Yes, you need hire an attorney and a financial due diligence professional for every business acquisition. Those are not optional. If you're thinking of hourly rates, an FDD professional is typically $150 to $250 per hour and a good M&A attorney is $350 to $600 for SMB transactions. For many types of engagements, they will offer a fixed fee. For FDD, that fee is typically $5k to $10k and for legal it would be $12k to $20k. Hope that's helpful. If you ever want to hire someone - DueDilio is a curated marketplace for M&A professionals. redacted

Yes, we believe both an attorney and a financial due diligence professional are essential for any acquisition. The diligence scope depends on the business. Smaller or lighter-asset companies (ecommerce, agencies, etc.) may only require a lighter review, while larger or asset-heavy businesses usually require a fuller Quality of Earnings (QoE) analysis. For deals between roughly $1M and $25M EV, financial due diligence engagements typically range from ~$5k to $25k+ depending on complexity and scope. AI can help identify questions and potential red flags early on, but it cannot replace professional judgment once you move into LOI or purchase agreement stages. At Centurica, we specialize in buy-side QoE and commercial due diligence for SMB acquisitions, with 350+ projects completed over the last 3 years by professionals with strong Big 4 backgrounds.