Customized equipment leasing payment plans for Canadian industries

How Equipment Leasing Providers Customize Payment Plans for Different Canadian Industries

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Customized equipment leasing payment plans for Canadian industries

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How Canadian lessors tailor equipment lease payments by industry, cash flow, and risk—plus examples for trucking, farms, clinics, restaurants and more.

Canadian equipment leasing providers customize payment plans by matching payments to three things: how your industry earns cash, how long your equipment will last, and how much risk the lender is taking. From seasonal farm payments to ramp-up schedules for new clinics, the structure is rarely “one size fits all.”

If you’ve ever been handed a generic term sheet that ignores your busy season, margins, or contract mix, you’ve seen what not to do. In this guide, we’ll walk through how a good leasing partner actually shapes payment plans across different industries in Canada—and what you should be asking for.

Why copy-paste payment plans don’t work anymore

Payment plans that ignore industry realities create stress: payments are due when cash isn’t there, forcing owners to lean on credit cards and lines of credit.

In Canada, the commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing industry generated about $17.5 billion in operating revenue in 2023, up 8.5% from 2022.(Statistics Canada) That growth is driven by businesses that want flexible access to equipment without choking day-to-day liquidity. If a lease looks like a rigid bank loan, it’s not doing its job.

Leasing is supposed to solve three problems at once:

• Get you the equipment you need
• Keep payments in line with revenue
• Share risk sensibly between you and the funder

To do that well, providers have to go beyond “60 months, monthly, take it or leave it.”

The main levers lessors use to customize payment plans

A strong leasing provider has a toolkit of levers they can adjust for your situation.

The core levers are:

• Term length – Typically 24–84 months depending on asset type and age
• Payment frequency – Monthly is standard, but agriculture and forestry often see quarterly, semi-annual, or annual structures tied to harvest or haulage seasons(resources.canadianbeefbreeds.com)
• Seasonal or step structures – Payments that change over time (step-up, step-down, seasonal “on/off”)(BDC.ca)
• Residual / buyout – $1 buyout, 10% buyout, or fair-market-value (FMV) at end of term
• Down payment and security – From zero-down for strong credits to 10–20% down or extra collateral for B/C files
• Soft-cost inclusion – Install, freight, training, warranties rolled into the same stream
• Structure type – Straight lease, equipment line of credit, or sale-leaseback

At Mehmi, this is where you see products like:

• General Equipment Leases for most businesses (operations want predictable fixed streams)
• An Equipment Line of Credit when you’re acquiring gear in phases or across locations
• Asset Based Lending when you have a lot of gear and receivables to leverage together
• Refinancing or Sales Leaseback when you want to unlock equity in equipment you already own

Those building blocks don’t change—but how they’re arranged for a trucking company vs. a med spa absolutely does.

The three principles behind customized payment plans

Most providers—Mehmi included—start from three simple questions:

1. How does your cash flow actually behave?
2. How long will the equipment be productive?
3. What’s the credit and asset risk profile?

1. Matching payments to cash flow

A seasonal payment is simply a repayment structure that aligns with your seasonal cash flow—you pay more when revenue is high, less when it dips.(BDC.ca)

• Retail garden centres might pay heavily from April to August, lightly in winter.
• A farm might pay post-harvest, quarterly or semi-annually.(resources.canadianbeefbreeds.com)
• Tour operators might need interest-only or reduced payments in off-season.

Canadian lenders like BDC, Scotiabank and FCC all explicitly reference flexible or seasonal payment options for equipment financing and agricultural loans—because they’ve seen the damage that flat, inflexible schedules can do in seasonal sectors.(BDC.ca)

2. Matching payments to remaining useful life

Statistics Canada tracks the “remaining useful service life” of non-residential capital. Across Canada, the average remaining service life ratio is about 63%, but it varies a lot by sector.(Statistics Canada)

A good lessor thinks similarly at the deal level:

• High-tech medical or IT gear might be on a 36–48 month lease with a residual because obsolescence is a bigger risk.
• A well-maintained tractor or excavator can support 60–84 month terms if the hours/kilometres and maintenance history line up.
• Very old or high-mileage trucks may still be financeable, but with shorter terms and higher residual risk pricing.

