Pressing your own veneered and laminated panels removes a supplier from the chain, and the presses themselves are heavy, long-lived and fundable.
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Yes. Veneer, membrane and laminating presses are funded as hard assets on hire purchase or finance lease. Hot presses, cold presses and vacuum membrane presses from makers such as Italpresse, Orma, Joos, Buerkle and Barberan all place with funders, and used machines around fifteen years old fund where the heating or vacuum system has been serviced. The complication is services. A hot press needs a boiler or oil heater and three-phase power, and a membrane press needs a vacuum pump. Where those are quoted as a separate contractor package they will not sit inside the equipment agreement, so ask for one machine invoice.
Used kit: Yes, to around fifteen years where the heating or vacuum system has been serviced
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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).
Presses are attractive security in principle. They are enormous, serial-numbered, built to last and traded across Europe, so a funder can see the machine still being worth money years into the agreement. What makes underwriters pause is niche demand — there are fewer buyers for a hot press than for a panel saw, so recovery takes longer and values are less certain. That usually puts these deals with specialist asset funders who understand industrial plant rather than the fastest tick-box lenders, and larger tickets need filed accounts and management figures. The other issue is installation weight: presses need foundations, heating plant and sometimes building alterations. Keep the civil and mechanical work on a separate invoice from the press itself and the case reads far more cleanly.
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 |
|---|---|
| Italpresse hot presses | Heated presses for veneering panels |
| Italpresse cold presses | Cold presses for laminating and assembly |
| Orma NPC hot press | Hydraulic hot press for veneer and laminate |
| Orma cold presses | Clamping presses for panel glue ups |
| Joos Junior press | Compact heated press for small workshops |
| Joos hot presses | Heated platen presses for veneer work |
| Buerkle short cycle presses | Short cycle presses for melamine faced board |
| Buerkle laminating lines | Laminating presses for board manufacturers |
| Barberan lamination lines | Paper and foil lamination for panel plants |
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Furniture and shopfitting manufacturers producing veneered or laminated panels, door manufacturers bonding facings, and specialist bespoke makers doing curved and formed work. The trigger is nearly always lead time: waiting on a veneering house is holding up installations, or a client wants matched veneer across a scheme that a supplier cannot guarantee. Curved work is the other driver, because a membrane press makes shaped components possible in house.
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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.
Yes. Vacuum membrane presses fund as hard assets and are popular with bespoke shops moving into shaped components. Put the vacuum pump, the membranes supplied with the machine and the commissioning on the same invoice. Replacement membranes bought in bulk are consumables and will be excluded, so order those separately on your trade account.
It can where the boiler or thermal oil heater is supplied by the press manufacturer as part of the machine package. Where a separate mechanical contractor is installing it, that becomes a services invoice rather than an asset and needs handling differently. Ask the supplier for a turnkey quote and it is usually a non-issue.
Slightly, because the buyer pool is smaller than for mainstream machinery, so funders are more cautious about how quickly they could sell one. It is still very fundable. Evidence that the platens, hydraulics and heating circuit have been serviced, and a dealer standing behind the machine, resolves most of the hesitation.
Keep it separate. Concrete bases, pits and structural alterations are improvements to a building you may not own, and funders will not advance against them. Itemise the press on one invoice and the civils on another. If the building work is a large cost, tell us early and we will look at a facility that can sit alongside the equipment agreement.
Yes, and combining them is often the smarter approach. A press is a more specialised security than a panel saw or a wide belt sander, so a package that includes readily saleable machines gives an underwriter a stronger overall position. One project, one agreement, one monthly figure to build into your panel pricing.
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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.
Prefer to talk? Call 07581 364281 · serving Leeds, York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Selby, Tadcaster & across North & West Yorkshire.