Hazelbridge Financial forwards the contractor’s request to funding partners, and only they can make an offer.
Tools and vans the contractor owns fit equipment financing or a lease; materials bought for a customer’s job fit a credit line; the units installed at a customer’s building are job materials, not the contractor’s equipment. Tool, van and materials prices in the cases below are invented, and whether an offer comes back is up to the funding partners.
At a glance
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors, Lee County, AL
57 employer establishments (CBP 2023)
- Same code, fewer than five employees
41 establishments, 71.9% (CBP 2023)
- Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors, ZIP 36830
12 employer establishments (ZBP 2023)
- Same code with no paid employees, Lee County, AL
103 nonemployer establishments (NES 2024)
Business loans for HVAC contractors around Lee County, AL: a recovery machine, gauges and a vacuum pump
Illustration only, invented figures: an HVAC contractor equips a new technician with a refrigerant recovery machine at $2,480, a vacuum pump at $1,365, digital manifold gauges at $1,290 and a leak detector at $705, $5,840 in all. Through invented equipment financing at an 11.4% annual rate over 24 months, the kit costs $273.28 a month and $718.72 in interest.
A kit this size can also come out of cash. Spreading it over two years leaves the cash for payroll and parts, at the cost of the interest in the invented figures. These tools belong to the contractor and go from job to job, which is what an equipment agreement covers. Partners may ask for the supplier’s quote with each tool on its own line.
Plumbing contractor business loans for Lee County, AL: a self-leveling sewer camera, loan against lease
Illustration only, invented figures: a plumbing company adds a sewer inspection camera with a self-leveling head and a matching line locator for $14,690. The invented table compares a loan with a lease over the same three years.
| Route | Each month | Paid in all | Company owns it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment loan, 10.95%, 36 months | $480.58 | $17,300.88 | After payment 36 |
| Lease, 36 payments plus a $1 buyout | $496.80 | $17,885.80 | After the $1 buyout |
Over the 36 months of this invented case, the lease’s extra $16.22 per payment builds to $584.92 beyond the loan. A lease may suit a company that wants a service plan for the camera head; partners set any terms. The camera and locator are tools the company keeps and carries from job to job, so they fit equipment financing; the labor of clearing a customer’s line is a job cost.
HVAC business line of credit loans in Auburn, AL: materials for a commercial job
Illustration only, invented figures: an HVAC contractor wins a commercial bid and must buy $38,200 of packaged heating and cooling units, curbs and duct parts for the client’s job before it starts. The client pays 52 days after the order in this invented case.
A line of credit draw for the full $38,200 held 52 days at a 13.25% annual rate costs $721.09 of interest in this invented example, and the line can be drawn again once the payment clears it. The units become part of the client’s building, so they are job materials, not the contractor’s equipment; the contract with the client covers that work. If the client pays late in this invented case, the draw stays open and adds about $13.87 of interest a day.
Business loans for plumbers in Auburn, AL: a used cargo van for an added crew
Illustration only, invented figures: a plumbing company adds a crew and buys a used high-top cargo van for $36,900. Financed at an 11.2% annual rate over 48 months, the invented loan runs $957.29 a month and $45,949.92 in all, $9,049.92 of it interest.
A new technician’s wages before the crew’s jobs are paid fit a working capital loan instead. Partners may ask for the van’s title details and mileage, bank statements and a list of current loans before deciding. A used van may carry a shorter term than a new one, since a partner may set the term by the van’s age and mileage. The construction page covers home builders and the wider trades.
Plumbing, heating, cooling: payroll and contractor counts for Lee County, AL, then ZIP 36830
For 2023, County Business Patterns lists 57 plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors with paid employees in Lee County, AL; 41 of them employed fewer than five people, and the code’s annual payroll totaled $14.9 million.
ZIP Code Business Patterns, which counts by business address, places 12 plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors with employees in ZIP 36830 for 2023.
Contractors who work with no payroll show up in Nonemployer Statistics, which reports 103 plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning establishments in the county for 2024. The industries page groups these trades with builders and landscapers, and the Auburn, AL page covers the others near the office.
By Hazelbridge Financial · Updated
