Plumbing Financing for Customers: How to Close Bigger Jobs
Plumbing financing lets a homeowner pay for a $9,000 repipe or a $3,500 water heater in monthly installments while you get paid in full within days. You do not lend anything. A third-party provider like Wisetack, Synchrony, GreenSky, or Hearth funds the customer, charges you a small merchant fee, and takes on the repayment risk. Done right, it turns “I need to think about it” into a signed job today.
How customer financing actually works
Customer financing is a three-party deal: you, the homeowner, and a lender. You present a monthly payment at the estimate, the customer applies on their phone with a soft credit pull, and the lender approves in minutes. The lender pays you the full ticket within one to three business days, keeps a merchant fee, and collects from the homeowner over the loan term.
Because the money is the lender’s, your cash flow does not wait on the customer. You are not a bank and you carry no collection risk. Your only cost is the merchant fee, deducted before the lender deposits your funds. Terms commonly run 24 to 144 months on loan amounts from $500 to $250,000, which covers everything from a garbage disposal to a full sewer replacement.
The main providers and what they cost you
Four providers dominate home-services financing in 2026, and they price very differently. Wisetack charges one flat per-transaction fee. Synchrony and GreenSky price by promotional tier, cheap on standard loans and expensive on 0 percent plans. Hearth skips per-job fees for a flat subscription. Match the model to your average ticket and how often customers ask for 0 percent.
| Provider | Merchant (dealer) fee | Customer APR | Approval and best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wisetack | Flat 3.9% per job | 0% to 35.9%, simple interest | Soft pull, instant. Service tickets $1K to $15K (repairs, water heaters) |
| Synchrony | ~4.35% to 24% by plan | 0% promo or 3.99% to 11.99% fixed | ~640+ for best terms. Card-based, built into ServiceTitan |
| GreenSky | Under 3% standard, up to ~17.5% on 0% promo | 0% promo or fixed installment | ~640+. Big-ticket repipes and sewer jobs $10K and up |
| Hearth | $1,499 to $4,999 per year, no per-job fee | Varies by matched lender | Marketplace of lenders, one soft application, mid-600s and up |
Fees move constantly and every rate here is negotiable at volume, so treat these as a starting map, not a quote. Ask each provider for their current standard-plan fee before you sign, and get the retroactive-interest terms in writing.
Standard installment versus deferred interest
The two loan types look alike to a customer and are very different for you. A standard installment loan carries a fixed APR and a low merchant fee, roughly 2 to 5 percent. A deferred-interest or 0 percent promo plan feels better to the buyer but costs you 8 to 25 percent, because the lender is fronting the customer’s interest and passing that cost to you.
Lead with the standard plan. Top shops keep a blended fee of 2 to 3 percent by defaulting to fixed installments and only reaching for a 0 percent promo when a customer specifically asks. Deferred interest also carries a trap for the homeowner: miss the payoff window by a dollar and the lender back-charges interest from day one, often 25 percent or more. Explain that plainly so the plan does not create a callback about a surprise bill.
Does the dealer fee actually pay for itself
Yes, and the break-even is smaller than most plumbers assume. Every comparison article lists provider fees, then stops. Here is the number they skip: how big a ticket lift the merchant fee needs to cover its own cost. On real plumbing jobs at a 3.9 percent flat fee, a single accepted upgrade or one extra closed job pays for the fee many times over.
| Job | Cash ticket | 3.9% dealer fee | Ticket lift needed to break even |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water heater swap | $3,500 | $137 | +3.9% (one better model) |
| Whole-home repipe | $9,000 | $351 | +3.9% (one added fixture) |
| Sewer line replacement | $12,000 | $468 | +3.9% (one cleanout add-on) |
The fee only bites if financing changes nothing about the sale. It rarely does. Price the job and margin properly first, because financing multiplies whatever ticket you present. If your estimate is soft, fix that before you blame the fee, and build the quote first off labor, materials, overhead, and margin.
How financing lifts close rate and average ticket
Financing works on two levers at once: it wins jobs you would have lost, and it grows the ones you win. Homeowners who balk at a $9,000 number often say yes to $180 a month. Contractors offering payment plans report close rates climbing and average job size rising 30 to 45 percent, because the monthly frame moves the customer from the total to the option they actually want.
