Machines that last years fit equipment financing; parts bought for one customer job fit a credit line draw. Each invented case below is priced from its own inputs, and the sod cutter is set against renting one by the day.
At a glance
- Landscaping Services (NAICS 561730), Elkhart County, IN
89 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Landscaping establishments with fewer than 5 employees
64, or 71.9% (CBP 2023)
- Landscaping establishments with a ZIP 46526 address
9 (ZBP 2023)
- Landscaping businesses without paid employees, Elkhart County, IN
312 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024)
Landscaping equipment financing in Elkhart County, IN, with a sod cutter as the example
A company that lays sod on a few jobs a month either rents a cutter each time or owns one. In this invented case an Elkhart County, IN landscaping company prices a walk-behind sod cutter with a spare blade set at $7,140.
Spread across three years of equipment financing at 11.95% a year, the invented $7,140 cutter comes to $236.98 a month. All 36 invented payments sum to $8,531.28, and the borrowing cost inside that is $1,391.28.
The company’s rental yard charges an invented $185 a day. The monthly payment buys 1.3 rental days, so a crew that needs the cutter two or more days a month spends less by owning it, before fuel, blades and upkeep. A crew that cuts sod one day a month keeps the rental cheaper. The count of sod days is the owner’s own record; no partner sets it.
Putting a stand-on spreader-sprayer on an equipment loan: what a Goshen, IN landscaping company brings
A stand-on spreader-sprayer lets one worker fertilize and treat a lawn without a push spreader and a backpack sprayer. In this invented case the company gets a dealer quote of $13,460 and puts $1,350 down, so $12,110 is financed.
Before a partner sets terms, the company can have these ready:
- The dealer’s written quote with the model, the serial number once assigned, and the delivery date
- The company’s bank statements for the last several months, with job deposits on them
- How long the company has operated and its yearly revenue
- The down payment amount and where it comes from
Some partners may also want the latest business tax return. On the invented $12,110 balance, four years at 10.65% sets the payment at $310.93; by the 48th payment the company has paid $14,924.64, so the interest on this invented machine is $2,814.64.
Term loan or credit line for a crew truck upfit? An Elkhart County, IN landscaping company view
An upfit turns a pickup the company already owns into a crew truck: a dump body, side toolboxes and a ladder rack. In this invented case the upfit shop quotes $16,280 for that work on the truck.
A term loan over 48 months at 11.35% puts the invented $16,280 upfit at $423.54 a month, $4,049.92 of interest in all. A line of credit draw at 13.85%, paid down by $1,628 a month, is cleared in ten months and carries $1,033.45 of interest in this invented case.
In this invented comparison the line costs less in interest because the balance falls so steeply, but it asks for $1,628 a month against $423.54 on the loan. A company whose monthly cash can carry the larger paydown may prefer the line; one that wants the cost spread over the truck’s working years may prefer the loan. Either way the truck itself and its title are part of the request. Zero-turns and a dump trailer, the crew’s other large machines, are priced in a separate article.
What a funding partner may review before funding irrigation parts at a Goshen, IN landscaping company
Irrigation parts for a customer’s new system are job materials: heads, valves, pipe, a controller and fittings bought before the install and paid for when the customer pays. In this invented case the parts for one residential install come to $4,870, and the customer’s final payment is due 33 days after the supplier invoice.
A funding partner may review the signed job contract, any deposit the customer paid, the supplier invoice and the company’s bank statements. Drawn for those 33 days at 12.7% a year, the invented $4,870 carries $55.92 of simple interest, cleared from the customer’s payment.
The parts belong to the customer’s job, so the draw is short and tied to one invoice. A working capital loan fits better when several installs overlap and the company needs a larger cushion for months rather than one invoice.
Landscaping payrolls and owner-run crews in Elkhart County, IN: what the Census figures show
Elkhart County, IN had 89 landscaping establishments with paid employees in 2023 (Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 561730). Together they reported 362 employees and about $18.9 million in yearly payroll, and 64 of the 89, or 71.9%, had fewer than five employees.
ZIP Code Business Patterns count the office ZIP on its own: ZIP 46526, which carries the Goshen, IN name, had nine landscaping establishments with paid staff in 2023. Owner-run landscaping businesses with no payroll are a separate Census series: Nonemployer Statistics listed 312 of them in Elkhart County, IN for 2024.
A high share of small employers matters for a request in one practical way: a partner may look more closely at the owner’s own records and bank deposits when a business has few staff and a short payroll history. Clean monthly statements and a list of the machines the company already owns help that review.
Construction trades and repair shops have their own pages, listed on the industries page with the other trades that run crews.
By Frostpine Loans · Updated