Tree Surgery, Forestry & Sawmill Finance

Arb and tree surgery equipment finance

Tree surgery equipment finance covers the kit an arb business runs on: road-tow and tracked wood chippers, stump grinders, chip trucks and tippers, timber cranes and access platforms. Most of it holds its value well, which is what makes arb finance workable — the machine itself acts as the security, so the terms are usually better than unsecured borrowing of the same size.

The difficulty is not the asset, it is the category. Arb equipment falls between plant, agricultural and vehicle lending, and a lender set up for one will often decline the others. Knowing which panel member funds a tracked chipper, and which will only look at a road-tow, is most of the job.

Wood chipper finance

Wood chipper finance is the request we see most often. Road-tow chippers are straightforward and fund quickly. Tracked and crane-fed machines are a larger commitment and a smaller lender pool, but they are routinely funded — new or used, dealer or private sale. Age and hours drive the term more than the purchase price does.

Stump grinder finance

Stump grinders are often bought as the second machine, once the chipper is already on finance. That is usually an easier application, not a harder one: an agreement already running and being paid on time is evidence a new lender cannot get from accounts alone.

Forestry and logging equipment finance

Forestry equipment finance and logging equipment finance cover harvesters, forwarders, timber trailers, winches, firewood processors and forestry mulchers. These are high-value, long-life machines and lenders will generally fund them over a longer term than lighter arb kit, which keeps the monthly figure manageable on what is often seasonal income.

Sawmill finance

Sawmill finance is where contractors most often get told no — not because the machine is a bad asset, but because milling is usually a diversification rather than more of the existing work, and the lender is being asked to back a business it has not seen operate. A portable band sawmill from a marque like Wood-Mizer holds its value and is straightforward to fund on the asset itself; the case that needs making is the business one.

We recently funded a £70,000 Wood-Mizer for a North Yorkshire fencing contractor moving into milling its own timber. It was the fourth asset we had arranged for that business in three years, and the track record on the earlier agreements is what made the diversification fundable.

Fencing machinery finance

Fencing contractors sit in the same awkward gap. A post knocker or post driver is agricultural machinery to one lender and plant to another, and the tractor or telehandler it mounts to may already be financed elsewhere. We fund post knockers, post drivers, trailers and the vehicles that tow them, and can structure them together where it makes sense. See post knocker and post driver finance for how those machines are assessed, including whether hiring or buying makes more sense.

What lenders look at in arb and forestry

Three things beyond the machine. Seasonality — arb and forestry income is weather-driven and storm work is unpredictable, so a lender that expects flat monthly income will price it badly; several on our panel will structure around it. Utilisation — documented contract work strengthens an application considerably. Certification — NPTC and LANTRA tickets, and membership of the Arboricultural Association, all support the case that the operator can run the kit safely.

New businesses and first machines

The first machine is the hard one, because a new business has nothing on file to assess. It is still fundable — trade experience, a signed contract or a deposit all help, and getting that first agreement placed properly matters more than the rate, because it is what makes the second and third straightforward. If you are setting up rather than replacing, our guide to starting a tree surgery business covers the tickets, the kit and how the first chipper usually gets paid for.

What to send us

Send us the machine — make, model, year, hours if it is used — and a line on what the business does and roughly how the work falls across the year. We will tell you which lenders have appetite for that asset and what the realistic terms look like. If you are diversifying rather than replacing, say so, because it changes who we approach. No credit check to ask.