How Long Does it Take to Get Your Assisted Living Facility License?
Jun 25, 2025
Starting an assisted living facility is a huge step, but one of the biggest questions that often pops up is: how long does it actually take to get your license? The process can vary, but with the right steps, you can stay on track and hit your milestones.
Let’s break it down! β³
Check out this video, too:
Why Timing Matters in Getting Your License
Getting licensed is a critical step in launching your facility. The timeline can depend on various factors like the state you’re in, how quickly you can meet regulatory requirements, if you're buying an existing facility or starting from the ground up, and the type of facility you’re opening.
Here’s what you need to know:
β Every state has different requirements and timelines for processing licenses.
β Being prepared and organized can speed up the process.
β Patience is key, but understanding the steps will keep things moving smoothly.
Step 1: Know the Requirements for Your State
Each state has its own set of rules and regulations for assisted living facilities. Here’s what you’ll need to check:
π State Regulations – Check your state’s health department or licensing agency's website for detailed requirements.
π Facility Size and Services – Licensing timelines can vary based on the size of your facility and the services you provide.
π Inspection Process – You’ll need to pass certain inspections before you can be approved.
π‘ Want a more detailed guide on what’s required? Check out the Success System program for insider tips on navigating state regulations!
Step 2: Prepare All the Necessary Documents
The more prepared you are with your documents, the faster you can move through the licensing process. These documents usually include:
β Business Plan – A solid business plan can help streamline the approval process - they may not need the whole plan, but having it ready will make it a lot easier to answer questions.
β Policies and Procedures – This is a key part of the licensing process, it's required by the state but is also your playbook for operating your business. Start on this early on (or consider hiring somebody to write them for you).
β Staffing Plan – Some states require detailed plans for how you’ll staff your facility.
β Safety and Zoning Approval – You'll need verification from the local zoning commission that your house is approved and properly zoned for assisted living.
π‘ Not sure where to start? Download the Business Plan Checklist to make sure you're covering all your bases!
Step 3: Submit Your Application & Wait for Approval
Once all your documents are ready, it’s time to submit your application. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months depending on your state.
π What to expect during the wait:
β Application Review – Your local health department will review your application to ensure it meets all standards.
β Site Inspection – Expect a visit to your facility to check for compliance with safety and health regulations.
β Approval or Denial – If everything’s in order, you’ll get your license. If there are issues, you’ll be asked to make adjustments.
Step 4: Stay on Top of the Timeline
Being proactive will help you stay on top of your licensing process. Here’s how to avoid delays:
β Follow Up – Regularly check in with your licensing agency to ensure everything is on track.
β Keep Everything Organized – Stay on top of all your paperwork and approvals to avoid losing time.
β Be Prepared for Delays – Be ready for unexpected hurdles and plan accordingly.
Next Steps: Take Action Now!
π Ready to get started on your licensing journey?
β Step 1: Download the Business Plan Checklist to ensure you're fully prepared.
β Step 2: Need help figuring out where to start? Join the next Roadmap Challenge and build your launch plan with me.
β Step 3: Stay proactive, submit your application, and be ready for success!
Got questions about the licensing process? Drop them in the comments below! β¬οΈ
Show full transcript π
Transcript
00:00:03
hey friend it is brandon gustafson with assisted living investing excited to have you here with me today and excited to get into our topic we're going to be talking about how long does it take
00:00:13
to get your facility license before i get into the topic that i wanted to remind you to get over to the website assistedlivinginvesting.net you can we'll have a link down below but you can get access to our underwriting calculator there as well and the business plan checklist to help you along your investment journey there's going to be a ticker that goes along as we chat
00:00:35
I'm here today. If you are here live, make sure you drop in your questions. Would love to chat with you. I've seen a lot of people that are interested in this topic and learning a little bit about how long does it actually take you to get that assisted living facility license. So we're going to jump into that today and talk a little bit about it. And let's see, doing all this and trying to remember where things go. It's a little bit difficult. If you don't know me, if you're new to the channel, new to the Facebook group,
00:01:04
Welcome, first off. And other than that, I just want to kind of share with you a little bit about my background. So I own and operate two assisted living facilities out of state. One of them is in Colorado and one is in Idaho. I live in Utah. So I operate them remotely, have been doing it since 2020 and have a lot of experience there. I've secured over one and a half million dollars in SBA funding as well. So it's one of the things that I understand and know how to do, have looked at and found properties and purchased existing businesses.
00:01:34
And I've gone through the process also of trying to do a conversion. I ended up not going that route, but I know the process really well. So it kind of helps you give some background on me. I have my facilities up and running, have worked in three states actually to obtain a license, and only moved forward with two of them, but have gone through that process. So I know what I'm talking about here. I also have a master's in healthcare administration, and I've got a lot of experience in the healthcare industry.
