How Do Lexington, NC Landscapers Pay for a Skid Steer, Dump Trailer and Wood Chipper?

Lawn care financing splits along the same line as the gear. Mowers, trimmers and blowers wear out within a few years. A skid steer, a dump trailer and a wood chipper can stay in the yard for five or more, and together they cost enough that paying cash would drain the operating account a crew depends on for wages.

For a crew that already owns its mowers and is adding its first machine for hardscape and soil work, each piece points to its own product:

• Skid steer or compact track loader, with the buckets, forks or grapple bought alongside it: equipment financing.
• Dump trailer: equipment financing, on its own schedule or bundled with the machine.
• Wood chipper: equipment financing on the machine.
• Insurance, registration and the first months of running costs: working capital.
• Wages while hardscape and grading jobs wait on payment: a line of credit.

Small outfits are the rule in this trade locally. Of the 78 Landscaping Services establishments (NAICS 561730) that County Business Patterns counted in Davidson County, NC for 2023, 56 had fewer than five employees.

Nonemployer Statistics for 2024 listed 517 Landscaping Services businesses with no paid employees in the county (NAICS 56173).

A compact track loader and a wheeled skid steer do much of the same work. Tracks spread the machine's weight on soft lawns and loose fill; wheels cost less to buy and wear less on hard surfaces. The price gap shows up in every payment.

Illustration only, invented figures: a dealer quotes a track loader at $71,400 and a comparable wheeled skid steer at $56,900. Financed for 60 months at a 9.7% annual rate, the track loader costs $1,506.52 a month and the skid steer $1,200.57. The tracks add $305.95 to each payment and $18,357.00 over the full term.

Lawn equipment loans for either machine work the same way: the loader secures the payments, and the quote should list the attachments with their own prices so a partner can see the whole purchase.

A skid steer needs a way to get to the job, which is why the dump trailer belongs in the same purchase conversation. Lawn care business loans for the pair can be set up two ways: each piece on its own schedule, or both in one bundle.

Illustration only, invented figures: the $56,900 skid steer above goes on 60 months at 9.7% ($1,200.57 a month), and a $12,600 dump trailer on 48 months at 10.4% ($321.99 a month). For the first four years the two bills total $1,522.56 a month. Interest across both schedules is $17,989.72.

Bundled instead, the $69,500 purchase on one 60-month schedule at 9.7% carries a single payment of $1,466.43 and $18,485.80 of interest, $496.08 more than the split, because the trailer is paid over five years instead of four. The bundle buys one bill and a lower monthly figure in the first four years.

Around the machines sit the costs no dealer quotes: Illustration only, invented figures: $3,180 for insurance and registration in the first month. Working capital fits that kind of bill better than stretching the equipment financing.

A wood chipper is another movable machine on the list, and a lawn care equipment loan can be evaluated against the supplier quote and the business. Illustration only, invented figures: a $47,800 wood chipper at a 10.2% annual rate over 60 months is $1,020.32 a month, $61,219.20 in all.

The line of credit covers what the chipper cannot: wages while the first grading jobs are billed. Illustration only, invented figures: a crew's payroll is $5,400 every two weeks, and a customer pays 40 days after the job is finished. 2 or 3 paydays fall in that wait, depending on the calendar, so the line carries $10,800 or $16,200 until the check clears, and the draw is paid down when it does.

The landscaping page has more Davidson County, NC figures for the trade and a sod cutter example. The Lexington, NC page sets county counts for landscapers and other trades next to their ZIP 27292 counts.