and physical therapy carry almost none, and each has the owner's clinical production as the add-back a buyer must replace.
Does this site publish a multiple for veterinary practices?
No. The multiple is yours to enter, and the calculator shows the value at that multiple and at the ones either side so the range is on the page.