Hazelford Funding, a small-business funding service in Lebanon, Tennessee, helps plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractors in Wilson County, TN request equipment financing for service vans and tools, inventory financing for water heaters, condensers and fittings, and lines of credit for draw-schedule work and service agreements. Partners review contracts, bank statements and quotes, and decide on any offer.
| Plumbing and HVAC firms on payroll, Wilson County, TN | 61 (NAICS 238220), CBP 2023 |
|---|---|
| People those firms paid | 411, with $23.4 million annual payroll, CBP 2023 |
| Trade businesses without payroll | 119 no-payroll firms in the 2024 NES file (NAICS 23822) |
Two clocks: service work and new construction
Plumbing and HVAC firms run on two payment clocks at once. Service and replacement calls are usually paid at completion or on short invoice terms, so cash arrives quickly. New-construction rough-ins and trim-outs follow the general contractor's draw schedule, which means weeks of labor and equipment before payment. A firm can do both.
Builder-side cash flow is covered in depth on the construction funding page. This page covers what is specific to the trade: trucks, stock, tools and service agreements.
The trade in Wilson County, TN
Wilson County, TN had 61 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor employers in 2023, with 411 employees and $23.4 million in annual payroll; 60.7% had fewer than five employees (County Business Patterns 2023). ZIP 37087, the main Lebanon, TN ZIP, had 19 (ZIP Code Business Patterns 2023).
The county also had 119 plumbing and HVAC businesses without payroll in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024, NAICS 23822, a slightly broader code). These are separate programs and years. Electrical contractors, the closest neighboring trade, numbered 35 employers in 2023.
HVAC and plumbing equipment financing
Service vans with shelving, jetters, sewer cameras, pipe threaders, press tools, refrigerant recovery machines, vacuum pumps, combustion analyzers and brazing kits are typical requests. A business loan for an HVAC contractor's truck fleet is usually structured vehicle by vehicle. Used vans can be financed with mileage and condition details.
The equipment financing page explains leasing and buyout options.
Parts and equipment stock
Water heaters, condensers, air handlers, fittings, valves and filters are bought ahead of jobs. Inventory financing funds a larger order, especially when a supplier offers volume pricing or when a builder contract calls for many units over a few months. Partners will want to see the supplier order and how quickly the stock is used.
Working capital for HVAC and plumbing contractors
Working capital for an HVAC business or for plumbing contractors covers technician payroll while builder draws and commercial invoices are outstanding. Firms that sell service agreements collect some revenue up front but deliver the visits over a year; a line of credit can smooth the months in between.
| Need | Funding shape |
|---|---|
| Service vans, jetters, cameras, recovery machines | Equipment financing |
| Heaters, condensers and fittings on the shelf | Inventory financing |
| Payroll during draw-schedule work | Line of credit |
| A single large job's startup costs | Working capital |
Business loans for plumbers and HVAC contractors: what partners review
- Business bank statements showing service and contract deposits.
- Builder contracts and draw schedules for new-construction work.
- Quotes for each van and machine.
- Supplier orders for stock.
- License and insurance details for the work.
License paperwork is covered in Tennessee contractor licenses and business funding.
Illustration only: an HVAC firm wins a 14-unit townhome contract. Each unit needs a $3,100 system bought before install, about $43,400 in equipment, while the builder pays per draw after each building passes inspection. Pairing the supplier order with the draw schedule shows a partner exactly how long the stock is carried. These are example figures, not offers.
Service agreements and maintenance plans
HVAC firms and some plumbers sell annual maintenance agreements. They are valuable: recurring revenue, scheduled visits and a pipeline of replacement work. But they collect money up front and deliver the work over the year, so the firm must manage the deferred work carefully. A partner reading the file may see the agreements as a sign of steady revenue, especially if renewal rates are high.
If agreements are a large part of the business, bring the count, the renewal rate and the average price. Those numbers say more about stability than a single month's deposits.
Replacement and emergency work
Emergency calls and system replacements are the high-ticket side of the trade. A replacement job may require a condenser and air handler worth several thousand dollars bought the same day, paid by the homeowner at completion or through the homeowner's own financing. Firms that do a lot of replacement work benefit from stock on hand and from a line of credit for supplier invoices while the job closes out.
HVAC equipment financing or stock on the shelf: an illustration
Plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractors in Wilson County, TN averaged about 6.7 employees in 2023 and paid roughly $56,917 per employee (County Business Patterns 2023, our arithmetic). The 119 such contractors without payroll reported receipts averaging about $111,269 in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics 2024, our division).
Illustration only: an HVAC contractor wants three condensers and air handlers on the shelf so replacement jobs can close the day the customer says yes, a $16,500 stock order. Separately, a new service van with shelving is quoted at $52,000. The van is an equipment financing request; the stock is an inventory or working capital question, repaid as the units are installed and invoiced. The figures are an example, not an offer.
Business loans for HVAC contractors read more clearly when those two needs are split. See inventory financing for the stock side.
Related trades
Plumbing and HVAC sit inside the construction trades, alongside electrical, roofing and finishing contractors listed on the industries page. Wilson County, TN figures for every trade sit on the Lebanon, TN page.
