Building a Business Plan

Lender-ready documentation

Your business plan is how you get funded

The people reading your business plan are commercial lenders deciding whether to fund a clinical business that doesn’t yet exist, or one you haven’t yet bought. Every UK dental lender works through the same checklist. They want catchment evidence, competitor mapping, fee modelling, capacity planning, breakeven analysis, and a financial model they can stress-test. They don’t want vision statements.

A dental business plan is two documents working together: the written plan, and the financial projections. The plan tells the lender what you’re going to do and why the catchment supports it. The projections show estimated monthly cash flow since the day of opening, the costs and expenses incurred to get there, and how loan service stands up under stress.

The costs side is where most first-time plans fall apart. Lenders want quotes and proformas from builders, marketing, IT, fire alarms – anything you need to open the doors to patients. Most quotes can’t be estimated. They need to come from your suppliers, on supplier letterhead, ready to reference inside the projections model.

We hand over the template free to clients, with general advice on using it. The financial projections are a separate piece of work – mandatory on every start-up loan pack and on most acquisitions – and £1,500 + VAT if you want our Finance team to build them in a bank-approved form. Building a business plan sits inside our wider Practice Startup service, alongside finance brokerage, accounts setup, and the rest of the launch sequence.

How this works

This page is about the documents lenders want to see. You write the plan itself – we provide the template, refined over years of dental practice launches, and we’ll happily talk you through how to use it. The financial projections are a separate piece of work where the numbers really matter, and we strongly recommend our Finance team builds them.

Two offers, two prices

Free template, plus bank-approved projections

There are two things you can ask us for. Most clients start with the template, then commission the projections once the practice concept is firm enough to model.

The business plan template – free to Samera clients

Refined across 750+ dental practice startups since 2002. It walks you through the nine sections a UK dental lender wants to see, in the order they read them. You write the practice-specific content – the catchment data, the competitor table, the fee schedule, the founder background. We hand the template over and give you general advice on how to use it, either on a free 30-minute call or in a written briefing depending on what works for you.

The template is yours to use. There’s no fee, no review process you have to book in, no commitment beyond engaging Samera for accountancy, finance brokerage or company setup. Most clients take it from there and build their own plan around it.

The financial projections – £1,500 + VAT, bank-approved form

This is the piece where the numbers have to be defensible. Projections are mandatory on every UK dental start-up loan pack, and on most acquisitions – banks ask for them whenever the target is loss-making, where serviceability looks tight, or where the lender wants the model rebuilt on your operating cost structure rather than the seller’s. The way they’re structured matters as much as the figures inside. Our Finance team builds them in a bank-approved form that UK dental lenders accept straight away.

What’s in the model:

• Profit & Loss statements
• Cash flow modelling with breakeven analysis
• Estimated EBITDA
• Loan Service Stress Test
• Loan repayment schedule built against your proposed finance package

The output is a standalone Excel model shared with you internally. PDF versions of the projections go into the lender application as referenced documents.

The lender checklist

The seven things UK dental lenders test before funding a practice

Generic business plan templates ask you to articulate vision, mission and values. UK dental lenders don’t fund vision – they fund evidence. The Samera template is structured around these seven items, so you know what each section of your plan needs to demonstrate.

1. Catchment evidence

How many people live within a 5-mile radius? What’s the NHS-to-private split in the area? What’s the per-capita dental spend? Lenders want population data tied to dental demand, not a sentence saying “Surrey is a great area for dentistry”.

2. Competitor mapping

How many practices are inside the catchment, what’s their NHS/private mix, what are their list sizes, what gaps in the local market are you filling? Lenders want a competitor table, not a competitor paragraph.

3. Fee modelling

What private fees will you charge for each treatment band? How does that compare to local competitors? What’s the realistic UDA value if you’re holding NHS contract? Lenders test fee assumptions against published Adam’s, BUPA and local market data.

