Salt air, heavy use and short deadlines
Equipment on the coast works hard. Huntington Beach is bordered by the Pacific on the southwest and by Bolsa Chica Basin State Marine Conservation Area on the west, with Seal Beach, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach around it. Restaurants, marine services, fitness studios and trades run machinery in damp, salty and busy conditions, and breakdowns land on the busiest days.
Beyond the beach economy, the city sits above the Huntington Beach Oil Field and has an offshore oil terminus along with the Gothard-Talbert pipeline terminus, so contractors, welders, haulers and fabricators serve industrial customers too. Each one depends on a handful of expensive pieces of equipment.
Picking what to finance, and for how long
| Equipment | What fails first | How to think about financing |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant ovens and refrigeration | Compressors and door seals | Downtime on a Saturday costs more than the repair |
| Boat trailers and marine tools | Corrosion and wear | Fund for less than the expected life |
| Fitness equipment | Moving parts and upholstery | Match to membership revenue |
| Welding and fabrication machinery | Consumables and wear parts | Often supports contracts that pay for it |
| Delivery and work trucks | Mileage and maintenance | Add fuel and insurance to the payment when you test it |
The general rule is that the payment should be covered by what the equipment itself earns or saves. These are common-sense guidelines, not our terms.
A repair-or-replace check
Write three numbers on one page: the repair cost, what each day of downtime costs in lost sales, and the price of the replacement. For illustration only, a $4,500 repair on a ten-year-old walk-in cooler that has failed twice this year may be less sensible than a $38,000 replacement, if each failure risks $6,000 of spoiled stock and a closed kitchen. But if the cooler has not failed in years, repairing it is simple and cheap. The figures are round examples, not our terms.
Questions to ask before you finance
- Will the equipment earn enough to cover the payment in a slow month?
- What does installation, delivery and permitting add to the price?
- Is a used or refurbished unit a sensible option, or will repairs cost more?
- What is the resale or trade-in value, and does it matter to you?
Answering these before you apply makes the request cleaner and helps you choose an amount you can carry.
Applying
We fund $25,000 to $5,000,000, with funding in as little as 24 hours after approval. We consider FICO 500+, ask for about three months of business bank statements and do not require tax returns. The five-minute application uses a soft pull, and sole proprietors can apply. Apply and describe what you are buying.
If the need is cash rather than a machine, see working capital or a line of credit. For broader area context, read the Orange County page.