Asset finance for construction and trades

A single telehandler, excavator or tipper can cost as much as a month of payroll, and construction businesses often need several pieces of kit working at once. Buying outright drains the working capital you rely on to buy materials, pay subcontractors and cover wages while you wait on stage payments. Asset finance lets you put the equipment to work now and pay for it in monthly instalments that line up with the income it helps you earn.

Both main routes suit the trades. Hire purchase spreads the full cost and hands you ownership of the asset at the end, which works well for plant you will keep and depreciate through capital allowances such as the Annual Investment Allowance. A finance lease keeps monthly payments lower and is useful for kit you may want to swap out as jobs change. We arrange finance on new and used equipment alike, from CNC and workshop machinery to diggers, dumpers, scaffolding, welfare units and site vehicles, with lenders assessing the value and remaining useful life of the asset.

Because the equipment itself usually acts as the security, asset finance is often easier to secure than an unsecured loan of the same size, and approval does not depend on tying up property. That makes it a practical way for a growing contractor to build a fleet piece by piece, take on larger contracts that demand more capacity, and keep cash free for the materials and labour that a job needs before the client pays.

• Buying plant such as excavators, telehandlers and dumpers
• Funding workshop machinery, tools and site welfare units
• Adding vehicles and tippers to a growing fleet
• Replacing ageing kit without a large cash outlay