To lease or purchase roll forming machinery?

By Anna Lockhart.  

Making the decision to lease or purchase roll forming equipment can be a big decision. The metal experts share their experience and advice on how to do what’s right for your business. 

In a recent episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast, host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down to talk with Stephen Gosk and Ken McLauchlan of MetalForming to discuss the determining factors for either leasing or buying metal roll forming equipment for your business. 

As interest rates have increased in recent months, metal professionals may be considering whether they want to lease or buy roll forming equipment. Purchasing such equipment can be a major investment for some contractors, and Stephen and Ken shared their insights on how to make the decision that best suits each individual contractor’s needs.  

Ken shared that the government incentives have been diminishing. He said, “It’s on a reduction. It’s gone from 100% to 80% of the investment dollar, against your taxable income.” He expressed the impact this might have on contractors, sharing, “It is estimated to go down another 20% this year, and it is a huge incentive for contractors that are having a good year. For those working with financial professionals, their CPAs, they may say, ‘We’ve got this opportunity to be able to invest money in our company.’” 

He encouraged listeners to review the parameters of the government’s 179 incentive and see if the incentive is worth using to purchase a new machine or lease one.  

Stephen shared that at the recent METALCON event they had the opportunity to meet with many of their customers who all have different needs and are at different points in their careers and company growth. “As a supplier, we need to be cognizant that our customers will have different needs. We need to offer up different pathways depending on their business situation is,” he explained.  

Offering their customers quality machinery to either lease or buy outright, at various price points that fit different budgets and production capacity is crucial to being a good supplier. Stephen shared, “I think it's very important for us to basically provide them with various options that suit their needs and have that flexibility here... As a company ourselves, we're not doing that financing directly, but we're making those connections for the customer so that they can pursue what option makes the most sense.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about the options of leasing versus purchasing metal roll forming equipment!