Veterinary Clinic Feasibility Study in Utah

Fewer clinics than the national pattern, but bigger loans

The location quotient is 0.50x, so animal clinics make up a thinner part of Utah's lending under SBA than of the national total, and inside Utah the class lands 20 of 39. Even so, the 33 loans approved in FY2017 to FY2026 add up to $44.8 million, and the median loan of $856,000 is 1.38x the national median for the class. Utah is 33 of 53 among states by loan count. Fewer deals, then, but heavier ones: a borrower here should expect to size a clinic project closer to a real estate purchase than to a practice buy-in.

Program mix and the lender who leads

Utah's central half of loans spans $350,000 up to $1.4 million. Of the 33 approvals, 20 were SBA 7(a) and 13 were SBA 504, a fairly even split that points to owners buying or building the clinic property as well as financing practices. Franchising holds a 3.0% share. Live Oak Banking Company is the largest 7(a) lender with 7 loans and $19.5 million, a book whose dollars per loan sit far above the state median. By county, Salt Lake and Utah each carry 10 loans, Davis 3, and Box Elder, Carbon and Washington 2 apiece. Volume stayed within a narrow band each year, from 1 loan in FY2024 to 5 in FY2019, and reached 4 again in FY2025.

Reading the missing loss rates

Utah clinics show no cancellation or charge-off rate: the cohort holds too few loans to print a stable rate, and the page substitutes no number. Absence of a rate is no evidence of a clean history, and a lender or buyer should not infer one.

Questions for a Utah clinic project

Because tickets run large, the first test is whether the site and building justify the price of a clinic that may sit near $1.4 million at the upper edge of the middle half. A study should measure the pet-owning households in the trade area, the existing clinics that already serve them, and the staffing a new practice can realistically recruit, since the lower location quotient and the small count of 33 loans mean the class is not proven by volume. Cost should be run against projected visit counts and revenue per visit, and debt service coverage should be shown under a slower ramp than the owner hopes for. The appraisal will test the same earnings, so the forecast and the valuation need to tell one story.