An honest answer on funding ropes, harnesses, lowering devices and rigging gear, and the routes that actually work for arb businesses.
Whole-of-market — 60+ lenders searched, including
Rarely on its own, and it is better to know that up front. Climbing and rigging equipment is a soft asset with effectively no resale value once it has been used, because it is life-safety kit with an inspection history and a retirement date, and no funder wants to recover a second-hand harness. What does work is including it on the invoice for a machine you are funding anyway, or using an unsecured business loan where the lender is backing your trading rather than the goods. If someone tells you a rope and harness package can be funded on hire purchase by itself, be sceptical.
Used kit: No — second-hand climbing and rigging equipment is not funded, and buying used life-safety kit is a bad idea regardless of how it is paid for.
Get a quoteor call 07581 364281
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).
Asset finance exists to lend against something a funder could take back and sell. Climbing kit fails that test completely: ropes and slings have working life limits, harnesses carry a personal inspection record, and used life-safety equipment has no legitimate second-hand market in the UK. So the panel that will fund it standalone is effectively empty. Where it does go through is as a line on a larger invoice — a chipper, grinder or truck supplied with a kit package by the same dealer — because the funder is securing the machine and the soft items ride along. The alternative is an unsecured facility, which is assessed on turnover, bank conduct and credit file with no asset security at all. Declines here are almost always a misunderstanding of what asset finance is for, rather than a judgment on the business.
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 |
|---|---|
| Petzl Sequoia SRT | Tree care harness for stationary rope |
| Petzl Zigzag Plus | Mechanical prusik for canopy movement |
| Teufelberger treeMOTION | Arborist harness with adjustable bridge |
| Teufelberger Tachyon | Climbing line for daily tree work |
| Notch Rope Runner Pro | Mechanical climbing device for rope systems |
| ISC D4 | Work positioning and descent device |
| DMM Pinto Rig | Rigging pulley for redirects and lowering |
| Stein RC2001 | Lowering device for controlled dismantles |
| Stein rigging slings and blocks | Anchor slings, blocks and rigging plates |
| Teufelberger sirius rigging rope | Low stretch line for lowering timber |
Get a quoteor call 07581 364281
Climbers setting up on their own who need a full kit before the first job, and established firms re-equipping a second climber or replacing gear that has failed its LOLER inspection. The trigger is usually a new team member or a thorough examination that condemns half a kit bag at once. Training providers and larger contractors buy in bulk when they take on apprentices, which is a different conversation again.
Get a quoteor call 07581 364281
We publish the deals we arrange, with no client named and no rate quoted. See what we have funded in arb and forestry.
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.
Because hire purchase is secured on the item, and used life-safety equipment cannot be resold. A funder who repossessed a harness and a set of ropes would have nothing to recover value from, and would arguably be creating a safety risk by selling them on. It is not a reflection on your business, it is what the product is built to do.
Often yes, if one supplier invoices both. Funders will tolerate a proportion of soft items on an invoice where the bulk of the value sits in a recoverable machine. Push that proportion too far and the funder will strip the soft items out, so keep the kit a sensible share of the total.
For most firms it is an unsecured business loan or a flexible facility, because the decision is based on your trading rather than the goods. Some suppliers also run their own credit accounts. Spreading the cost matters most when you are kitting out a new climber and paying wages before that climber is productive.
Indirectly, yes. The requirement for thorough examination at regular intervals is exactly what makes the gear a consumable in a funder view — equipment with a mandated inspection regime and a retirement date has no residual value. It is a legal safety requirement first and foremost, and it is why funders class the kit as soft.
Not on their own. Personal protective equipment is a consumable, has a limited life and is worn to destruction, so it sits well outside asset finance. Bought alongside a funded machine on the same dealer invoice it can sometimes be absorbed, but as a standalone purchase it is a business expense rather than a finance case.
Get a quoteor call 07581 364281
See everything we fund in arb and forestry finance →
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.
Prefer to talk? Call 07581 364281 · serving Leeds, York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Selby, Tadcaster & across North & West Yorkshire.