Landscaping Equipment Financing in Lincolnton, NC: A Stump Grinder Payoff, Pine Straw Stock and the Crew Truck Line

Illustration only, invented figures: a tree and grounds company in Lincolnton, NC wants a tracked stump grinder quoted at $34,750 plus a set of spare teeth and pockets at $1,265, $36,015 in all. Its older grinder still owes $2,960 on an earlier loan, and the dealer values that machine at $7,400.

The $2,960 payoff comes out of the $7,400 first, so only $4,440 reduces the new price and the invented amount to finance is $31,575. Spread over 48 invented monthly installments at an 11.4% annual rate through equipment financing, that comes to $822.22 a month; the invented installments reach $39,466.56, and $7,891.56 of that is interest.

Had the old grinder been paid off, the full $7,400 would have come off the price and the amount financed would have been $28,615 (our arithmetic). A funding partner may ask for the bill of sale, the new machine's serial number and the payoff letter on the old loan.

Illustration only, invented figures: a Lincoln County, NC maintenance company that refreshes beds for monthly accounts buys 1,800 bales of pine straw at $4.15 each and 120 cubic yards of dyed mulch at $31 a yard, $7,470 plus $3,720, or $11,190 in all.

The owner pays the supplier with an invented $11,190 draw on a business line of credit priced at 13.45% a year. Half comes back to the line after 30 days as the first month's account invoices clear and the rest after 31 more days, so the invented interest is $123.70 for the first stretch and $63.91 for the second, $187.61 for the stock.

Bales and bulk mulch are spread on customer beds rather than sold off a shelf, and each paydown reopens that part of the limit for the next order. A partner may set the limit from the company's bank statements and the length of its maintenance contracts, and may ask for supplier invoices for the stock.

A crew truck that carries the company's own grinder, mowers and crew to its own jobs is a work vehicle a request can include; trucking companies, freight haulers and owner-operators hauling for others stay outside this site.

The same split applies to a dump truck: hauling the company's own mulch, soil or brush from its jobs is part of the landscaping work, while selling haul runs to other businesses is trucking, which stays outside this site.

During the term of a vehicle agreement, the title may list the funding partner as lienholder; for a grinder or a trailer, a partner may file a UCC financing statement that names the machine. Either way the company keeps using the equipment while it pays.

Repair bills on machines the company already owns are operating costs. A working capital request can carry them on a fixed schedule, kept apart from any equipment agreement so each cost sits on the product built for it.

County Business Patterns 2023 counted 50 landscaping services establishments (NAICS 561730) in Lincoln County, NC with 289 employees, about 5.8 per establishment by our arithmetic. Their $12.5 million of annual payroll works out to about $43,256 per employee, again by our arithmetic.

Thirty-eight of the 50 (76.0%) had fewer than five employees, a larger share than the 60.3% for all Lincoln County, NC employer establishments.

ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023 placed 6 landscaping services establishments at a ZIP 28092 address.

Nonemployer Statistics for 2024, a separate count of businesses with no paid employees, listed 224 landscaping services businesses (NAICS 56173) in Lincoln County, NC with $8.9 million in receipts, about $39,759 each by our arithmetic. An owner with no employees can request the same equipment financing as a company with crews.

ZIP 28092 employment and payroll across every trade are set out on the Lincolnton, NC page, and the industries hub lists the other trade pages.

Some costs of a landscaping company are property rather than equipment, and Plumbend takes no requests for them:

• Buying land or an equipment yard, and any shed, shop or office put up on it.
• Paving, drainage or a wash pad built into the company's own yard, which become part of the property.
• Startup costs for a company that has not begun taking jobs.
• Household credit and personal vehicles.

Machines with a dealer quote, stock spread on customer work, repair bills and crew trucks that serve only the company's own jobs, never trucking for others, are the costs this page works through.