Funding for Catawba County, NC landscaping companies: a second truck and crew, a compact track loader or skid steer, zero-turn mowers, payroll into spring, and how maintenance and install income show in deposits.
At a glance
- Landscaping services
Landscaping services, Catawba County, NC: 68 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Small landscaping employers
Landscaping services, Catawba County, NC: 48 establishments with fewer than five employees (CBP 2023)
- Landscapers without employees
Landscaping services, Catawba County, NC: 402 businesses without paid employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2024)
Landscape Equipment Financing for a Catawba County, NC Crew Adding a Second Truck
Landscaping services had 68 employer establishments in Catawba County, NC in 2023, with 298 paid employees and $12 million in annual payroll; 48 of them, or 70.6%, had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023). The 2024 Nonemployer Statistics counted 402 landscaping businesses without paid employees, a separate program.
A second crew needs a truck, a trailer, two or three mowers, trimmers and blowers, and the people to run them. The truck and equipment can be financed together; the crew's first weeks of wages are a working capital question. Partners want to see the contracts or routes the second crew will work.
Services to buildings and dwellings, the wider group that includes landscaping, janitorial and similar services, had 114 employer establishments in the county (CBP 2023). Some landscaping companies also handle irrigation, cleaning or property maintenance work; when they do, the partner reading the file will want the revenue split by type of work.
Illustration only, invented figures: a crew truck and trailer financed at $52,000 over 60 months at an invented annual rate of 9.75% would cost about $1,098 a month, with total interest about $13,908 (our arithmetic).
Landscaping Equipment Loan for a Compact Track Loader or Skid Steer
A compact track loader or skid steer opens up grading, hardscape and drainage work that a mowing crew cannot take on. It is a larger purchase, and a partner will ask how many weeks a year it will work. Rental invoices from past jobs help answer that.
Buying used is common for track loaders and skid steers, and a partner will ask for the hours, the serial number and the seller's details. A machine with a documented service history gives a partner more to go on than one bought from an unknown private seller, and that can affect the terms offered.
Attachments, such as a grapple, a trencher or a tiller, can usually be financed with the machine when they appear on the same quote. The equipment financing page covers used machines and dealer quotes.
Financing for Zero-Turn Lawn Mowers Before the Spring Season
Zero-turn mowers are the workhorse purchase. Dealers often offer promotional financing on new mowers, and it is worth comparing with a partner's offer on total dollars, including the price difference between a promotional purchase and a cash price.
Trade-ins can reduce the amount financed. If an older mower is being traded, the dealer's trade-in value should appear on the quote. Some partners finance the net price after the trade; others look at the full price and treat the trade as a down payment.
Illustration only, invented figures: a $16,500 commercial zero-turn financed over 36 months at an invented annual rate of 11% would cost about $540 a month, with total interest about $2,947 (our arithmetic). Ordering before the busy part of the year means the mower is paid for partly from the work it does.
Business Loans for Landscaping Companies Carrying Payroll Into Spring
When a landscaping company's billing slows for part of the year, payroll and fuel still come due until maintenance contracts and install jobs fill the calendar again. Working capital or a line of credit can carry the crew until billing catches up.
Fuel, insurance and equipment repairs continue in quieter months. A line of credit sized to those months and paid down when billing returns is one option; a fixed working capital loan with a known end date is another. The bank statements show which pattern the business really has.
A partner reading a landscaper's file looks at deposits month by month across a full year, not just the busy months. Twelve months of bank statements show the pattern; signed maintenance contracts show what is already booked.
Maintenance Contracts, Install Jobs and How Each Shows Up in Deposits
Maintenance contracts produce regular monthly deposits; install and hardscape jobs produce larger, irregular ones, often with a deposit up front and a final payment at completion. Partners value both but read them differently: recurring contracts for steadiness, install jobs for margin.
Install jobs that require a deposit from the customer can partly fund their own materials. A partner may ask whether the business takes deposits on hardscape and planting jobs, and how large they are, because deposits reduce the gap a line or loan has to cover.
Builders who subcontract landscaping are covered on the construction page. Related: all industries and the Hickory, NC page.
By Bluepeak Lending Group · Updated
