Inventory Financing for Landscapers and Restaurants Around Jefferson City, MO

The two are easy to confuse. Purchase order financing pays a supplier to fill one specific customer order, and it is paid off when that customer pays. Inventory financing funds stock in general, before any customer has ordered it, and is paid down as the stock is sold or used. Purchase order funding is a separate product that some funding partners offer and others do not; a request can name it.

Illustration only, invented figures: a landscaping company wins a $48,000 commercial planting and paver job. The plants, stone and edging cost $30,000 from the nursery and supply yard. A purchase order funder pays the suppliers, the crew installs, the customer pays the $48,000, and the funder takes back its advance plus its charges, which the agreement sets. Before those charges, the job leaves $18,000 for labor and margin.

Small crews are common in this trade: 27 of 41 landscaping services employer establishments in Cole County, MO stayed under five employees in 2023 (CBP, NAICS 561730). A smaller outfit taking on its first large commercial job is the case purchase order funding was built for. Building material dealers and repair shops that hold stock appear in the trade groups on the industries page.

The funding partner values the stock and advances a share of that value; the share, called the advance rate, is set by the partner. The stock secures the advance, and the contractor pays it down as units go out on jobs. Illustration only, invented figures: a contractor stocks $40,000 of water heaters, condensers and furnaces; at an advance rate of 70% the partner advances $28,000, and the contractor puts in the rest.

Shelf stock is a bigger bet for a small shop, and 25 of the plumbing, heating and air-conditioning establishments counted in Cole County, MO in 2023 had fewer than five employees, out of 45 in all (CBP, NAICS 238220). For a shop that size, holding units on the shelf instead of ordering per job is a cash question first.

Restaurants hold far less stock, and most food turns over in days. For the 65 full-service and 68 limited-service restaurants the county counted in 2023 (CBP), inventory funding fits bulk dry goods, paper supplies and bar stock better than produce.

Inventory funding comes from a few kinds of sources, and each reads the stock differently:

• Banks and credit unions, through an asset-based line whose limit follows a monthly borrowing base of stock and receivables
• Specialty inventory lenders that advance against specific goods and inspect or audit them
• Manufacturer and distributor programs, where the supplier itself extends terms or floor-plans the units
• Online lenders offering a working capital loan that the contractor spends on stock

What to compare: the advance rate, how often stock has to be reported, what happens to stock that does not move, and the total cost in dollars. Lodgeglen Finance passes one request to funding partners; the other products are on the business loan types page. Stock lists and supplier terms can wait for a partner; the request page starts with the amount range and contact details.

Continuing the invented case above: the $28,000 advance is set up as a nine-month installment loan at an annual rate of 13%. Each monthly installment is $3,282.05, the nine payments add to $29,538.45, and the interest over the nine months is $1,538.45.

1. Month 0: the contractor buys the stock; the partner’s advance covers 70% of the cost
2. Months 1 to 9: installments come out of the operating account as units are installed and billed
3. Each job: the margin on the installed unit, not the advance, is what the contractor keeps
4. Month 9: the advance is paid off and the next stock order can be funded the same way

If units sit on the shelf longer than nine months, the payments still come due. Size the order to what the job calendar can actually use.

For a home builder, inventory means materials held for houses not yet started: windows, cabinets, lumber packages and fixtures bought at a good price or ahead of a supplier increase. Funding the lots or the houses themselves is real estate lending, which Lodgeglen Finance does not arrange. Cole County, MO had 48 residential building construction establishments in 2023 (CBP, NAICS 2361), and permits authorized 154 new housing units in the county in 2025 (Building Permits Survey).

A builder can weigh the saving on the bulk purchase against the cost of carrying it. If cabinets for three houses are bought now and the third house starts in eight months, the funding cost runs for all eight. License and entity checks a builder can run on its own company before a request are listed on the Jefferson City, MO page.

Truck stock for plumbing and HVAC vans, a parts inventory that moves every week, is covered in the post on financing service vans and tools.