Vacuum excavator financing

A vacuum excavator digs with water or air and suction instead of a bucket, which is why utility, fiber and plumbing contractors buy them: you can expose a gas line or a fiber bundle without cutting it. They run from a trailer unit behind a pickup to a full hydro excavation truck, and iFinancial Group finances both, new or used, on the same one-page application. No tax returns and no audited financial statements to apply, no minimum and up to $1,000,000.

Who you're dealing with

iFinancial Group has funded equipment since 1997, roughly $600 million of it, in all 50 states. We're a direct lender, not a broker, so the file is underwritten in house and not shopped around. Our customers have ranged from independent manufacturers to global technology companies. We've barely advertised in almost three decades. The business came from repeat customers, referrals, and vendors sending us their customers.

What you're financing

Vacuum excavators come in three sizes, and the price steps up with each one. Trailer-mounted units, with 500 to 1,200 gallon debris tanks and towed behind a three-quarter or one-ton pickup, typically list new from about $45,000 to $150,000 depending on tank size, water capacity and whether it's a hydro, air or combination unit. Truck-mounted units on a Class 5 to 7 chassis, a medium-duty truck that is often spec'd to stay under the 26,001 pound GVWR line so the driver doesn't need a CDL, run roughly $200,000 to $400,000. Full hydro excavation trucks on a Class 8 chassis, with 10 to 16 yard debris tanks and a thousand or more gallons of water, run $400,000 to $700,000 and up once the boiler, boom and reels are on it.

Those are market ranges, not quotes. The chassis, the body builder and the option list move them in both directions.

What goes on the same approval

A truck-mounted vacuum excavator is usually two invoices: the chassis from a truck dealer and the vacuum body from the builder who mounts it. We finance the two as one piece of equipment, one approval, one payment. The same goes for what gets added to the unit: a boiler or water heater for working frozen ground, a hydraulic boom, extra hose reels, the trailer under a trailer unit, and on many deals the pickup that tows it.

Freight from the builder, setup and operator training are soft costs, and they can go on the same deal, on many deals up to 30% of the total. One financing for what it takes to put the unit to work, rather than a loan for the tank and a cash bill for everything around it.

Who buys them and how the payment gets covered

Utility locating and potholing crews, horizontal directional drilling contractors who need to expose every crossing before they bore, fiber installers, plumbers running sewer and water line work, and municipal public works. Most of this is billed by the hour or by the hole, and a unit that's working is typically earning several times its payment in a month.

In northern states the work slows in winter unless the unit has a boiler. If your season is uneven, the payment can be too. Deferred and seasonal payment structures are built for exactly that.

New or used

Used trailer units three to six years old typically trade from about $25,000 to $80,000. Used hydro excavation trucks run roughly $150,000 to $350,000 depending on hours, tank condition and the blower. Dealer, auction or private party, all three are financeable here.

On a used unit, what matters most is the hours on the blower and the water pump, the condition of the debris tank and door seals, and the chassis miles. On the financing side, what matters is the invoice or bill of sale, the title if it's a truck, and proof of what was paid.

What slows a vacuum excavator deal down

Build slots. A new truck-mounted unit is built to order, and the builder's queue can run months. That's why an approval here holds up to 60 days, and why we can often pay the builder at order so the deposit is part of the financing rather than cash out of the business. How much is prefunded at order depends on the builder's terms and the file.

The other thing is time in business. A lot of vacuum excavators are bought by a contractor in his first year who just landed a utility or fiber contract and needs the unit to do the work. It starts with the one-page application, and a newer business will typically need a little more up front.

How it works with iFinancial Group

It's the same one-page application whether the equipment is small or the deal runs to $1,000,000: no tax returns and no audited financial statements to apply, no minimum and up to $1,000,000. Decisions typically come back within 24 hours, and an approval holds up to 60 days. New and used equipment, terms up to 84 months, and soft costs up to 30% so freight, setup and training can go in the same deal. Payment structures beyond level payments are there when the equipment earns unevenly. We've been doing this since 1997, in all 50 states.

Other vocational trucks: vacuum truck, bin cleaning truck, dump truck, bucket truck, tow truck, street sweeper, water truck, roll-off truck, box truck, service truck, refuse truck, concrete mixer truck. Or start with vocational truck financing.