4. Capacity planning

How many surgeries, how many chair-hours per week, what’s the realistic occupancy ramp in months 1-12? Our Finance team builds the capacity model from proven dental startup curves, calibrated against your starting position and growth expectations. You don’t need to bring this to us pre-built.

5. Breakeven analysis

At what monthly revenue does the practice cover its costs including loan service? How many months until that’s hit? Lenders want a specific number with the workings shown, not “we expect to break even within year one”.

6. Loan service stress test

How does debt service cover hold up under stress? Lenders run their own version of this against your model – your projections should pre-empt the test so the model reads as defensible rather than defensive.

7. Founder credibility

What’s your clinical experience, business experience, hours you’ll personally work, your skin in the game (deposit, equity, personal guarantees)? Lenders fund people as much as plans.

The template covers all seven as named sections. Items 3 through 6 are where the projections add-on does most of its work – the numbers in those four sections are what banks test hardest.

Inside the template

The nine sections of the Samera dental business plan template

The template walks through nine sections in the order a lender reads them. The Executive Summary is written last but appears first.

• Executive Summary – the one-page overview the bank reads first. Written last, once the rest of the plan is finalised.
• The practice you’re building or buying – what type of practice, NHS / private / mixed, location, scale, clinical positioning.
• Market and catchment analysis – population data, dental demand, competitor mapping, gap in the local market.
• Vision and clinical positioning – what differentiates the practice clinically and commercially. Short, evidence-led, not aspirational.
• The business strategy – how the practice will acquire patients, retain them, and grow the list over the first 24 months.
• Services and fee schedule – private fee bands, UDA value if NHS, package pricing, payment plans.
• Financial forecasting – high-level summary in the plan, with a reference to the standalone projections model where applicable.
• Risks and opportunities – what could go wrong, what mitigation is in place, what upside cases exist.
• Conclusions and ask – the funding requirement, the loan structure proposed, the timeline to drawdown.

The template includes prompts in each section flagging the type of evidence lenders expect. The full template runs 25-40 pages once completed.

When projections are needed

What’s in the £1,500 + VAT projections build

For a start-up, financial projections are mandatory – no UK dental lender funds a new practice without them. For an acquisition, projections are required where the target is loss-making, where serviceability looks tight, or where the lender wants the model rebuilt on your operating cost structure rather than the seller’s. That covers most acquisition deals our buyers bring us. Our Finance team builds the model in a bank-approved form that UK dental lenders accept straight away.

What gets built:

• 3-year P&L with monthly granularity for all years
• Profit & Loss statements
• Cash flow modelling with breakeven analysis
• Estimated EBITDA
• Loan Service Stress Test
• Loan repayment schedule modelled to your proposed finance package
• Cross-references back to the assumptions in your written plan

What we need from you:

• Fee schedule (private bands, UDA value if NHS)
• Equipment cost schedule
• Lease or property cost
• Builder, marketing, IT, fire alarm and any other opening-cost quotes from your suppliers (we need proformas or supplier quotes – estimates aren’t enough for the bank)
• Proposed finance package (loan amount, term, indicative rate) – if you have a lender lined up. If you’re using Samera Finance to broker the loan, we obtain indicative terms from banks ourselves.

We handle the capacity planning side – starting patient numbers, growth ramp, chair-time utilisation – using proven dental startup models. We’ll talk you through our assumptions and adjust based on your view of the local market, but you don’t need to bring this work to us pre-built.

The output is a standalone Excel model shared with you internally. PDF versions of the projections go into the lender application as referenced documents.

Speak to Uros about projections

Uros leads the financial projections work for dental startups and acquisitions. Free 30-minute call to walk through what your model needs to cover and confirm the fixed fee before you commit.

Book a call

Squat or acquisition

The template adapts depending on what you’re funding

The template is the same starting document whether you’re building a squat or buying an existing practice. The way you fill it in adapts.

