The Real Problem
You Budgeted the Project. The Bank Financed the Machine.
The bank’s equipment loan covers the press. It doesn’t cover the $900K to rig it, wire it, and bolt it to a reinforced slab, or the $400K controls package, or the deposits the builder wants six months before delivery.
So the soft costs land on the line of credit, the deposits come out of cash, and the project that was supposed to pay for itself starts by draining working capital.
Capex financing is built for the project, not the machine: every invoice on the project — equipment, install, software, freight, training — goes on one facility, and the facility pays the vendors on their milestones while the build is underway.
Bobby’s Take
The equipment is usually 70–80% of the budget. The other 20–30% is the part operators end up carrying in cash — and it’s the part a capex facility is built to cover.
Bobby Friel, Founder, Basecamp Funding
Capital Stacking in Action
The Project Funds Layer One. Cash Flow Funds the Ramp.
An illustration: a $6.8M production line for a Midwest manufacturer at $38M revenue. The capex facility carries every invoice on the project over 60 months, pays the vendors in progress payments over the seven-month build, and starts the full payment when the line is placed in service. A working-capital layer priced off revenue carries the ramp.
First-year Section 179 and bonus depreciation on the equipment and installation — more write-off than you put down.
The $8M structure, one application
Illustration, not a funded file · one application · one specialist desk
Funded Scenarios
Projects We’ve Structured
Representative scenarios — illustrative, anonymized figures, not specific client transactions.
From the desk
“Finance only the equipment and the business self-funds 20–30% of the project out of working capital — usually the part of the budget nobody planned to carry.”
Bobby Friel · Founder, Basecamp Funding
Start Here
See What the Project Qualifies For — in About 60 Seconds
Set the total project cost — equipment, install, software, and soft costs — and the desk reads the file.
Soft-pull only · Financials and the project budget · Real term sheets, not estimates
Estimate Your Equipment Financing
Slide to the equipment cost — one machine, a line, a fleet, or a buildout.
Equipment amount
Your actual terms come from real term sheets.
How It Works
How Capex Financing Is Actually Structured
One facility sized to the full project budget, drawn as the vendors invoice during the build, with the term and the full payment starting when the equipment is placed in service. Here’s the real mechanic at this level.
The ramp after the line starts runs on a working-capital layer priced off revenue — see working capital.
The Cost of Waiting
Every Quarter the Project Waits, the Orders Go Somewhere Else
One facility is faster to approve than four, and it means the project starts on the builder’s calendar, not the bank’s.
Start Your Funding Request →Compare the Options
Capex Financing vs the Alternatives
| Capex facility | Bank equipment loan | Line of credit | Cash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covers soft costs | Yes, 100% | Rarely; equipment only | Yes, at the cost of your liquidity | Yes |
| Progress payments | Paid from the facility | Usually not; funds at delivery | From availability | From cash |
| Collateral | Project equipment only | Equipment, often with a blanket lien | Blanket lien, covenants | None |
| Time to a decision | 24–48 hours | 30–60 days | Existing line | Immediate |
| What it does to working capital | Nothing | Soft costs and deposits still come out of cash | Eats availability for a year | Drains it |
Bobby’s Take
“The project budget your controller built is the right number. The number the bank will finance is a smaller one, and the gap is the install, the software, and the deposits — the parts that don’t have a serial number. Operators cover the gap with cash and a line, and then wonder in month eight how a project that pencils has them tight. Finance the budget. The whole thing. That’s what capex financing is for.”
Bobby Friel · Founder, Basecamp Funding · 20+ years in banking and finance
Straight Answers
The Straight Answers Operators Ask For
Our bank will finance the equipment.
It will, at delivery, against the equipment only. What it won’t do is pay the builder’s 30% deposit in March, the rigger in August, and the controls vendor in October. That’s the half of the project you’d be carrying.
We don’t want the soft costs capitalized.
Then they don’t have to be. Install, software, and training can sit on the same facility or come off it; the proposal shows both and your CPA picks.
The equipment is coming from overseas.
Vendor location is a logistics question, not a credit question. The file needs the quote, the payment schedule, and the delivery terms. Freight and duties are soft costs and go on the facility.
We’d rather lease than own.
Both are available on the same project. A $1 buyout or finance lease keeps the depreciation with you; a fair-market-value lease moves it to the lender and lowers the payment. The lease structures guide has the trade-offs.
