How to Offer Customer Financing as a Home-Service Contractor

It is a Tuesday in July, the homeowner's 18-year-old AC just died, and you have quoted $9,200 for a new system. She wants it. She also just paid for a new roof in the spring, and writing another five-figure check this week is not happening. Without a payment option, that job walks. With one, she signs today at roughly $150 a month and you are on the schedule Thursday.

That is the entire case for customer financing in the home-service trades. It is not a loyalty perk or a nice-to-have. It is the difference between closing a big-ticket install and watching the customer "think about it" until the money is gone. This guide covers how point-of-sale financing actually works, what it costs you, and how the four platforms most contractors evaluate in 2026 (Wisetack, Hearth, GreenSky, and Synchrony) stack up on dealer fees, APR, and approvals.

Why financing pays for itself on big-ticket jobs

Financing matters most where the ticket is large and the decision is emotional: a full HVAC changeout, a re-pipe, a panel upgrade, a roof, a whole-house water treatment system. These are the jobs a homeowner cannot pay for out of checking, and they are exactly the jobs that pad your year.

The mechanism is simple. When you present a monthly payment instead of a lump sum, price resistance drops and average ticket size climbs. A customer who would have picked the $6,000 mid-tier system to save cash will often take the $9,000 high-efficiency unit when the difference is $40 a month. You are not discounting. You are reframing the number.

Three things financing buys you:

• Higher close rates on quotes over roughly $5,000, where sticker shock kills deals.
• Larger average tickets, because the upsell is a small monthly delta, not a bigger check.
• Faster payment to you. The lender funds the job. You are not carrying the receivable or chasing a net-30 invoice for a $9,000 install.

The cost is a dealer fee, which we will get to. But on a $9,000 job you would have lost entirely, a 3.9% fee is $351 to keep a $9,000 sale. That math wins almost every time.

How point-of-sale financing works in the field

The workflow is nearly identical across platforms, and it is built to happen on a phone at the kitchen table, not in a back office.

1. Your tech or comfort advisor presents the quote with a monthly payment already on it.
2. The customer taps a link you text them, or you open it on a tablet.
3. They complete a short application. Most start with a soft credit check, so shopping options does not hurt their score.
4. Approved offers come back in seconds with term choices (12, 24, 60 months, sometimes a 0% promo).
5. The customer e-signs, and you get funded.

Where platforms differ is who holds the money. With Wisetack and Hearth, the lender funds the loan and pays you directly, usually within one to two business days. With GreenSky and Synchrony, the approved customer gets an account number you process like a credit card for each draw, which is handy for multi-stage jobs where you bill as work completes.

One rule matters more than the platform you pick: present the payment before the price. "This system runs about $150 a month with approved credit" lands very differently than dropping $9,200 and then scrambling to offer financing after the customer has already flinched.

The four financing platforms, compared

Here is the honest breakdown. There is no single winner. The right pick depends on your average job size and how many jobs you finance a month.

| Platform | Merchant cost | Customer APR range | Typical min credit | Best for | |---|---|---|---|---| | Wisetack | ~3.9% per financed job, no subscription | 0% to 35.9% | Soft-check, mid-market | Small-to-mid jobs, low friction, pay-per-use | | Hearth | ~$1,499-$4,999/yr subscription, no per-loan fee | 4.9% to 35.99% | ~550 | High-volume shops wanting an all-in-one sales suite | | GreenSky | Per-transaction dealer fee, ~0-15% (8-15% on promos) | ~6.99% to low-20s | ~600 | Large jobs ($20k-$65k+) sold on 0% promos | | Synchrony | Dealer fee on promo plans, mid-single to low-double digits | ~17.49% to 33.24% | Prime/near-prime | OEM or branded card programs (often HVAC) |

Sources: Wisetack merchant pricing, Hearth pricing, GreenSky merchant FAQ, and Synchrony's financing reference.

Wisetack: the low-friction default

For most plumbers, electricians, and HVAC shops doing jobs under $15,000, Wisetack is the easiest place to start. No setup fee, no subscription, and a flat dealer fee around 3.9% of the financed amount deducted from your payout. Standard loans run $500 to $25,000, with amounts up to $65,000 through a newer LendingClub partnership. APRs span 0% to 35.9% depending on credit, and there are no prepayment penalties for the customer.

The trade-off: the standard cap can be tight for a full whole-house project, and weaker-credit customers see high APRs that sometimes kill the sale. But for pay-per-use simplicity, nothing beats it.

Hearth: for shops financing dozens of jobs a year

Hearth flips the model. Instead of a per-loan dealer fee, you pay an annual subscription of roughly $1,499 to $4,999, and it bundles estimating, proposals, and financing links into one sales tool. It is a marketplace pulling from 18-plus lenders, so approval coverage is broad, with some lenders working down to about a 550 score, and loan amounts up to $100,000.

Run the math on volume. If you finance a handful of jobs a year, the subscription is expensive per job. If you finance dozens, your effective per-job cost drops well below Wisetack's 3.9%. The catch is that a marketplace produces a wide spread of offers, and some customers see high-APR personal loans rather than tightly controlled promos.

