Boom Lift Sale-Leaseback

The boom is sitting on your lot fully paid off, or close to it. It goes to work every week. You need cash for a deposit on a new contract, payroll through a slow billing cycle, or a second machine the bank will not touch yet. A sale-leaseback converts the machine you already own into cash without taking it off the job. You sell it to a lender, who simultaneously leases it back to you. You keep the keys. You get the money.

We structure boom lift sale-leasebacks from $50,000 on up. The machine needs to have meaningful equity, meaning its market value needs to be high enough that after paying off any existing balance there is cash left to extract. Free-and-clear machines are the cleanest situation, but partial equity deals work too. We look at the machine value, the existing payoff, and what you need, then show you what cash out is possible alongside the resulting monthly payment.

How a Sale-Leaseback Actually Works

The transaction has three steps that happen simultaneously. First, you sell the boom to the financing company at an agreed-upon value, typically based on current market pricing for the make, model, year, and hours. Second, the financing company leases the machine back to you under a written lease agreement with fixed monthly payments and a defined term. Third, you receive the net proceeds, which is the sale price minus any existing payoff balance, as cash in your account.

At the end of the lease term, depending on how the deal is structured, you can purchase the machine back at a predetermined price (often a dollar or a fixed residual), extend the lease, or return it. Most operators structure these with a buyback option because the machine is a piece of working equipment they intend to keep.

The monthly lease payment on a leaseback is typically comparable to a loan payment on the same amount, because the lender is essentially financing the equity you extracted. The advantage is speed and simplicity: no new purchase, no seller, no title search beyond what already exists.

When a Leaseback Makes Sense

A sale-leaseback is the right call in a few specific situations. The most common: you need working capital fast and a business line of credit either does not exist or is maxed. The boom is your largest unencumbered asset and the leaseback is the fastest way to monetize it without selling it and losing the production it generates.

A second common situation: you are buying a second boom and the cash is tied up in the first one. A leaseback on the existing machine funds the down payment or the full purchase of the new unit without a separate loan process. Equipment rental companies do this routinely to finance fleet expansion using the value of existing fleet assets.

A third situation is contract bridge financing. You win a large job that requires a significant mobilization deposit. Your receivables from the prior job are still outstanding. The leaseback on an owned machine provides bridge cash until the receivables clear. General contractors and steel erection crews use this regularly.

What a leaseback is not: a long-term capital strategy. Lease costs over a full term are higher than the alternative of simply having held the free-and-clear machine. The value is the immediate liquidity, not the financing economics. If you do not need the cash, do not do the deal.

What Machines Work Best for Leasebacks

Lenders prefer machines with strong residual value and a liquid secondary market. Telescopic booms from JLG and Genie in the 60-to-80-foot class check both boxes. They trade frequently, values are well-established, and there is consistent demand from rental yards and contractors. A 2019 Genie S-65 XC with under 2,000 hours is exactly the kind of collateral that makes a leaseback easy to place.

Older machines or those with very high hours require more work. A 2012 JLG 800S with 5,000 hours still has value, but the lender will set a more conservative LTV, meaning less cash out relative to market value. High-hour machines also may require a current inspection or appraisal to document condition.

Rough-terrain units and articulating booms both work well for leasebacks. Spider lifts and ultra-high booms above 120 feet have thinner secondary markets and lenders underwrite them more conservatively, but they are not off the table.

Sale-Leaseback Versus Other Cash-Out Options

A cash-out refinance is the other way to pull equity from a machine you own. The structure is different: it is a loan, not a lease, and it leaves you owning the machine on the balance sheet throughout the term. For operators who want to keep the asset on their books and capture depreciation, the cash-out refinance may be preferable. For operators who want the cleaner monthly payment of a lease and do not care about the balance-sheet treatment, the leaseback often works just as well. We run both side by side and let you compare.

Find Out How Much Cash Your Boom Can Generate

Tell us the machine: year, make, model, hours, and whether there is an existing balance. We come back with a cash-out estimate and monthly payment. No commitment, no obligation to the number until you decide to move forward. $50,000 minimum, B and C credit welcome.