3. Pricing and structure for risk

Lenders use internal credit guidelines to decide:

• Whether they require bank statements, financials or just a clean bureau
• Whether they will do 0% down or insist on a down payment
• How long they’re comfortable going on term for older assets or weaker credit
• When they’ll approve a more advanced structure like a sale-leaseback

For B and C credit, you’ll often see:

• Slightly higher rates
• Shorter terms
• Tighter covenants or extra documentation (bank statements, proof of experience, work letters)

The key: the better your story and documentation, the more flexible the provider can be on structure—even if your bureau isn’t perfect.

How payment plans are customized by industry

Every sector has its own pattern of risk and cash flow. Let’s walk through how payment plans often differ.

Transportation and trucking

In transport, the lease has to fit not just your seasonal load but also your contract mix and mileage.

Credit templates for transport deals in Canada focus on: kind of transport, fleet size, top clients, annual truck mileage, and whether the deal is additional or replacement equipment. Start-ups usually need a work letter or contract, plus personal bank statements and proof of at least two years’ experience.

Common customizations:

• Term: 48–84 months depending on year, make, model, kilometres, and whether the engine has been rebuilt (with invoices).
• Payments: Monthly for most highway fleets; weekly or bi-weekly structures sometimes for smaller local carriers.
• Residual: 10%–20% residuals on tractors and trailers to keep payments lower and reflect resale value.
• Add-ons: Bundling in truck repairs via Truck Repair Financing or upgrading multiple units through Truck and Trailer Financing and broader Transportation Expertise.

Are you looking for a truck? Look at our used inventory (https://www.mehmigroup.com/inventory).

Opinion time: one of the most expensive mistakes I see is stretching a truck to the longest possible term just to hit a target payment. On a million-kilometre unit, that often means you’re still paying long after the asset should have been turned over. A good advisor will push back when the numbers don’t pass the sniff test.

Construction and heavy equipment

For yellow iron and heavy civil equipment, the constraint is usually utilization and residual value, not seasonality alone.

Providers look at:

• Project pipeline, contracts, and backlog
• How many months per year the equipment will work
• Hours already on the unit and expected annual usage

Typical tweaks:

• Longer terms (60–84 months) on newer excavators, loaders, cranes and similar gear via Heavy Equipment Financing
• Seasonal or reduced payments in winter for road building or site-work clients
• Bundling soft costs like delivery, install and training into a single Equipment Lease stream
• Using Refinancing or Sales Leaseback to unlock equity during a growth spurt while keeping machines on site

Agriculture and farming

Farm cash flow is a textbook case for seasonal customization. Cash comes in around harvest; capital expenditures are lumpy.

Farm-focused lenders in Canada frequently advertise zero- or low-down options and payment schedules specifically designed around harvest season, with monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual options.(FCC)

Internal ag credit templates focus on: type of crop or breeding, livestock count, total acres owned and leased, and whether the financing is for additional capacity or replacement equipment.

What this usually looks like:

• Annual or semi-annual payments matched to harvest or quota cycles
• Terms of 60–96 months for tractors and combines, shorter for high-wear implements
• Residuals where assets retain strong value; $1 buyout for farmers who want to own long-term
• Mix of leases for rolling stock and Asset Based Lending or Equipment Line of Credit secured by multiple assets and receivables for bigger operations

The contrarian angle here: many farms under-use seasonal structures. They’ll accept flat monthly payments because they’re used to it, then struggle through off-season. If your revenue is heavily skewed to a few months, press hard for seasonal options.

Medical, dental, and aesthetics clinics

Clinics and med spas have a different pattern:

• Revenue is recurring and relatively stable once a patient base is built
• Equipment (imaging, lasers, chairs) is high-ticket and often technology-sensitive
• Owners want to preserve bank lines for working capital and staffing

Credit templates in this space explicitly ask about sector (doctor, nurse, dentist, aesthetician), permits, treatment room capacity, and whether equipment is additional or replacement.

Typical customizations:

• 36–60 month terms to manage technology risk
• FMV or 10% residual leases on equipment where you may want to upgrade
• The ability to finance a full room (chair + imaging + IT hardware) off one approval, leveraging Mehmi’s Eligible Equipment and Equipment Financing offerings
• Pairing the lease with a Working Capital Loan or Line of Credit to bridge marketing and ramp-up costs for a new clinic

Here, flexibility is less about seasonality and more about ensuring payments never compromise care quality or staffing levels.

