Nobody publishes this in one place. So we did the digging: SEC filings, US Census, BLS, NADL surveys, real closed-deal data. Every number sourced. Here's the short version.
The typical lab P&L
Labor is the whole story
Wages alone: ~38% of revenue (US Census). Loaded with benefits: around 50%. Materials: 10–18%.
Your labor line is 3–5× your materials line. If you want to move your P&L, there is only one line big enough to matter.
One documented extreme: Jim Glidewell told Forbes that automation took his labor from 45% to ~25% of revenue. That's at 5M+ units a year with in-house robotics, not a small lab. But it shows where the line can go.
What labs actually sell for
Closed-deal multiples move with EBITDA size, as presented to lab owners at DLAT in Dallas this year:
Look at the top tier. Same-size lab, 4× or 9×. That spread is digital capability, quality consistency, and whether the lab runs without the owner.
The one deal with public math
National Dentex, 2010. PE bought the 44-lab network at 7.4× forward EBITDA, a 70% premium over what the stock market thought it was worth. Its budgeted EBITDA margin: 11.1%. All of it in the SEC merger proxy, line by line.
The takeaway
Your EBITDA decides your tier. Where you land inside the tier, and buyers say it openly, is digital operations and consistency.