Route 1 – You’re building a squat

The plan is about catchment evidence, competitor mapping, and a realistic ramp-up curve from month one to month twenty-four. Lenders are funding a clinical business that doesn’t yet exist, so the catchment and capacity sections do most of the heavy lifting. The projections include the fit-out cost schedule (quotes from your builder, IT supplier, fire alarm contractor, etc), the lease commitment, and the months before patient revenue covers operating cost.

This route normally sits inside the Practice Startup service, where the business plan is one of seven documents needed for finance, CQC registration, and lease negotiation.

Route 2 – You’re buying an existing practice

The template adapts. The catchment work is still relevant, but the heavier lift is normalising historic P&L and showing how you’ll retain and grow patient numbers under new ownership. The projections work from the seller’s actual figures rather than a from-scratch model, adjusted for your operating cost structure (your associate split, your overhead base, your finance package).

This route normally sits inside the Buy a Dental Practice service, alongside financial due diligence and acquisition finance brokerage.

In both cases the template is the same starting point, and our Finance team builds the projections (if commissioned) the same way. The lender-facing logic is what differs.

Process

A simple three-step path

Step 1 – Free 30-minute consultation

Free, no obligation. We talk through your practice concept, the scale of finance you’re looking for, and what stage the project is at. By the end of the call we know whether you just want the template, want projections built as well, or need other Samera services alongside (finance brokerage, company setup, accountancy).

Step 2 – Template handover plus general advice

We send you the Samera template (free to clients) and either walk you through it on a follow-up call or send a short written briefing on how to use it – whichever works better for you. From here you draft the practice-specific content at your own pace. If specific questions come up while you’re working on it, get back in touch.

Step 3 (optional) – Projections build, £1,500 + VAT

If you’ve decided to commission the projections, our Finance team builds the model from your supplier quotes, fee schedule and finance package. The Excel model is shared with you internally; PDF versions go into your loan application.

After that, the loan application is yours to submit. If you’re using Samera Finance to broker the loan, the documents flow into our brokerage process at that point. If you’re going direct to your own lender, you submit the application and we’re available for follow-up questions as it progresses – and if our Finance team built the projections, we handle any bank queries on the model directly with the lender.

Two routes to drawdown

You can use Samera for the template and projections only, then take everything to your own lender. Or you can use Samera Finance to broker the loan as well – acquisition finance brokerage is free to you because lenders pay us on completion, and squat fit-out finance carries a 2% fee with a £3,500 minimum. Whichever route you pick, the documents are the same.

What practice owners say

Reviews from dentists we’ve helped through the planning stage

Who you’ll work with

Talk to Uros

The business plan template handover, the general advice, and the financial projections work all go through Uros directly. He leads Samera’s commercial finance brokerage and the financial modelling work for dental startups and acquisitions.

Start the conversation

Book a free consultation

The first conversation is a free 30-minute call. We work out what you need – just the template, the projections as well, or other Samera services alongside – and price the projections if you’ve decided to commission them.

If you’d prefer to send us your details rather than book a call, fill in the form below and our team will be in touch as soon as possible.

• Phone: (+44) 20 7100 8788
• WhatsApp: Message us on WhatsApp
• Email: [email protected]

Common questions

Questions we get from dentists planning a practice

Learning Centre

Useful reading on the planning stage

The Learning Centre has free articles covering specific parts of the planning journey. These four are the most directly relevant.

How to Start a Dental Practice in 13 Steps

The chronological route from idea to opening day, including where the business plan sits.

Creating a Business Plan for a Dental Practice

Longer-form walkthrough of the template structure, with a free template download.

How to Finance a Squat Practice

The two-loan structure, lender appetite, and what to expect from the bank’s review process.

Five Traits of Failed Dental Start-Ups

What banks flag as red lights, and what to do about them in advance.

Practice Startup Checklist

The seven-document checklist for a dental practice launch. Business plan, financial projections, CQC application, lease, equipment finance, day-one accounts setup, marketing plan. Free download, no email gate.

Download the checklist

Other ways Samera supports practice owners

What you might need alongside the business plan