What’s the rate?
The proposal states it, against your file, in 24–48 hours. A published number would be a guess, and you’d be right to distrust it.
Put the whole project on one facility, and keep the cash in the business.
The proposal sets the facility size, the structure, the draw schedule, and the term before anything signs. Your CPA reads it first; the vendors get paid on their schedule.
The Process
How a Capex Facility Comes Together
Share the project.
Budget, vendor quotes, build schedule, and two years of financials, through the secure upload.
The desk reads it the same day.
The file and the project together.
Proposal in 24–48 hours.
Facility size, structure, draw schedule, term.
Signed proposal → underwriting → funded.
2–10 business days.
Vendors paid on their milestones.
The full payment starts when the line is placed in service.
Self-Qualify
Who Capex Financing Fits — and Who It Doesn’t
Before You Apply
What Can Stop the File
Straight talk on what stops a capex facility before it starts — so you fix it before you submit.
By Industry
Capex Financing by Industry
Every industry with a capital project bigger than one invoice — the line, the terminal, the suite, the plant. Explore the fit for yours.
Manufacturing
Lines, cells, and automation, with the install that goes with them.
Trucking & Logistics
Terminals, shops, wash bays, fuel systems, telematics.
Construction
Plants, crushers, screens, and the yard to run them.
Healthcare
Imaging, surgical suites, and the shielding and construction they require.
Distribution & Wholesale
Racking, conveyors, WMS, and dock equipment.
Technology
Compute, cooling, and power for an AI or data build.
Run the project’s first-year write-off on the equipment and installation in the Section 179 calculator — more write-off than you put down.
FAQs
Capex Financing — Questions Operators Actually Ask
One facility that funds a capital project end to end: equipment from every vendor, installation, software, freight, and training, with vendor milestones paid during the build and the full payment starting at placed-in-service.
Anything on the project budget that isn’t the equipment itself: rigging, electrical, foundations, controls, software, freight, duties, training, commissioning. Capex financing covers them at 100%.
The facility pays vendor deposits and milestone invoices as they come due during the build. You pay interest only on what’s been drawn until the equipment is placed in service; then the term and the full payment begin.
Yes. That’s the point. Three builders, a rigger, and a software vendor on one facility, one payment.
$1M, with the business at $10M+ in revenue and two years operating. Under that, equipment financing is the right page.
On an equipment finance agreement, $1 buyout, or finance lease, yes — on the equipment and typically the installation. On a fair-market-value lease, the lender takes the depreciation. The structure is set in the proposal.
Section 179 calculator24 to 60 months, starting when the equipment is placed in service, not when the first deposit is paid.
Proposal in 24–48 hours from a complete file. Funded in 2–10 business days from a signed proposal. Draws then follow your vendors’ schedule.
The Operator's Guide
The Operator’s Guide to Capex Financing
What a capital project really costs
On most projects the equipment is 70–80% of the budget. The rest is rigging, electrical, foundations, controls, software, freight, and training. Finance only the equipment and the business self-funds 20–30% of the project out of working capital — usually the part of the budget nobody planned to carry.
Why progress funding matters
Builders want deposits. Lead times on a machining cell or a packaging line run six to twelve months. A bank funds at delivery. The months in between — deposit, progress invoice, progress invoice, delivery — are where the cash goes, and capex financing is built to carry that stretch instead of your line of credit.
Placed in service, and what it changes
The day the equipment runs is the day the term starts and the tax year the deduction lands in. The order date doesn’t count, and neither does the delivery date if the line isn’t commissioned. Plan the schedule around that date, not the invoice date.
Choosing the structure
An equipment finance agreement or finance lease keeps the equipment and the depreciation on your books. A fair-market-value lease lowers the payment and moves the depreciation to the lender. Both can sit on the same project. The lease structures guide walks through every one.
The file the desk reads
Two years of financials with interims, the project budget with vendor quotes behind every line, the build schedule, and the story: what the line does to revenue and margin in the first year it runs. That last part is what the committee reads first.
Financing the Growth? Cover the Risk That Comes With It.
A new facility, more equipment, and a bigger crew change your risk profile the moment the capital lands. Our sister company, Insurance Service 365, handles commercial coverage for operators scaling exactly like this — so the growth you just financed is protected.
Explore commercial insurance