Does any one have experience with leasing from hotsy. Planning on leasing a trailer with almost 20,000$ worth of equipment. Hot water and a belt drive cold water, with a soft wash system. We get automatic maintenance because of the lease. He is also building us a soft wash system , does any one have any experience with hotsy? Also do you have any thing I should add to my lease. I want to really hit the ground running and go for the big contracts
Never tried, is that method better than buying your own stuff?
Also if you don’t have recurring work, would renting what you need for a few jobs be better?
I looked into leasing. Why? because my CPA said it fit my needs better, after a ton of research, a second opinion, and seeing that I’d pay 2.5x the sale price through a lease and then at the end have to pay $1000 to keep the stuff I already paid 2.5x the value I fired said CPA and found a new one.
I don’t like monthly payments. The only reason I pay monthly on my GL insurance is because it posts to my business credit file as payment experiences. Other than that give me the annual payment plan and let me own whatever I have.
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I think leasing is a terrible idea overall in my opinion.
Look for credit cards that offer 6 months or 12 months at 0%, if you open a new LLC you get these offers left and right.
PayPal Credit offers 6 month 0%.
I agree with @squidskc about paying double the value of stuff just to have to pay out another lump sum to own the units. Leasing or finance companies are damn near predatory in my opinion but I am also a CHEAP SOB that saves everything and only buy what I can afford in cash.
Lease = instant gratification but long term regret.
Saving for your equipment = short term inconvenience but a long term win.
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Just be careful. Most require your social or signature guarantees which means your LLC AND your personal assets are now linked if you can’t work or something bad happens.
My number one rule when looking at business credit is NEVER NEVER NEVER use your personal info to secure credit. It totally nullifies the reason for having an LLC. Might as well throw it out the window.
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Ditto.
Check out this site. The company has great reviews, gives a ton of info away for free, and I’ve never given them a dime. Everything they say, I’ve done it to a tee and everything is falling in place on the schedule they said it would. Good stuff.
They’re doing a webinar on building business credit on Tuesday. It’s free.
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The point of leasing is you get service on your equipment the company services it for you. The lease I’m getting through hotsy has five service technicians who are mobile.
The other pro is you don’t tie up capital instead of having a 20,000 loan on a peice of equipment and you are responsible for the maintenance also on a big diesel powered Kubota engine pressure washer. You pay a monthly fee and they are responsible for maintaining it for you.
I went to a pressure washer mechanic and he was charging 85 and hour.
Also my other pro is it’s two of us in the llc so our burden is spilt between the two of us. So if our bill is 500 a month it’s 250 between the two of us . I have another income and so does he.
I take what I said back about leases being the last thing I’d ever have. A business partner would be the last thing I ever have. Leases are the second to last thing I’d ever have.
There’s a special group of people, although a very small group, that can have business partners and make it work. If that group is Sun, I’m Pluto… but most people just tell me Ur-an-anus.
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Leasing is not a good idea. You asked for advise, you were given sound advise but you then turn around and tell people why it is a good idea to lease. So basically you really don’t want advise… Its your money your throwing away, so no skin off our knuckles.
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I was told that IF you feel you need a business partner for a season, then first be sure to plan out an exit for each and how to go about it if/when the need arises.
I personally wouldn’t partner in business, if I need someone I’ll hire them.
There are pros and cons to anything. Most of us are mavericks who don’t want encumbrances, and those who responded before me caution that a heavy upfront obligation without signed contracts to back the expense may be fool-hardy. If you DO have the contracts, go borrow the money short-term and pay off quickly so that you don’t have long-term obligations. As for the service technicians, when you figure your extra cost for those service technicians, you just might find them less meaningful.
Oh, and stick around long enough to find out what forum members are making the most $$ doing. You may find 80% of what you WOULD HAVE bought to be used infrequently. You DEFINITELY want to wait to buy specialized equipment AFTER the contracts are secure.
As for research, you’ve only spent 26 minutes reading posts. At this point you’re wasting our time. I; for one, won’t respond to another of your posts until you have researched 10 hours. GOOD LUCK!
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The thing I value most is my independence. Debt. Someone to answer too. A partner to share profit with. Thinking about it feels like dying…
That’s the thing with a lease. You can’t pay it off early. There’s no benefit to it. You just have to let it ride and pay 2x-3x what you should’ve if you just bought the stuff.
You can get better value servicing away from the lease.
Leasing has accounting benefits which are probably not relevant to most businesses on here.
Since the majority of us here are owner operator or privately held business we don’t need the books to look good. Fair to say mostly people here want cash in the hand at the end of the year.
Leasing means your equipment cost moves out of the ASSET column and into the EXPENSE. Therefore, when your accountant work out your ratios… you will be earning more $profit per $invested.
Quick example, remember it’s a while since a was a wannabe accountant.
Andy spends $50k on a new pressure washer, parts, trailer, truck. The expenditure is m recorded in the books as purchase of ASSETS. Doesn’t matter if it’s oaid for in cash or financed. Point is Andy BOUGHT it.
Profit at the end Year is $50k.
Andy earned $50k. $1 for every $1 invested
———
Bobby leases the same gear for $50k. No cash laid out up front, no assets are recorded because these items have not been BOUGHT. The expenditure is recorded as EXPENSES.
Leasing costs more so let’s say profit is $40k at end of year.
Bobby earned $40k. 40k with zero $ invested.
———
I forget the name of this ratio, equity ratio maybe? But point is, sometimes you need the books to look good for a variety of reasons. Leasing is one way to improve one aspect of your business financial health. It can be a fantastic tool; BUT
It’s not relevant to every business.
It can be downright dangerous for some businesses.
Point is: Think carefully and get advise relevant to your businesses financial situation and it’s goals.
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I do. I’m not doing this forever. Lol my goal is to sell this thing in 5 years.
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And now… I think that may be why the first CPA told me to lease stuff…
You may just have opened my brain into a parallel universe.
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In the context I wrote that, I was correct.
You and I have similar plan. My goal is to be “in a position” to sell or double down and keep this business in a few years.
Fair to say most people here are earning their income from operating the business, not from increase the value of their business as a saleable entity.
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Accounting is fun. I just hated the prospect of spending the rest of my life behind a desk looking at how other people are messing up their businesses with financial incompetence.
I wanted to go and lose money too!
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