Key takeaways
- If an asset produces revenue and depreciates, it can almost certainly be financed.
- Choose an equipment leasing to own from day one, or an equipment lease to keep payments as an operating expense.
- New or used, dealer or private sale, with flexible payments across 10 provinces and 3 territories.
Commercial equipment financing covers the working assets of a business: kitchen lines for restaurants, diagnostic machines for clinics, forklifts for warehouses, printing presses, gym equipment, manufacturing cells. If it produces revenue and depreciates, it can almost certainly be financed — and usually should be, so the cost of the asset lines up with the income it generates.
Lease: picking the right commercial equipment financing structure
The two structures serve different goals, and the right answer is often decided with your accountant rather than your lender:
- A $1-buyout lease builds ownership by term. Payments are typically higher than a lease, but at the end there's no buyout — the asset is simply yours.
- An equipment lease keeps monthly payments lower and can carry tax treatment advantages depending on how it's structured. At end of term you exercise the buyout, return the equipment, or upgrade.
Both are available for new or used equipment, purchased from a dealer or through a private sale.
Businesses of every size, files of every shape
A dental clinic buying its first imaging unit and a manufacturer replacing a production cell do not look alike on paper, and no single lender prices both well. That's the argument for a brokered approach: Origin Finances represents the largest Canadian banks and several other leasing institutions, and matches each file with the institutions whose appetite fits the industry, the asset and the credit profile. Where revenue is uneven — hospitality, agriculture, contracting — seasonal payments and flexible payments keep the schedule aligned with real cash flow.
What to have ready
Getting a file moving is mostly about the equipment and the story:
- What you're buying, from whom, and the price
- How the equipment earns its keep in your operation
- Basic business information — most standard files don't start with a mountain of paperwork
We work with businesses across Canada's 10 provinces and 3 territories, in both official languages. If a piece of commercial equipment is holding your growth hostage to your cash reserves, request a quote — the comparison across lenders costs you nothing.