Specialist Facilities Management Business Brokers, United Kingdom
enquiries@facilitiesmanagementbusinessforsale.co.uk • 01285 704466

The 90-day owner-dependency test

For an FM business

Test who can run mobilisation, subcontract approval, customer escalation and invoice sign-off when the FM owner steps back.

For sellers 12 pages 9-minute read Updated Oct 2026

Get the guide

Who this guide is for

For FM owners preparing a handover or looking for more room to step back. Use your site records and approval limits to find the decisions that still depend on you.

What you will take from it

  • Separate competence, authority and access for each deputy.
  • Reconcile replacement duties with the cost in adjusted profit.
  • Use a role-cover scorecard to record tests, gaps and the next action.

What is inside

  1. Map the work that reaches you
  2. Separate skill, authority and access
  3. Rehearse a missed visit
  4. Price the work you leave behind
  5. Keep people and contract questions separate
  6. Repeat the test and choose your next step

The tool: fM role-cover scorecard

Record each task's site or customer, deputy, authority evidence, test date and remaining dependency. Save the completed sheet or print it for a handover discussion.

It comes as its own file as well as a page of the guide.

Two pages from the guide

Page 6 of the guide
Page 6 of 12
Page 10 of the guide
Page 10 of 12

Get the guide

Tell us who you are and the guide opens on this page, with the fM role-cover scorecard as its own file.

PDF 12 pages 442 KB

Your details go to Simon Read's team at FM Business Sales. We do not sell them or share them for marketing. Privacy policy.

Simon Read

Prepared by Simon Read

Founder & Managing Director, Reads Advice Partners Ltd

Simon founded Reads M&A Advisory to specialise in trades such as HVAC, electrical, fire safety and facilities management, and has spent many years selling businesses to independent buyers, trade companies and private equity-backed groups across the UK.

Updated Oct 2026. The Autumn Budget is scheduled for Oct 2026, and we review every guide after it.

Start with a free first conversation: 01285 704466. Meet the team.

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