Mobile Crushing and Screening Equipment Financing

Pete Sorenson had been renting mobile crushing equipment for the better part of a decade. His demolition and concrete recycling operation generated enough volume to keep a rented jaw crusher running nearly continuously — but the rental rates ate into margins that were already tight in a competitive market. When a peer told him what his annual rental spend was implying in ownership economics, Pete stopped and did the math for the first time.

He'd been spending $28,000–$34,000 per month on crushing equipment rental during active months. A new mid-size tracked jaw crusher was $485,000. Financed over 72 months at current rates, the payment was approximately $8,900/month.

"I had basically been buying that crusher multiple times over on a rental agreement," Pete said. "I just hadn't put it together because the rental felt like an operational cost and the purchase felt like a scary number."

What Mobile Crushing and Screening Equipment Costs

The mobile processing equipment market spans a wide range:

Portable jaw crushers (tracked or wheeled): $180,000–$650,000. The primary crusher in most aggregate and recycling operations. Track-mounted units are more mobile; wheel-mounted units are faster to transport between sites.

Cone crushers and impact crushers: $220,000–$750,000. Secondary and tertiary crushing for finer gradations. Impact crushers are particularly common in concrete recycling for producing clean recycled aggregate.

Screening plants: $85,000–$400,000. Separate processed material into multiple size fractions. Most crushing operations require at least one screening plant to produce sellable product gradations.

Complete processing trains: A full portable plant — jaw crusher, cone crusher, screening plant, conveyors, and support equipment — can represent $1.2M–$2.5M in total capital investment for a mid-size operation.

The high capital intensity is precisely why ownership economics are so favorable for contractors who use this equipment consistently. The per-unit rental rates for crushing equipment are among the highest in construction because of the asset value, wear costs, and limited rental fleet availability.

The Specialty Lender Problem

Mobile crushing equipment creates underwriting challenges for generic commercial lenders:

Unusual collateral. A commercial bank loan officer who regularly finances trucks and excavators has no framework for valuing a tracked impact crusher. Secondary market values are real and well-established — crushing equipment trades actively through equipment dealers and auction channels — but the lender needs to know that market exists.

Unusual borrower profile. Crushing contractors often have revenue concentrated in short active seasons, irregular project schedules, and financial statements that look volatile to lenders who don't understand the business model.

High unit values in a narrow market. A $500,000 piece of equipment in a market that most lenders have never financed creates underwriting hesitation that has nothing to do with the quality of the borrower.

The right lender for crushing equipment is one who has financed it before — who knows what a jaw crusher is worth used, who understands that a contractor running 180 days of crushing operations per year is a different risk than one running 60 days, and who can evaluate the contract backlog and aggregate sales pipeline the way an equipment specialist should.

Working with a financing broker who has relationships with specialty construction equipment lenders is more likely to produce favorable results — and faster closes — than a cold application to a regional bank.

Revenue Profile and Payment Coverage

Mobile crushing operations have two distinct revenue models:

Contract crushing: You bring the equipment to a customer's site and crush their material (demolition debris, quarry rock, construction aggregate) for a per-ton or day-rate fee. Revenue depends on contracted volume and mobilization schedule.

Material sales: You crush and screen material that you own (or process under a tipping fee arrangement) and sell the finished aggregate product. Revenue depends on aggregate demand and pricing in your market.

Both models support equipment financing, but lenders evaluate them differently. Contract crushing with documented customer contracts or long-term agreements provides the most straightforward financing narrative. Material sales operations benefit from documenting aggregate demand, pricing history, and customer relationships for finished product.

For payment coverage analysis:

A tracked jaw crusher at $485,000, financed at 8.5% over 72 months: $8,928/month.

At 20 operating days/month, 350 tons/day processed, at $4.25/ton contract crushing rate: $29,750/month in gross crushing revenue. Payment coverage ratio: 3.3x before operating costs. Strong.

Even at 12 days/month utilization (lower than typical for an active crushing operation), gross revenue of $17,850 still covers the payment nearly 2x.

| Credit Profile | Rate Range | Term | |---|---|---| | Strong: established operation, 700+ FICO, documented revenue | 8.0–9.5% | 60–72 months | | Established: solid history, moderate documentation | 9.5–11.0% | 48–60 months | | Newer operation or thinner documentation | 11.0–13.0% | 36–48 months |

Multi-Unit Fleet Considerations

Contractors who operate multiple crushing and screening units benefit from fleet-level financing arrangements rather than individual unit transactions. A master credit facility — pre-approved for equipment purchases up to a stated limit — allows individual unit additions to close quickly without full reunderwriting each time.

For contractors who regularly add units as operations expand (a second screening plant for a new quarry contract, a cone crusher to add secondary crushing capability), the master facility eliminates the 2–3 week delay of a fresh application at each addition. The lender has your profile on file; individual draws process in days.

Vendor financing programs from crushing equipment manufacturers are worth evaluating before committing to independent financing. Equipment suppliers periodically offer promotional rate programs — particularly on new equipment — that can produce below-market rates. Compare these programs directly against independent lender quotes; a 150–200 basis point advantage on a $500,000 machine is $15,000–$20,000 in interest savings over the loan life.

Use the equipment loan calculator to model your crushing equipment purchase at different rate and term scenarios. Get a quote — rather than calling multiple lenders who may not understand your equipment type, we can match you with a lender who knows the crushing and aggregate market.