A full dumbbell set, racks and platforms add up fast, even though no single item on the invoice looks expensive.
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Yes, though rarely on their own. Free weights are funded as part of a strength area package — dumbbell sets, racks, benches, platforms and storage — because individual items are too small to finance separately. The asset position is unusual: cast iron and steel plates hold value remarkably well and never really become obsolete, but they are heavy, slow to recover and cheap per item, so funders still lend against the club rather than the kit. Used weights are fundable through suppliers. The common surprise is that flooring and platforms, often half the cost, cannot be recovered at all.
Used kit: Yes, used plates, dumbbells and racks are fundable through commercial suppliers, though the lot needs to be itemised clearly on the invoice.
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
Free weights sit oddly in the soft asset debate. Unlike a salon chair, a rack of iron does not become obsolete and holds a decent secondhand price. But funders weigh recovery cost, not just value: a lorry, a team and a day’s labour to lift a strength area out of a first-floor unit erodes the return quickly, and the individual items carry no serial numbers to identify them. So the decision comes back to the gym’s membership income, its accounts and a personal guarantee. The part of the order to think about carefully is the ground work. Shock-absorbing flooring, bolted-down racks and lifting platforms all become part of the premises, so in a leased unit a funder is effectively unsecured on that spend and may ask about the landlord’s position.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Eleiko IWF Weightlifting Competition Bar | Certified competition barbell |
| Eleiko XF bumper plates | Rubber training bumper plates |
| Eleiko Performance Bar | Training barbell for strength areas |
| Jordan Fitness Ignite urethane dumbbells | Commercial urethane dumbbell set |
| Jordan Fitness rubber kettlebells | Kettlebell set and storage rack |
| Watson Gym Equipment dumbbells | British-built commercial dumbbells |
| Watson Gym Equipment Olympic bench | Heavy duty flat and incline bench |
| Rogue Ohio Bar | Multipurpose training barbell |
| Rogue Monster Lite squat rack | Squat and bench rack station |
| Escape Fitness dumbbell and storage sets | Free weight sets with racking |
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Commonly a gym converting a tired studio or under-used cardio row into a strength area because that is where demand has moved. Strength-focused and performance gyms fitting out from scratch are the other frequent case. The trigger is usually members asking for heavier dumbbells, more racks or a lifting platform that the current floor cannot physically support. Strength-focused studios expanding into a neighbouring unit ask for much the same package.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
Usually not — the advance would be below most funders’ minimum and the administrative cost outweighs the deal. Gyms normally bundle weights with racks, benches, storage and flooring so the package reaches a workable size, which also matches how a strength area is actually bought and installed.
It can be included on the invoice, but it is not recoverable once bonded down, so a funder treats it as unsecured spend. Because flooring can be a large share of a strength area budget, it is worth showing the funder a clear split between equipment and floor when the quotation is prepared.
Quite possibly. Bolting rigs into a floor slab is an alteration, and most commercial leases require consent for alterations. Separately, some funders ask the landlord to confirm they will not claim fixed equipment. Raising both at the same time saves a delay later in the process.
Better than almost anything else in a gym, because iron does not go out of date and a plate from ten years ago is still a plate. That helps with trade-ins and resale. It does not translate into easier finance, because funders weigh recovery cost and identification, both of which work against loose weights.
Often yes, if it trades through a company or as an established sole trader with a lease and a reasonable record. The advance is usually smaller, which limits the funder pool. A studio operating from a room within another gym is much harder, for the same premises reasons that affect therapists.
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Not an offer of finance. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
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A decline from one lender reflects that lender’s appetite, not the whole market’s.