Revenue-based financing

Revenue-based financing for home services: payments that follow the season.

Furnace season, landscaping season and spring cleaning all bring peaks. A share-of-revenue payment flexes with them.

✓ Checking what you qualify for does not affect your credit score.

How do home-service businesses use revenue-based financing?

Short answer: Home-service businesses are shaped by Canadian weather: HVAC peaks in cold snaps and heat waves, landscapers earn mostly from April to November, snow removal does the reverse and plumbers spike in deep freezes. That seasonality is predictable, and revenue-based payments that follow it ease automatically in the quiet months.

Key facts

Weather drives predictable seasons
Payments rise in peaks, fall in quiet months
Fund before the season starts
Maintenance contracts add a steady base

Seasonal by nature

Home-service businesses are shaped by Canadian weather. HVAC companies are busiest in the first cold snap and the first heat wave. Landscapers earn almost all of their revenue between April and November. Snow-removal firms do the reverse. Plumbers see emergency spikes in deep freezes. That seasonality is predictable year to year, which is what a funder needs.

A fixed monthly loan payment lands the same in a quiet month as in a busy one. A revenue-based payment rises and falls with the jobs, which protects the business in its off-season.

What a reviewer reads

Job payments by card, e-transfer and cheque.
Customer deposits on larger jobs.
Supplier and equipment costs.
Truck and fuel costs.
A full year of statements to see the season.

Good uses

A service vehicle or equipment before the season.
Hiring and training crews ahead of the peak.
Inventory of parts and materials bought at a discount.
Marketing in the weeks before the busy season.

Planning around the off-season

Size the advance so it is mostly repaid during your busy months. If you take it in March for a landscaping season, most of the repayment should fall between May and October. Explaining that plan in a note helps the reviewer see that the payment is affordable.

A worked example

Illustrative arithmetic: a HVAC company with $90,000 average monthly deposits

Advance: $45,000. Repayment cap: $45,000 × 1.20 = $54,000.
Cost of the capital: $9,000, fixed in dollars from the start.
Payment: 8% of monthly revenue. At $90,000 a month that is $7,200, so about 7.5 months to reach the cap.

Every figure on this page is illustrative arithmetic in Canadian dollars. It is not an offer, a quote or a promise of approval.

Where Canadian files usually start

Monthly revenueTypically from around $20,000 a month in deposits for Canadian files. The exact line varies by funder and by file.

Time in businessTypically about 12 months. Newer businesses can be reviewed, but the options narrow.

Account healthLimited low-balance or negative days. Funders read the last few months of bank statements for this.

CreditScores from 500 are considered. A score of 600 or higher opens more options and better offers.

DocumentsA signed application and recent business bank statements, typically the last four months.

Existing advancesFiles with an existing advance can be reviewed, including second position.

Next step: apply once with a signed application and your last four months of business bank statements. The file is read for rBF for home-service businesses and matched to the structure that fits, whether that is revenue-based financing, a merchant cash advance or a smaller first advance that builds history. Questions first? Call (305) 384-8391.

Sources and review

Statistics Canada: Subjects (business and industry data)

Reviewed by the Merchant Fund Express team on October 12, 2026. Official pages checked as of that date.

Common questions

Do e-transfers from homeowners count?

Yes, when they land in the business account.

Can I apply in my off-season?

Yes. The review reads twelve months, so a quiet month is expected.

Is equipment financing cheaper?

Sometimes, for a specific machine. Compare the total cost and how quickly you need it.