Customer Financing for Contractors: How to Close Bigger Jobs
Customer financing for contractors removes the price objection on big jobs. Here's how to offer financing, what it costs you, and how to present it at the estimate.
A homeowner needs a new system. You quote $9,000. They go quiet, say they need to think about it, and you never hear back. The job did not die because they did not need it. It died because $9,000 in one lump was more than they could swing that month. That is a financing problem, not a sales problem.
Customer financing fixes that. Instead of asking a homeowner to find nine grand today, you let them say yes to a monthly payment they can actually afford. The job that felt impossible becomes routine. Here is how financing works for contractors, what it costs you, and how to present it so it closes more of your big tickets.
What is customer financing for contractors?
Customer financing is a third-party lender paying you in full for the job while the homeowner pays the lender back over time in monthly installments. You get your money up front, usually within a day or two. The homeowner gets a payment plan. The lender takes a small cut for carrying the loan.
You are not the bank. You are not chasing the homeowner for payments. A financing partner like GreenSky, Synchrony, or Wisetack runs the approval and collects from the customer. Your job is simply to offer it at the right moment, which most contractors never do.
Why does financing help you close bigger jobs?
Financing helps because it removes the price objection, which is the single biggest reason high-ticket jobs stall. When the choice is "$9,000 now" versus "no," a lot of homeowners pick no. When the choice is "$9,000 now" versus "$180 a month," the conversation changes completely. The same job, same price, suddenly feels doable.
It also lifts your average ticket. A customer who can finance is far more likely to choose the better system, the longer warranty, or the full repair instead of the patch. You stop losing the upsell to the monthly-budget conversation, because the monthly number is now small.
How should you present financing at the estimate?
You present financing at the estimate as part of your options, not as a rescue at the end. Joe Crisara's options-based approach is the right frame: lay out Good, Better, and Best, and show the monthly payment next to each one. When the homeowner sees that the Best option is only a little more per month, the bigger job stops looking like a stretch.
The mistake is holding financing in your back pocket and only pulling it out when the customer balks at the total. By then the no is already forming. Lead with the monthly number alongside the cash price, on every estimate over your threshold, so the payment is part of the decision from the start. For the full method on presenting options, see how to write an estimate that wins.
What does customer financing cost the contractor?
It costs you a dealer fee, usually a percentage of the job that the lender keeps, ranging from roughly nothing on short promo terms to high single or double digits on longer no-interest plans. The deeper the customer's discount (like 0 percent for 18 months), the bigger the fee you eat to fund it. That is the tradeoff: you pay for the promo so the customer pays no interest.
Run the math the way Ellen Rohr would. If a 7 percent dealer fee wins you a job you would otherwise lose entirely, you made 93 percent of a sale instead of 0 percent of one. Build the fee into your pricing if your margins are tight, but do not let the fee scare you off a job that financing is the only way to close.
What about approval rates?
Approval rates depend on the customer's credit and the lender, but most contractor financing programs use a layered approach that approves a wide range of homeowners. Many platforms run a soft pull that does not hurt the customer's credit to check eligibility, then offer prime and secondary options so a borderline applicant still gets a plan. Realistically a large share of your customers will qualify for something.
Offer it to everyone over your dollar threshold, not just the ones who look like they need it. Plenty of homeowners who could pay cash would rather keep their cash and finance at a low rate. You do not know who wants it until you offer, so make the offer standard.
How Maximus keeps financed jobs from slipping away
The fastest way to lose a financeable job is the same way you lose any job: nobody follows up. The homeowner says they want to think about the payment, and the estimate goes cold. Maximus follows up on every open estimate automatically, in your company's voice, and keeps the financing option in front of the customer instead of letting it die in their inbox. He sits on top of the software you already run, like Jobber or Housecall Pro, and costs $497 a month, or 8 percent of the revenue he recovers, whichever is higher.
He makes sure the monthly-payment option gets a second and third touch, which is exactly where the big jobs are won.
Financing only closes jobs if you offer it and follow up. Most shops do neither.
Frequently asked questions
What is customer financing for contractors? It is a third-party lender paying you in full for a job while the homeowner repays the lender in monthly installments. You get your money up front and you are not responsible for collecting from the customer.
How does financing help me close bigger jobs? It removes the price objection by turning a large lump sum into an affordable monthly payment, so jobs that would stall on the total close instead. It also raises your average ticket because customers can step up to the better option.
How should I present financing to a customer? Show the monthly payment next to each option at the estimate, as part of Good, Better, and Best, rather than pulling it out only when the customer balks. Financing closes more when it is part of the decision from the start.
What does customer financing cost the contractor? You pay a dealer fee, usually a percentage of the job, which is larger for deeper no-interest promo terms. Weigh it against the alternative: a small fee on a job you win beats no fee on a job you lose.
Will my customers actually get approved? Most contractor financing programs approve a wide range of homeowners using layered prime and secondary options, often with a soft credit check that does not hurt the customer's score. Offer it to everyone over your threshold rather than guessing who needs it.
Do I have to chase the customer for payments? No. The lender pays you up front and collects the monthly payments from the homeowner. You are out of the collections business on a financed job.
See What He Finds in Your Business. See how many estimates are going cold without a follow-up, in about 60 seconds. Look in the Mirror
Written by Nirav Doshi and Neal Doshi, owners of Temperature Pros Orlando and co-founders of Complete Data Products. Every number here comes from a real home services P&L.
Related: how to write an estimate that wins and the home services revenue leak.