The two excavators couldn’t leave the road project. The payroll bill couldn’t wait either. A civil works contractor needed $320K to cover three weeks of wages while a government progress claim sat in queue. They owned two Caterpillar excavators outright. ABL released the equity, fitted GPS tracking, and both machines kept moving dirt. The plant was the security. The plant kept earning.
The situation
Working capital, specifically payroll. A short-term gap caused by a delayed government progress claim that sat in queue while the wages bill came due.
The contractor owned two Caterpillar excavators outright (a 320 and a 336). Both on a major regional road project. Pulling them off site would have breached the head contract. Equity sitting in the plant, but the plant had to stay where it was.
This is what asset-based lending looks like at its simplest. A business owns an asset with equity in it. They need short-term cash. ABL releases the equity for the loan term, and the asset comes home on repayment. Same shape as a home equity loan, just with a different asset class.
The asset
Two Caterpillar excavators, a 320 and a 336. Both owned outright by the contractor. Both on active deployment to a regional road project.
For an asset-based lender, that’s enough to underwrite. The asset is the security, the business is the borrower, the deal doesn’t need a polished P&L to make sense.
The need
$320K for three weeks of payroll and subcontractor invoices. The kind of cash that has to land in days, not the six weeks a bank takes to look at a delayed-government-claim file.
The structure
The deal went through as a Track It facility. $320K disbursed. Total loan amount was $345,000 with fees built in. GPS tracking units fitted to both machines for the loan term.
Both excavators stayed on site. Same project, same schedule. ABL had visibility on the assets, the contractor had cash for payroll, the road project kept moving.
That’s the Track It structure. The plant stays in service for the duration of the loan and the trackers come off on repayment.
- Product: Track It
- Asset: Two CAT excavators (320 + 336), owned outright
- Disbursement: $320K
- Loan amount: $345,000 (includes fees)
- Use of funds: Working capital / payroll bridge
- Security: GPS trackers fitted, both machines remained on site
The outcome
Funds in the contractor’s account in time for payroll. Both machines on the road project, GPS pinging the site, loan repaying out of progress claim payments as they landed. No missed wages, no walked subcontractors, no breached head contract.
Civil contractors live with these gaps. Government work is reliable money, but the payment cycle stretches. We don’t ask the contractor to park the plant. We track it instead.
Why this deal worked
Three things had to be true for the deal to work. They’re the same three things every Track It deal needs:
- An asset with real equity, owned outright. Neither excavator was financed and nothing else was sitting against them. Both could be secured cleanly while staying on site.
- A short-term gap, not a long-term issue. The need was for a few months, not years. That’s the kind of bridge ABL is built for.
- The right product for the asset. With both machines actively deployed on the road project, pulling them off site would have killed the head contract. Track It kept them earning while the deal ran.
If a civil contractor client is waiting on a progress claim and payroll is the issue, that’s an ABL conversation. Three weeks of payroll isn’t a structural business problem. It’s a cash flow timing issue against assets that can’t leave the site. Track It handles exactly that.
Got a civil contractor waiting on a progress claim?
If your client owns plant outright and is bridging the gap between progress claims, Track It is the structure. We release the equity, fit a tracker, and the plant keeps working on site. Free desktop valuation and a clear borrowing figure, all inside 2 hours. Same-day settlement when the asset is secured.