Hospitality, restaurants, and food service

Restaurants and hospitality venues are notoriously tough to finance if you treat them like any other retail business. That’s why many Canadian lessors have distinct hospitality credit write-ups.

Those templates dig into:

• Restaurant type, cuisine, delivery/take-out vs. dine-in
• Licensed capacity, patio vs. interior seating
• Lease terms on the premises and location details
• Whether equipment is for a new concept or a renovation/upgrade

Common plan structures:

• Ramp-up leases with lower payments in the first 6–12 months while the restaurant builds clientele
• Terms of 36–60 months depending on whether equipment is bolted in or movable
• Programs like Rent Try Buy Hospitality, where you can effectively “test” equipment and convert to ownership once you’re confident in the concept

For hospitality start-ups, I’ll be blunt: the more realistic your projections and the more experience you can demonstrate, the more likely we are to structure something creative instead of saying no.

Forestry and resource equipment

Forestry and resource work (logging, chippers, harvesters, off-road trucks) is both capital-intensive and highly seasonal, with spring road bans and weather interruptions.

Forestry credit write-ups focus on: where the wood is sold, how pricing works (per cubic meter), weekly and yearly production, weeks worked per year, and details on the existing fleet.

Canadian products like “spring break” loans for forestry operations are explicitly built to reduce payments when harvest operations slow or stop.(resources.canadianbeefbreeds.com)

Leasing providers typically adjust by:

• Designing payment schedules that only run 8–10 months/year with lower or interest-only periods during breakup
• Structuring terms around expected utilization and resale in harsh conditions
• Using Asset Based Lending facilities where multiple machines and receivables support a flexible borrowing base

Technology, IT hardware, and software

Tech gear ages fast. That changes everything.

Here, customization usually means:

• Shorter terms (24–48 months) to match obsolescence
• FMV residual leases so upgrades are easier at end of term
• Bundling hardware, installation, and even perpetual software licences in a single Equipment Lease
• Using an Equipment Line of Credit for ongoing server refreshes or rolling laptop upgrades across locations

For multi-site businesses, master leases with individual schedules let you add hardware per location under the same umbrella approval. That’s useful for retailers or franchises doing staggered tech rollouts.

Real-world structures Mehmi can use to shape payments

Most of the “secret sauce” in a lease isn’t the rate; it’s the structure. Some of the tools we can use include:

Seasonal payment leases

• Higher payments during your peak months, lower or even interest-only payments off-season
• Common in agriculture, tourism, landscaping, and forestry(BDC.ca)

Step-up and step-down leases

• Step-up: lower payments in year one, higher later when the asset starts to generate more revenue (common in new ventures and expansions)
• Step-down: higher early payments to pay down principal quickly where cash flow is strong now but may soften later

Skip-payment options

• Predetermined “skip months” built into the lease, often once per year, which can be helpful in slow retail periods or during shutdowns for maintenance(Scotiabank)

Sale-leasebacks

If you already own equipment free and clear, a Refinancing or Sales Leaseback structure lets you:

• Sell the equipment to the funder
• Lease it back over time
• Unlock equity to use for growth, payroll, or other working capital needs

It’s the same gear, same yard—just a different balance sheet picture and a new payment structure.

Equipment lines of credit and asset-based facilities

For larger fleets or multi-location operations, a one-off lease isn’t enough.

• An Equipment Line of Credit gives you a pre-approved limit you can draw on as you pick up new assets, each with its own term and structure.
• Asset Based Lending takes a holistic view of your equipment, receivables, and sometimes inventory to support a flexible borrowing base that grows with the business.

Both can sit alongside traditional Business Loans such as a Working Capital Loan, Line of Credit, or Invoice or Freight Factoring if your needs go beyond equipment.

What’s happening behind the scenes when a plan is customized

From the outside, it can look like a black box: you ask for a structure, and credit says yes or no. Under the hood, providers are working through lender-specific guidelines and sector checklists.