00:02:04
about 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry. So I have a lot of experience here. If you are new to the channel, if you're new to the Facebook group, type in newbie. I'd love to hear from you. And if you're on the Facebook group, if you want help,
00:02:19
Figuring some of this stuff out put in help in in the comments down below and I will get to you if you are on YouTube then make sure you go to the Facebook group and type that in so that I can Can get in there and help you out? It's a little bit easier for me to like send you a mess and message on messenger in Facebook YouTube just doesn't allow for that so get over to the you need some help get over the Facebook group and
00:02:43
and ask for help or get on the website and submit a question there through the contact me form. All right, let's get into it. What is involved with getting your license? There's quite a few things here. So there's paperwork. There's going to be some possible inspections that you need to do at the house. There's zoning and fire approval as well.
00:03:07
and then there's your policies and procedures so we're going to talk a little bit deeper into every single one of those things but at its core to obtain your facility license and to move forward and be able to operate your business as an assisted living facility or as a care home you're going to need these four components they're going to be the things that really help you move things along so that you can get started and start operating your business and become profitable on your investment journey
00:03:35
So where do you want to start? The first thing is conversations. And there's three people that you need to have conversations with. One is the city zoning and planning department.
00:03:46
one is the fire marshal and the third one is the health department so you're going to want to reach out to every single one of these and typically i like to start with the health department and city zoning and planning and the reason for that that i don't reach out to a fire marshal up front is that conversation with the with the city zoning and planning is going to help you have a good understanding of what you need to talk to the fire marshal about
00:04:10
So you're going to start with city zoning and planning and say, hey, I've got a house at 123 Main Street. I want to put an assisted living facility there. And sometimes they're going to say, what do you mean? So you might need to dive a little bit deeper. You want to use correct verbiage. So you're probably doing a residential assisted living home or a care home. So you want to say that, not a residential assisted living facility, because they instantly think,
00:04:35
big-box apartment style hotel style living and that's not what you're doing so you want to be clear that what you want to do is take a house a residential home and turn it into an assisted living home and so you're gonna walk them through that process where is it located and then the question you want to ask is what are the zoning how is this house zone could I do it there and if they say no then you say the follow-up question is
00:05:04
What do I need to do to get it zoned properly? Okay, so those are the two big questions. So they say yes, then cool, you can move on. The next thing that they're going to tell you is you're going to need to have a conversation with a fire marshal. So if they don't give it to you unprompted, then ask them, do I need to do something with a fire marshal? And likely they're going to say, oh yeah, I forgot, you do need to do that.
00:05:27
and then you get their contact information you know make sure you get the one for the right municipality where you are working but that's how you're going to get in contact with fire marshal from there you're going to have fire marshal come out and do an inspection on the home kind of explain to them what you talked to the city zoning and planning about and you're going to ask them questions there they're going to come in and tell you here's all the things you need to do to get things moving along to to obtain your license
00:05:52
The next one is the health department. And with the health department, the question that you're going to ask is, what is your application process like for obtaining a facility license? What do I need to do? What is the paperwork? Where is your website? Where are all these things? I have found that these websites on a health department are, especially when you get down to this little niche of assisted living, is not the most updated website in the states that I've worked at. And they can be really hard to find that information.
00:06:21
So I always recommend that you have that conversation. You reach out to them on the phone, have a conversation. They will have a website. It's just not always easy to make sure you're looking at the right spot. So I would encourage you to have a phone conversation with them.
00:06:37
Now let's talk a little bit more about the paperwork. So with the paperwork, there are kind of three, really, it's kind of basic. There's a form, and that form could be two pages to 20 pages. It just kind of depends on the state. They might have multiple forms and things, but at its core, you're looking at a packet of papers that are going to ask information. Where's the house at? What type of resident are you going to be working with? How many beds are you going to have?
00:07:02
Do you have this thing in place? Where's your policies and procedures? They're going to ask you a bunch of questions, 2,000 questions. They're just going to ask you a ton because they want all of this information. But it's really pretty basic information that you're filling out. You might have to do some research on a few things or ask clarification on a few terms and things like that.
00:07:21
But at its core, the paperwork is not going to be the problem. It'll take you an hour or two to go through and fill it out, but it's not hard. I think you'll be able to do that. I've talked with people in the past that say they want to have an attorney go through and help them understand what they're doing. And that's fine if you want to do that. What I would suggest that you do is if you have questions on specific issues,
00:07:47
questions that they're asking in the form, that's what you would ask an attorney for. The reason for that is attorneys are going to bill you hourly. And if you give them a 20-page document to go through and read through, and it's a canned form and they can't do anything about it because the state is doing this, it's going to take them hours to go through. And then you're paying an attorney who charges $500 an hour for three hours worth of work. That's $1,500 as a basic number for you to look at. That's a lot of money.
