Construction plant is the best-understood collateral in equipment finance. Excavators, loaders, dozers and telehandlers have deep auction markets, published residual data and a global pool of buyers, which means a lender can say with real confidence what a machine would fetch. That is why the sector is well served and why the questions worth asking are about the machine rather than about the business.
Hours, attachments and the auction record
A machine's value is set by its hours, its service record, its attachments and its brand, in roughly that order. Two identical model years with a two thousand hour difference are not the same asset, and a lender will price them differently once it sees the meter. Attachments are frequently financed separately or excluded, so a quote for an excavator may not include the breaker you actually need. Send the specification, the hours and the dealer invoice with the application; a quote given without them is provisional and will move.
Seasonality and the payment schedule
Construction stops for weather and for the gap between contracts, and a fixed monthly payment does not. Seasonal, skip and step-up schedules exist in equipment finance and are rarely offered unless asked for. If the answer is no, size the payment against your worst quarter rather than your average, because the facility that is comfortable in summer is the one that takes the machine back in winter. This is the single most useful question a contractor can ask a lessor and it is almost never on the page.
What the lenders publish, and what they do not
Three of the six lenders with a live equipment page in this record publish a minimum: the lowest is a five hundred credit score against a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of annual revenue, and one publishes a two-year trading requirement. None publishes a rate, a deposit or a term, and none publishes anything specific to plant. So the published information tells you whether an application is worth making and nothing about the price, which makes getting two written quotes on the same machine the only way to know what the market thinks it is worth.
Questions people ask about construction equipment financing
Can I finance used construction equipment?
Yes, and it is routine. Expect a shorter term, a lower advance against the price and close attention to hours and service history, because the lender is thinking about what the machine fetches at auction rather than about its list price.
Do construction equipment financing companies fund attachments?
Sometimes as part of the same facility and sometimes not at all. Ask explicitly, because a quote for the base machine that excludes the breaker, bucket or grapple you need is not a quote for the purchase you are making.
What credit score do plant lenders want?
The published equipment floors in this record start at five hundred and most lenders publish nothing at all. The machine carries much of the decision, so a weaker file with a good asset and a deposit often clears where it would fail an unsecured application.