Van Finance for Tree Surgeons

Finance for tree surgeons covers the vehicle and the equipment. Arb tippers, chippers, stump grinders and access platforms can be funded together on one agreement, which usually costs less than arranging them separately. Because arboriculture is busiest through the dormant season from November to March, the sensible time to arrange it is over the quieter summer months.

Two things make arboriculture different from the trades it sits next to.

The first is that the equipment frequently costs more than the vehicle. A decent chipper is not an accessory to the truck, it is the larger half of the purchase. The second is the calendar. While most outdoor trades wind down for winter, tree work is heading into its busiest months.

Both change how the finance is best arranged.

Looking for a different trade? See our van finance by trade guides.

The chipper usually costs more than the truck

A professional wood chipper represents a serious capital outlay, and a stump grinder or a tracked access platform can cost more again. For a lot of arboricultural businesses the vehicle is the cheaper part of the equation.

All of it can be financed, and it can go on the same agreement as the vehicle.

That is worth doing rather than arranging things piecemeal. Documentation and admin fees are charged per agreement, so putting the truck, the chipper and the grinder on one document means paying them once rather than three times. A single larger facility also tends to attract a better rate than several small ones, because the lender is writing one worthwhile piece of business. And you end up with one monthly payment rather than three on different dates.

Tell us the whole list when you enquire, including the things you are still thinking about. Structuring it properly at the outset is far easier than adding to it later.

Your busy season is everyone else's quiet one

Most deciduous trees are best worked on during the dormant season, roughly November to early March. There is no foliage in the way, the structure is easy to read, sap flow is minimal and disease risk is lower. Add winter storm damage and emergency callouts, and the result is a trade whose diary fills up exactly when landscaping and groundworks are winding down.

Summer is not empty, but it is quieter, and nesting bird protections restrict a good deal of work between March and August in any case.

That has a straightforward practical consequence. The right time to arrange finance and take delivery of a truck or a chipper is over the summer, so everything is on the road, serviced and working before the season starts in November. Trying to sort it out in December, with the phone going and a backlog of storm work, is the worst possible timing.

It also means the bank statements read the opposite way round to most outdoor trades. Lenders experienced in the sector understand that. Mention the seasonality when you enquire and we will approach the right ones first rather than have a quiet summer queried mid-application.

Arb tippers and specialist bodies

The standard arboricultural vehicle is a tipper with a mesh cage body, and that is a specialist conversion rather than something a manufacturer sold complete. The chassis cab is one purchase and the body built onto it is another.

Plenty of lenders value the chassis against a price guide and stop there, which leaves a gap between the invoice and what they will advance, and the buyer is asked for a deposit to cover the difference on a body that is genuinely worth what it cost.

We work with lenders who fund the completed vehicle, valuing the conversion alongside the chassis, provided the work was carried out professionally. Send us the specification and tell us who built the body.

What arboricultural businesses finance with us

New or used, and usually all on one agreement.

A word on four wheel drive, because it comes up more in this trade than most. A lot of tree work is at the end of a track, on a verge, across a lawn or on an estate, and getting the truck and the chipper to the tree matters as much as what the vehicle can carry once it is there. We finance a good number of four wheel drive pickups for arboricultural businesses for exactly that reason, and they tow well, which is the other half of the job.

Buying kit from another business

Good arboricultural equipment often changes hands privately rather than through a dealer. Another tree surgeon is scaling back, a grounds maintenance firm is replacing a chipper, a contractor is selling a pickup that has done its time with them. The prices are usually well below dealer money.

Plenty of lenders will not consider a private purchase at all, on a vehicle or on machinery. We can, provided the seller can demonstrate they own the asset outright and have clear title to it. We are happy to speak to them directly and explain what the lender needs to see, which is normally the part that stalls these deals when people try to arrange them alone.

If you have found a chipper or a truck being sold by another business, tell us before you commit. It is usually workable, and the saving against dealer pricing is often substantial.

Is there anything you cannot finance?

Very little, in practice. Beyond the vehicles and the obvious arb kit, we have funded forklifts, telehandlers, excavators, cherry pickers, ATVs, aerators and tractors for businesses in and around this trade.

The honest limit is the asset itself rather than the type of asset. It needs not to be too old, and it needs to still be worth a reasonable amount, because the lender is securing the agreement against it. A well maintained machine with years of working life left is fundable. Something at the end of its life, bought cheaply, generally is not, whatever it is.

If you are not sure whether something qualifies, send us the details. It costs nothing to ask and the answer is usually yes.

What we can arrange that a dealer cannot

Dealer finance is convenient and sometimes the rate is genuinely competitive. What it rarely includes is any of the following.

Truck and equipment on one agreement

A vehicle dealer finances vehicles. A machinery dealer finances machinery. Neither will put the arb tipper, the chipper and the stump grinder on one document, which is usually the cheaper way to do it.

Funding for the completed converted vehicle

A dealer's finance desk generally works to the guide price of the base vehicle. We work with lenders who fund the cage body as well, so the finished truck is financed at what it is actually worth.

VAT deferral

On qualifying agreements the lender pays the supplier the full price including the VAT, then collects the VAT element from your business as a single payment after an agreed period, usually around three months. That gives you time to reclaim it from HMRC first, and there is no charge for the facility.

Little or no deposit

Dealers commonly ask for 10 to 20 per cent down. For a VAT-registered limited company with a reasonable credit profile buying at sensible prices, no deposit at all is a normal outcome with us.

A credit facility for the season ahead

A dealer can sell you finance on the machine in front of you. They cannot agree a limit now for the second chipper or the platform you will want when the winter work lands. Alongside what you are buying today we can often put a limit in place, sometimes £50,000 or £100,000 depending on the business.

Specialist business finance advice

A dealer's finance desk sells a finance product. Buying through the business changes the position considerably: a VAT-registered business reclaims the VAT, and under hire purchase the assets are treated as plant and machinery, so the cost can be written off against taxable profits through capital allowances with the interest element deductible separately. We are a broker rather than accountants, so your accountant has the final word, but we will structure the agreement to suit how the business is set up.

Newly set up businesses

New limited companies and businesses under two years old can apply. Arboriculture is a common trade to go out on your own in, usually after years of climbing for someone else and gaining the tickets.

Without a trading record, lenders lean on the director's personal credit history, and a deposit is usually required. Where you have sole trader history behind the company, or a track record working in the trade, bring it to the conversation, because it changes how the application reads.

For more on what lenders look for, see our new business van finance page.

Finance with a difficult credit history

A poor credit history does not prevent an arboricultural business from financing a truck or equipment. We work with specialist lenders who assess the whole picture rather than an automated score, and strong recent trading often counts for more than something that happened three years ago.

A deposit and well chosen assets both widen the options. See our bad credit van finance page for more detail.

Who can apply

Limited companies can borrow from £10,000. Sole traders can borrow from £25,000, on unregulated credit agreements, because the lenders we work with offer commercial finance only. Where the vehicle and the equipment go on one agreement, the combined total is what counts, which can bring a sole trader above that threshold when the truck alone would not.

Established contractors, newly formed companies and climbers setting up on their own are all welcome to apply.