GreenSky and Synchrony: promo firepower for large tickets

When your typical job is $20,000 to $65,000 and you want to lead with "0% for 24 months" or "no interest if paid in full," GreenSky is the traditional heavyweight. Approved customers get a 16-digit account number you process like a card, funds come straight to you, and they have several months to draw on the line for multi-stage work. The cost is real: dealer fees on aggressive promotional plans commonly run 8% to 15%, so you have to price the job to absorb it. GreenSky also carries some regulatory history, including a CFPB action over merchants securing loans without proper authorization, which is a reminder to keep your own sales process clean and consented.

Synchrony runs private-label and co-branded card programs, common in manufacturer-sponsored HVAC financing. Purchase APRs tier around 17.49%, 26.49%, or 33.24% by credit, and it shines when an OEM has pre-negotiated the promos and trained your team. As a standalone independent contractor without that brand relationship, it is usually not your first pick over the other three.

What financing really costs you, and how to price for it

The dealer fee is a real line item, so treat it like one. A common mistake is quoting your normal price and then eating an 8% to 15% promo fee out of margin. That turns a profitable install into a break-even one.

Two clean ways to handle it:

• Build the fee into your promo pricing. If you are running a 0% GreenSky offer that costs you 12%, your promo price should already carry that 12%. The customer pays the same either way, and your margin holds.
• Reserve the aggressive promos for high-margin jobs. A full system changeout can absorb a double-digit dealer fee. A $1,200 repair cannot. Route small jobs to a low-cost option like Wisetack and save the 0% firepower for the big installs.

Do not confuse customer financing with your own cost of capital. Financing the customer is a sales tool. Financing your business (payroll gaps, truck payments, material floats) is a separate problem, and a business credit card built for contractors usually solves it better than pulling from a consumer lender. Keep the two conversations apart.

Where your software fits: quote, finance, invoice, collect

Financing is one link in a chain that starts at the quote and ends when you get paid. If those steps live in four different apps, things fall through the cracks: the payment estimate never makes it onto the proposal, the invoice goes out late, the deposit never gets collected.

This is where your field-service platform earns its keep, and where we would start with Fieldtics. The free plan covers unlimited clients, job scheduling, a customer CRM, and the mobile app your tech actually uses at the kitchen table, with no credit card required. For an HVAC shop pairing a financed changeout with tight dispatch, our HVAC scheduling software runs the same job calendar the comfort advisor books from. The $29/mo Professional tier adds quotes and estimates, invoicing, online payments, and expense tracking, so the same system that builds the quote (with a monthly payment shown on it) also sends the invoice and collects the balance the financing did not cover. For the deposit or the non-financed remainder, invoicepdf.io is a free invoice app that gets a clean bill in the customer's inbox in minutes.

Financing platforms are lenders. They are not your operating system. Keep the quote-to-cash workflow in one place and bolt the financing link onto it, rather than the other way around. For a deeper look at collecting the money side, our guide to the best payment processing for contractors covers the fees and tools worth using.

Make it a system, not a one-off

The platform matters less than how consistently your team offers it. The shops that win with financing do a few boring things every single time:

• Advertise it up front. "Monthly payment options available" belongs on your trucks, your website, and your Google Business Profile, not buried on a pricing page.
• Show a payment on every estimate over $3,000. Total price plus "estimated from $X/month with approved credit."
• Bring it up early, before price shock, not as a desperate save after the customer balks.
• Track the numbers. Close rate with financing versus without, average ticket, and dealer-fee cost per sold dollar. If you do not measure it, you cannot tell whether the fee is buying you jobs.

Financing sits alongside the rest of your pricing strategy. If you are still dialing in your rates, our breakdown of HVAC pricing strategies for bidding jobs pairs well with this, and if you are earlier in building the business, how to start an HVAC business covers the licensing and setup that come first.

Start with the quote, then add the financing

Pick your platform by your average job. Wisetack for simple, sub-$15,000 tickets. Hearth if you finance dozens of jobs a year and want the sales suite. GreenSky when big installs and 0% promos are your close. Synchrony when a manufacturer program hands you the promos. Then wire it into a quote-to-cash workflow that shows the payment, sends the invoice, and collects the balance in one place.

Get the quote and scheduling right first and the financing link slots in cleanly. Start with Fieldtics free to run your quotes, jobs, and invoicing from one place, then add the financing platform that fits your ticket size.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost a contractor to offer financing?

It depends on the model. Wisetack charges a per-job dealer fee around 3.9% of the financed amount with no subscription. Hearth swaps the per-loan fee for an annual subscription of roughly $1,499 to $4,999. GreenSky and Synchrony charge per-transaction dealer fees that can run 8% to 15% on aggressive 0% promotional plans.

What credit score does a customer need to get approved?

It varies by lender. Hearth's marketplace pulls from 18-plus lenders and can work with scores near 550. GreenSky typically wants around 600 or higher, and Synchrony's card programs lean prime and near-prime. Wisetack runs a soft credit check first, so a customer can see options without dinging their score.

Does offering financing actually increase close rates and ticket size?

Yes, when you present a monthly payment before the total price. A $9,000 furnace and AC swap sounds very different at "$149 a month with approved credit." Contractors who show a payment on every estimate close more jobs and sell larger systems, because the decision shifts from a lump sum to a manageable payment.

Is customer financing the same as running a credit card?

Not quite. With GreenSky and Synchrony, an approved customer gets an account number you process like a card, and the lender pays you. Wisetack and Hearth send the customer an application link, the lender funds the loan, and you get paid directly, usually within one to two business days.