The challenge
A growing groundworks firm needed two telehandlers, three dumpers and a 13-tonne excavator for a new housing site starting in four weeks — but adverse credit from a 2022 CCJ blocked mainstream lenders.
What we did
Routed via two specialist plant lenders that price on asset and director track-record, not just bureau score. Structured at 15% deposit with the first six months' payments stepped to match site mobilisation.
The outcome
Plant on site day one. Stepped payments matched cash inflow. Refinance to mainstream pricing planned at month 13 once credit profile clears.
The full story
How the deal came together.
Background
Glamorgan Groundworks is a second-generation civils contractor working across South Wales — driveways, foundations, drainage and small-scale infrastructure. Turnover had grown 40% year-on-year as residential housing volumes rebounded, and the directors had just signed terms on a 180-plot development requiring fully kitted plant on site within four weeks.
The blocker: a 2022 CCJ
During the post-pandemic supply-chain shock, a key materials supplier had filed a county court judgment against Glamorgan over a disputed invoice. The dispute was eventually settled and the CCJ satisfied — but it remained on the company's credit file and was being treated as a hard decline by every mainstream lender.
Two other brokers had already tried, and both came back with the same answer: no.
Routing to specialist plant lenders
We placed the file with two specialist plant funders that don't underwrite on bureau score alone. They look at the asset (highly liquid yellow plant), the director's personal track record (over 20 years in groundworks), and the contract evidence (signed JCT contract with a tier-1 housebuilder).
Both lenders came back with offers inside 48 hours. We chose the funder offering a stepped repayment profile: lower payments in months 1–6 while the site mobilised and milestones were yet to bill, then standard rentals from month 7 onwards once cash was flowing.
Pricing and the refinance roadmap
Pricing on adverse-credit deals is always wider than mainstream — in this case 12.4% flat versus the ~8% we'd have achieved on a clean file. We were upfront with the directors: this is the cost of moving fast, and we'll get you out of it.
We've already mapped a refinance to mainstream pricing at month 13, by which point the CCJ falls off the public record and 12 months of clean payment history will be on file. Forecast saving over the remaining term is around £18k.
Outcome
All five machines delivered before the site mobilisation date. The first 60 plots completed two weeks ahead of programme. Glamorgan have since been invited to tender on the next phase, and have asked us to pre-approve a further £180k facility.
Could you fund this?
If your business looks anything like Glamorgan, the answer is almost certainly yes.