“I want to buy a business.”
Buy it with your eyes open, and your finance ready.
First-time and repeat buyers. We read the deal the way a credit team would, test the earnings the price is built on, and build the file that gets it funded. This page is the path, in order.
The path
Four steps, in the order that works.
Sanity-check the deal
You have the advertisement or the information memorandum and nothing else. Put the vendor's figures and the add-backs they are claiming into the free adjusted EBITDA calculator. It lays the schedule out line by line and shows what the asking price implies about the earnings behind it. It takes those figures on trust, so treat it as a screen rather than an answer.
Test the earnings
The asking price is a multiple of the earnings, so the earnings are the thing to test: reconciled to BAS lodgements, bank deposits and the general ledger, every add-back evidenced. We do not do that work any more. There were more enquiries than one desk could take properly, so it goes to an independent specialist and we make the introduction at no charge.
Build the file
Most declines are preparation failures, not business failures. The Bank-Ready Pack ($2,850, 7 business days) is the serviceability model plus the written case, built the way a credit assessor reads one, with the tested earnings flowing straight in.
Fund it
Two doors, both open. Want it arranged? We do not arrange finance ourselves; we refer business lending to The Lending Lab, where Nick is a credit representative, and your file goes with you. Prefer your own broker or bank? We prepare the file and work directly with whoever lodges it.
The problem
Why good deals get declined.
The vendor hands you an adjusted figure.
Add-backs with nothing behind them. Owner wages left out of the costs. Rent paid to an entity the owner controls, at a number the owner chose. Maintenance capex provisioned at nothing. Every one of those lifts the earnings, and the asking price is a multiple of the earnings.
$50,000 of add-backs nobody evidenced is $150,000 on the price at a 3x multiple.
Nobody tests it.
Your accountant is your adviser, not the deal's investigator, and lenders want the earnings tested at arm's length. Most buyers engage no one at all, so the vendor's figure goes straight into the price, the loan application and the contract.
A specialist's diligence fee is a fraction of a six or seven figure price. It is the cheapest line in the transaction, and the only one that can tell you not to spend the rest.
The bank tests it, and declines.
Not on merit. Credit teams assess at a rate above the one you were quoted, against a cover ratio the vendor's figure was never built to clear. Deals that service perfectly well are declined because the earnings case was not assembled the way an assessor reads one.
On a $1.2m facility over ten years, two points between the quoted rate and the assessment rate is about $15,500 a year of debt service.
The number the price is built on is usually the number nobody has tested.
What you might need
The products on this path, every fee on the page.
Financial due diligence
The earnings behind the price, rebuilt from source documents and tested.
Introduction, no fee
Learn moreBank-Ready Pack
The model plus the written case, ready to hand to a lender.
$2,850 · 7 business days
Learn moreBank-Ready Plan
The full written plan a bank asks for, from your real numbers rather than a template.
$1,450 · 7 business days
Learn moreBuyers who test the numbers reach the bank with a case that passes.
Built by Nick and his team: a former business banker, a broker since 2018, and the desk behind every file on this site.
$200M+
Arranged across development, construction and private lending
8+ years
In commercial and acquisition finance
Top 10
Broker recognition
Gold Club Elite 2025 · Commercial Broker of the Year finalist 2025 · Multiple MFAA award nominations · Figures relate to finance arranged by Nicholas Clunes through his broking businesses, Andorra Private and The Lending Lab.
13 of 14
Matters on this site that went on to funding
Fourteen matters are set out on our case studies page, spanning 2023 to 2026. Thirteen went on to funding, whether arranged through Nick's broking or by the client's own bank. One did not proceed, on our advice. Outcomes depend on individual circumstances and lender criteria.
Check it against the fourteenClient stories
Buyers who reached the bank with a tested case
Self storage · 2026
The self storage deal the bank said would not service
An additional $3m in lending approved.
Read the storyLandscaping and garden supplies · 2026
The landscaper with 11 months on the books
Approved through a major bank, fully funded.
Read the storyFood franchise · 2025
The buyer from overseas, declined first go
Approved by a major bank, on strong terms.
Read the storyNever bought one before?
Start with what you can actually afford.
Most people look for six to eighteen months, and half of that is spent on businesses they were never going to be able to fund. Work out your range first. It is free, it takes two minutes, and it tells you whether your deposit or the earnings are what is holding you back.
Two ways this can work.
We do the advice work and build the file. Who arranges the loan is your choice: your own broker or bank, or a referral we make for you.
Want the finance arranged as well?
We do the advice work and refer the lending. Business and commercial lending goes to The Lending Lab, where Nick is a credit representative, and development and construction finance goes to Andorra Private. Your file goes with you, so nobody starts again.
Ask about a finance referralAlready have a broker or a banker you trust?
Keep them. We will build the file to the standard a credit team expects and work directly with whoever lodges it. Same models, same documents, same standards, at the same fixed fee.
See the finance documentsWant a straight read on your deal?
Book a free call with Nick. Bring the numbers you have, and we will tell you the right service level and the fixed fee. No obligation.