Should I buy an ABA therapy clinic or start one?

ABA clinics run on a tiered team. Supervising behaviour analysts guide front-line therapists, and the system that trains, schedules and reviews them is much of what a buyer is really acquiring. A one-clinician practice is simpler. Here you are choosing between taking over a team and building one, and neither path is free of risk.

What buying gives you on day one

An existing clinic may come with trained staff, a supervision routine, a waitlist and families who already trust the clinic. You do not have to recruit everyone before the first session. The cost is that you also inherit habits, premises and client files. Ask how the team feels about a change of owner, and which of the key clinicians would stay.

What starting gives you

Starting means you choose the premises, the clinical approach, the hiring standards and the culture from the beginning. There is nothing to clean up. The trade-off is time: you recruit supervisors and therapists, earn referrals and build a waitlist before the clinic is steady. Ask yourself how long you can carry the costs while that happens.

Questions to settle either way

Whichever route you take, find out how sessions are paid for and what the payer or funding program requires of a new owner. In a purchase, check whether those arrangements continue after the sale rather than assuming they do. Your lawyer can explain contract transfer, and the regulator and funders can explain credential and enrolment rules. The earnings guide helps you read the numbers.

• Your own clinical and management experience.
• How many supervisors you could realistically hire or retain.
• How long you could fund a slow start.
• Whether the seller would stay for a handover.