How Do San Rafael, CA Landscape Crews Finance Dump Trailers, Mowers and Chippers?

Tree and brush work needs a trailer with a chip box or dump body, a drum or disc chipper and a trailer to move the rest of the gear. Each one is a titled or serial-numbered machine, which is what equipment financing is set up for. A trailer bought for the crew is work equipment here; hauling freight for others is a separate trade this site does not fund.

Illustration only, invented figures: a crew buys a used dump trailer for $54,000 and a new 12-inch chipper for $46,500, $100,500 together, and puts 15% down, $15,075. The $85,425 that is financed over 60 months at an invented 9.9% works out to $1,810.83 a month and $108,649.80 across the term. With nothing down the same term would ask $2,130.39 a month, so the down payment leaves the crew paying $319.56 less.

The term deserves as much attention as the rate. A used trailer with high mileage may be replaced sooner than a new chipper, and a partner can set the term with the age of each machine in mind. One loan on one term is simpler to track; two loans on two terms keep the payments on the older trailer from running past the years it stays on the road.

Zero-turn and stand-on mowers, a compact track loader and the attachments that make the loader useful (an auger, a grapple, a power rake) can be bought together or one at a time. The choice changes the payment pattern more than it changes the price.

Illustration only, invented figures: a loader at $68,000 plus an auger at $3,400, a grapple at $4,900 and a power rake at $5,600: the package comes to $81,900. Financed together over 60 months at an invented 9.4%, it costs $1,716.05 a month and $102,963.00 in total. Financing the loader alone on the same terms ($1,424.81 a month) and the $13,900 of attachments over 24 months at an invented 12.5% ($657.57 a month) puts $2,082.38 a month on the crew for the first two years, $366.33 more than the package. After that only the loader payment is left, and the two loans together total $101,270.28, $1,692.72 less than the package.

A dealer may offer its own financing at a promotional rate on new units of its brand, and may also offer a lower cash price to a buyer who brings outside financing. Only the total cost shows which is cheaper:

Here the dealer offer comes out ahead: the cash-price route costs $540.00 more over the term. A separate equipment financing offer can still make sense when the purchase mixes brands, includes used units or adds a trailer the dealer does not sell, because one offer can cover the whole list.

Points to set side by side before choosing:

• What every payment adds up to, beyond the figure due each month
• Any fee charged at signing, and whether it is added to the amount financed
• What happens after a promotional period ends, if the rate changes
• Whether paying the balance early saves interest or brings a charge
• The cash discount given up by taking the dealer’s financing

Illustration only, invented figures: a crew pays $9,800 in wages every other week and bills a property manager monthly, with payment 45 days after the invoice. Those 45 days hold 3 or 4 paydays, $29,400 to $39,200 of wages, depending on where the first falls. A business line of credit covers that kind of gap when it comes back every month; working capital fits a single larger gap, such as a new maintenance contract that pays on a longer cycle.

For scale across the trade, County Business Patterns put annual payroll at $55.4 million for Marin County, CA landscaping services establishments in 2023, a total for all 149 establishments and their 918 employees in the mid-March pay period (NAICS 561730), not a figure for any one crew.

The landscaping page covers irrigation trenchers, stump grinders and the county counts for the trade, and other trade articles are on the blog.