How Does a Goshen, IN Lawn and Landscape Crew Pay for Zero-Turns and a Dump Trailer?

An equipment loan pays the dealer for the mowers, and the crew pays the loan back in fixed monthly payments while the mowers secure it. In this invented case a company adds two 60-inch zero-turns at $12,980 each and puts $2,960 down, so $23,000 is financed.

Four years at 11.1% a year puts each invented monthly payment at $595.56. Across the 48 invented payments the company sends $28,586.88, and $5,586.88 of it is the cost of the financing. Before setting terms, a partner may ask for the dealer quote with both serial numbers, recent bank statements and how long the company has run crews.

Landscaping here has a large owner-run side. Elkhart County, IN landscaping businesses without paid employees reported about $12.7 million in receipts for 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics, NAICS 56173). A one-mower operator among them can request the same equipment financing as a company with several crews.

A dump trailer carries mulch, stone and yard waste to and from jobs, and the crew’s pickup tows it. In this invented case a 14-foot trailer with a hydraulic dump bed and a tarp kit is quoted at $11,640.

Over three years at an 11.7% annual rate, the invented trailer comes to $384.95 a month. When the last of the 36 invented payments clears, the crew has paid $13,858.20, of which $2,218.20 is interest.

A trailer is titled, so the funding source’s lien is noted on the title until the loan is paid. The pickup must be rated to tow the trailer loaded; the truck’s own manual gives that figure. Financing the trailer apart from the mowers lets each piece carry the term that fits it.

For a lawn crew, a merchant cash advance is a sale of future card receipts, not a loan. The provider buys part of those card sales and collects it as a fixed share of each day’s card receipts until the agreed amount is in. A crew whose customers pay by check or invoice has few card sales, so an advance may not fit it at all.

Illustration only, invented figures: a lawn care company takes $9,000 at a 1.26 factor, so $11,340.00 is collected. The provider keeps 11% of each day’s card sales; if the invented company averages $1,180 a day, that share is $129.80, and 88 card days (rounded up) finish the collection. The invented cost is $2,340.00 whether it takes 88 days or longer.

Because the cost is fixed by the factor, a crew can set it next to a credit line draw for the same need before choosing.

Yes, a single mower can be financed, and an older mower can count toward it. In this invented case a dealer prices a 72-inch zero-turn at $17,380 and allows $3,450 for the company’s older machine, leaving $13,930 to finance.

At 11.55% a year over 36 months the invented balance takes $459.69 a month; the three years of invented payments reach $16,548.84 with $2,618.84 of interest. The trade-in figure is the dealer’s, so a company can ask two dealers before it settles on one.

The other machines a crew runs, such as a sod cutter or a spreader-sprayer, are on the landscaping page.

Some do, through payment plans of their own. That is a decision between a company and its customers, and this site does not arrange consumer financing. What it can help with is the company’s own costs, and fuel and repairs are the ones that arrive between customer payments.

In this invented case a fuel card bill of $1,640 and an engine repair on a mower of $2,340 land in the same week, $3,980 together. Drawn from a credit line at 12.8% a year and paid back after 40 days, the invented draw carries $55.83 of simple interest.

A larger gap, such as payroll for a new crew, fits a working capital loan with a schedule of its own. Other articles are on the blog.