00:08:17
And you don't need to do it. If you've got three of the questions on that 2000 list that you're just like, I don't understand this. Google it first.
00:08:26
And if you still can't find it, then talk to an attorney and say, I've got three questions. Could you do this? And it's going to take them 15 minutes to get back to you. And some of them will do that for free. So that kind of gives you some guidance on how to address this application with an attorney. You don't need one. And I've done a video on this previously as well. But you don't need that attorney to review the paperwork. But realize it's going to take you some time to get through that.
00:08:52
Now let's talk a little bit about policies and procedures. This is by far the thing that is going to take you the longest to get your license. This is why starting an assisted living business takes so long is you have to build the policies and procedures and it can take you a long time, especially if you do it by yourself. Really, there are two ways that you can do this. One is doing it by yourself.
00:09:11
You go, you find the local rules and regulations, you write those policies, you make sure they track back to the correct statute at the state, and then you're working with the state to get things in. I did this in Idaho, and it took me forever. It just took so long for me to do this. We ended up with a good set of policies and procedures that very much aligned with what the state told us we needed to do, so that was good. I was really familiar with our policies and procedures, but it took a ton of time and a ton of effort.
00:09:41
the second thing you could do is buying it from somebody else and there are services out there online that you can do this and typically i'm seeing them priced at around a thousand dollars you might be able to find somebody that will do it a little bit less i think i've seen it as low as 700 but
00:09:57
typically you're looking at a thousand this is not a service that I offer unfortunately one day maybe but because I work with people in so many different states and those policies and procedures need to reference specific state statutes I don't have the time to go in and figure it out at this point but you can find somebody that will do that for you put it together and compile it so if you're in a rush or you want to make sure it's done correctly or you just don't have the time to do it going with one of these people is going to be your best bet
00:10:26
and it's going to get you what you need to do. If you go the route of purchasing, then you want to make sure you review it, get really comfortable and understand what those policies and procedures say, because you still have to implement them and actually follow them. And when somebody comes in for a state survey, you have to be able to know which policy to pull out and those types of things. But it is something that will save you a ton of time. So highly suggest it. But those are the different ways that you can get your policies and procedures done. You can do it by yourself.
00:10:55
It is time consuming. It's not that hard to put it together. That is the process of how to do it. All in all, how long it's going to take you to get this thing done is, I would say, two to four months. It really depends. The policies and procedures are going to be the longest you need time. If you are struggling trying to figure out
00:11:19
how do I do this? Or you're really in a bind or you need to get something pushed through because your funding is about to expire or you've got the seller of the home is getting frustrated with how long it's taking you. You might want to just pay somebody to do those policies procedures for you. The rest of it is pretty simple. You will find when you have the fire marshal come in that that's where they might tell you that you need to make some renovations on the home. You're going to have to, as a part of that paperwork sign off process, you're going to have to get approval from the fire marshal.
00:11:49
and make sure it's properly zoned. So you need to have those approvals. There's going to be some inspections that happen there. That's why I mentioned this at the start. There's going to be a few inspections that you're going to have to do at the home with the fire marshal, potentially the city coming in. But that is all a part of that paperwork that you are submitting to the state health department to obtain your license.
00:12:11
You can do this in two to four months. Very realistic for you to do it. You could even do it faster depending on if you have to do any renovations or if you can get those policies and procedures in place earlier or not. So hopefully that helps. If you have any questions, please reach out. I know there's a few of you that are here live. And for those of you that are watching the replay of this, please drop your questions down below.
00:12:33
that's how i can either answer it through another live video like this or i can type out an answer for you so anything that you have i would love to to hear from you there i hope this information was helpful and helping to guide you i want to make sure that you if you're on youtube like the video subscribe and ring the bell as well so you get notified
00:12:52
When we do these lives, we do these on a weekly basis on Tuesdays at 1 p.m. Eastern is the goal. And sometimes that fluctuates depending on my schedule. But that is when we are set to do these. And we drop content on Thursday mornings on YouTube as well. And Facebook, we are doing the live here on Tuesday mornings and providing some extra valuable content on there.
00:13:11
Make sure you're following on both of those platforms. It's where I'm putting a lot of the content. It's where you're going to get the most bang for your buck, for lack of a better phrase, where I'm going to be able to help you out and answer your questions and guide you along your path to owning your own assisted living business. I want to thank you again for watching. Thank you for being here. I'm excited to help you along your journey and starting your assisted living business. Make sure you get over to the website, assistedlivinginvesting.net. You can get the
00:13:37
business plan checklist by going to BP checklist there at the site get a free underwriting calculator if you scroll down on the site you can see our business planning guide and the accelerator course which is that 12-week path to ownership there as well well thank you again for watching and hope you have a great day we'll talk to you next week thanks for watching
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