The math compounds fast. Run 100 qualified estimates two ways and the difference is stark, even after the dealer fee comes off the top.
| Metric (per 100 estimates) | No financing | With financing |
|---|---|---|
| Close rate | 30% | 40% |
| Average ticket | $4,000 | $5,400 |
| Gross revenue | $120,000 | $216,000 |
| Dealer fee (3.9%) | $0 | -$8,424 |
| Net revenue | $120,000 | $207,576 |
Those figures are illustrative, not a guarantee, and your real numbers depend on ticket size and how you present the option. The point holds: on bigger-ticket work the fee is a rounding error against the jobs financing saves. This is one of the highest-return levers in the the operator playbook for scaling a shop, and it costs nothing to turn on.
How to present it without pushing
Offer financing on every big-ticket estimate before you say the total, not after the customer flinches. Naming the monthly payment alongside the cash price reframes the decision and removes sticker shock. The rule is simple: present it, then stop talking. You are giving the homeowner a way to say yes, not steering them into debt.
Fold the merchant fee into your pricing instead of adding a visible surcharge. Financing surcharges are restricted in several states and irritate customers, and your a flat-rate price list by job should already carry the small cost so every quote is finance-ready. Train whoever runs the estimate to explain terms in one sentence, disclose the deferred-interest catch, and let the customer choose.
Rolling it out in your shop
Start financing in a week, not a quarter. The setup is mostly paperwork and a short script. Work these steps in order, get it in front of customers, then refine the offer once you see which plans they pick. Do not wait for the perfect provider before you present a single monthly payment.
- Pick one provider to start. Match it to your average ticket: Wisetack for service and water heaters, GreenSky or Synchrony for repipes and sewer work.
- Apply and get your merchant account live. Confirm your standard-plan fee, funding time, and the retroactive-interest terms in writing.
- Add the payment to your estimate template. Show cash price and estimated monthly side by side on every job over about $1,500.
- Write a two-line script. “You can pay in full or from about $X a month. Want me to check what you qualify for? It is a soft check and takes two minutes.”
- Train the whole team to present it every time. The tech at the kitchen table sells more financing than any brochure.
- Track finance rate and blended fee monthly. Aim to keep the blended fee near 2 to 3 percent by leading with standard plans.
Financing is not a magic close, it is a way to stop losing jobs you already earned the right to quote. Combine it with tight estimates and a steady flow of work from the leads you already pay for, and the bigger jobs stop walking out the door.
Frequently asked questions
How do contractors offer financing to customers?
You do not lend the money yourself. You sign up with a third-party provider like Wisetack, Synchrony, GreenSky, or Hearth, then present a monthly payment at the estimate. The customer applies on their phone in minutes, the lender pays you in full within a few days, and the homeowner repays the lender over 24 to 144 months.
How much does it cost a plumber to offer financing?
You pay a merchant fee, also called a dealer fee, on each financed job. Standard installment plans run about 2 to 5 percent of the ticket. Zero-percent promotional plans cost more, often 8 to 25 percent, because the lender subsidizes the customer’s interest. Hearth instead charges a flat yearly subscription, roughly $1,499 to $4,999, with no per-job fee.
Is offering financing worth it for a plumbing shop?
Usually yes on tickets above about $1,500. Contractors offering payment plans report close rates rising and average job size climbing 30 to 45 percent, because monthly payments beat sticker shock on repipes, sewer work, and water heaters. On a $5,000 job a 3.9 percent fee is $195, easily covered by one accepted upgrade.
Who pays the financing fee, the plumber or the customer?
The plumber pays the merchant fee in almost every program. The customer pays the loan’s interest, or nothing on a true 0 percent promotional plan. Most shops build the fee into their pricing rather than adding a surcharge, since financing surcharges are restricted in several states and annoy customers who came in ready to buy.
What credit score do customers need for plumbing financing?
It varies by lender and plan. Prime programs like Synchrony and GreenSky often want roughly 640 and up for the best terms. Providers such as Wisetack and marketplace tools like Hearth run multiple lenders, so a single soft-credit application can approve mid-600s and sometimes lower, usually at a higher APR. The soft pull does not hurt the customer’s score.
What is a deferred interest plan?
Deferred interest offers 0 percent for a promo window, often 6 to 24 months. If the customer clears the full balance before the window closes, they pay no interest. If any balance remains, the lender charges interest retroactively from day one, often 25 percent or more. It differs from a true 0 percent installment loan, which never back-charges.
Last reviewed: August 2026.