For example:

• Under $100,000: many funders will work off a clean credit application, equipment details, and a brief summary of sector, years in business, and reason for funding—plus extra proof like major repair invoices for older engines.
• Over $100,000: sector-specific write-ups are often mandatory for industries like transport, hospitality, forestry, agriculture and medical. These templates capture the story, experience and contract base.
• Refinancing and sale-leaseback: lenders look for full specs, registrations, photos, proof of original purchase and often recent bank statements to validate cash flow.

Think of it this way: the more complete your story and documents, the more room your advisor has to propose a creative payment shape instead of a cookie-cutter one.

How to work with a leasing provider to design the right plan

A customized plan is a two-way job. Here’s how to make sure you get one.

1. Map your cash flow honestly

Bring:

• Monthly revenue patterns (even if rough)
• Busy vs. slow seasons
• Contract timing (e.g., winter plowing, summer paving, harvest windows)

If you’re not sure how payments will affect your cash, run numbers through Mehmi’s online Calculator and bring that to the discussion.

2. Be clear on the “why” behind the equipment

Using internal sector templates, credit teams always ask: is this additional capacity or replacement? New contract or speculative?

Your answer changes the structure:

• Replacement with similar revenue: you may be fine with standard monthly payments.
• Expansion for a new contract: maybe a ramp-up or step-up plan is smarter.

3. Bring proof of experience

Especially for start-ups, lenders lean heavily on your personal track record:

• Two years’ experience in the sector (driving, farming, restaurant, clinic, etc.)
• Work letters or contracts in transport and forestry
• Tax returns or driving reports if employers can’t be verified directly

Without this, you’ll likely be pushed into shorter terms, higher payments, or even declines.

4. Don’t hide credit challenges

If you’ve had past issues—collections, late payments, consumer proposals—say so up front. For B and C credits, there are viable structures, but they often involve:

• Tighter terms and slightly higher rates
• More emphasis on the equipment’s resale value
• Additional security or guarantees

When you and your advisor design the plan together, you can still get something that respects your cash flow instead of punishing it.

5. Look at the total package, not just the payment

Two leases with identical monthly payments can be very different under the hood:

• One might hide a very high residual that leaves you exposed at the end.
• Another might include install, training, and warranties with a transparent buyout.
• A third might be part of a broader Vendor Program that gives you better rates and pre-approved terms on multiple pieces of equipment.

Ask your provider to walk you through the full structure in plain language—what you pay, when, and what happens at the end.

Anonymous case study: Seasonal transport & forestry hybrid

A Quebec-based owner-operator had grown into a small fleet servicing both long-haul freight and seasonal forestry work. They owned:

• Two highway tractors (older, high-kilometre units)
• One relatively new logging truck and trailer
• A mix of smaller support equipment

They needed to:

• Replace one aging highway tractor
• Add a second logging truck to secure a new contract
• Free up cash for repairs and driver recruitment

Challenges:

• One past late payment history from COVID
• Highly seasonal revenue due to spring road bans and winter conditions
• Limited room on their bank line of credit

Working within transport and forestry credit guidelines, we:

1. Structured a 72-month lease on the newer logging truck with a 15% residual, recognizing strong collateral and contract support.
2. Used a 60-month lease for the replacement highway tractor with a slightly lower residual due to higher projected kilometres.
3. Designed seasonal payments on both leases—higher during hauling months, reduced payments during breakup and shoulder seasons, consistent with forestry loan practices in Canada.(resources.canadianbeefbreeds.com)
4. Completed a sale-leaseback on one older unit via Mehmi’s Refinancing or Sales Leaseback solution to unlock equity for engine work and working capital.

The result:

• The client secured the new forestry contract without over-stretching their monthly obligations.
• Cash flow during spring road bans stayed positive, even with reduced activity.
• The bank line of credit remained available for fuel, payroll, and unexpected repairs, not tied up in metal.

Most importantly, the customer understood the structure: what they were paying for, how seasonality was built in, and when each asset would be due for renewal.

FAQ

1. How do Canadian leasing providers decide on term length for my industry?

They look at a mix of factors: the type and age of the equipment, how hard it will be worked, and typical useful life in your sector. For example, heavy farm or construction equipment might support 60–84 month terms, while IT hardware or laser devices are often kept to 36–48 months due to faster obsolescence. Lenders also consider internal capital-stock and useful-life data for different asset classes when setting policy.(Statistics Canada)

2. Can I get seasonal lease payments in Canada if my business is new?

Yes, but it’s more documentation-heavy. For start-ups in sectors like transport, agriculture, forestry or hospitality, you’ll usually need:

• Proof of relevant sector experience (often two years or more)
• Work letters or contracts in transport/forestry
• Bank statements and a clear explanation of how the business will generate cash

If your story checks out, Mehmi can often structure seasonal payments even for newer businesses, sometimes backed by programs like Equipment Leases, Heavy Equipment Financing, or Rent Try Buy Hospitality.

3. How are payment plans customized for multi-location businesses?

Multi-location businesses—retail chains, franchise groups, clinic networks—often use:

• Master leases with separate schedules per location
• A pre-approved Equipment Line of Credit limit for rolling deployments
• Standardized terms and residuals across the network to simplify budgeting

Mehmi can coordinate with your head office, equipment vendors and landlord requirements to make sure the same structure works across multiple provinces.

4. How do leasing providers handle businesses with B or C credit in Canada?

For B/C credit, the focus shifts strongly to:

• Equipment quality and resale value
• Bank statements and real cash flow
• Owner experience and strength of contracts

You may see slightly higher rates, shorter terms, and higher down payments, but payment structures can still be tailored—seasonal, step-up, or tied to contract milestones—if the fundamentals support it. Internal credit guidelines for weaker credit files often call for additional documents like personal net-worth statements and recent bank statements.

5. What’s the difference between a customized lease and just taking a bank term loan?

A bank term loan is usually a lump sum repaid over a fixed schedule with less flexibility around seasonality or residuals. Leasing providers, by contrast, are set up to:

• Offer seasonal, step-up/step-down, or skip-payment patterns(BDC.ca)
• Build in residuals that lower payments and reflect future resale value
• Finance soft costs, multiple assets, and sale-leasebacks more easily

For many Canadian SMEs, the best answer is a blend: a customized Equipment Lease for the hard assets, supported by a Working Capital Loan or Line of Credit for operating needs.

6. How can I tell if a leasing provider is really customizing for my industry or just selling me a template?

A provider that’s truly industry-focused will ask detailed, sector-specific questions:

• For transport: type of haul, top clients, fleet size, kilometres.
• For agriculture: crop mix, acres, livestock, harvest timing.
• For medical/aesthetics: type of practice, room count, service mix.
• For hospitality: concept, seating capacity, liquor licence and lease details.

If you’re only being asked “how much and how long,” you’re not getting a true custom plan. With Mehmi, expect a deeper conversation—and a payment structure that actually reflects how your business runs.

Internal links used (list)

https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/equipment-leases
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/equipment-line-of-credit
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/asset-based-lending
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/refinancing-sales-leaseback
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/rent-try-buy-hospitality
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/truck-repair-financing
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/truck-trailer-financing
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing/heavy-equipment-financing
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/equipment-financing
https://www.mehmigroup.com/eligible-equipment
https://www.mehmigroup.com/transportation-expertise
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/vendor-program
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/business-loans/working-capital-loan
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/business-loans/line-of-credit
https://www.mehmigroup.com/services/business-loans/invoice-freight-factoring
https://www.mehmigroup.com/calculator
https://www.mehmigroup.com/inventory


External citations used (list)

1. Statistics Canada – Operating revenue growth in the commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing industry, 2023.(Statistics Canada)
2. Statistics Canada – Remaining useful service life ratio and non-residential capital stock trends, 2024.(Statistics Canada)
3. Business Development Bank of Canada – Guidance on flexible and seasonal repayment structures and matching financing to cash flow.(BDC.ca)
4. Farm Credit Canada and agricultural lenders – Equipment financing features and harvest-aligned payment schedules for Canadian farms.(FCC)
5. Scotiabank – Equipment leasing and financing options, including seasonal payment and skip-payment flexibility.(Scotiabank)
6. Canadian forestry and seasonal equipment lending examples – Specialized forestry loans with payment schedules designed around seasonal operations.(bcefinance.ca)

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