What does “bad credit” mean on this request?
People use “bad credit” for different scores and different reports. For a number you can look up, FICO groups base scores below 580 as Poor and 580 to 669 as Fair. A score of 500 is below 580. A score of 620 is in the Fair band, not the Poor band. The label on a website is less useful than the score the provider will actually see, and that score can differ from the one in a free app.
Dengaro does not publish a construction-only cutoff. The application materials say requests with a 600+ FICO score may be considered. That is permission to apply with a score in that range, not a finding that the request will be approved. Read equipment financing with a 500 credit score for the credit-score question on its own. This page is about the construction purchase that sits next to the score.
The CFPB explains that a hard inquiry, made when you apply for credit, can affect a score because scoring models look at how recently and how often you apply. A soft inquiry does not. Saving a Dengaro draft does not pull credit. Signing does authorize review, and Dengaro does not promise that every construction provider stops at a soft inquiry. Read credit checks before you authorize more than one company to pull the same file in the same week.
Which construction machines can you request?
Describe the machine the business will use: an excavator, a skid steer, a loader, a lift, or another piece of construction equipment, new or used. Construction equipment financing is the general guide. Excavator financing and skid steer financing go further on those two machines, including attachments and Dengaro’s $15,000 minimum.
Name the make and model if you have selected them. If you have not, say so and give the budget and the type of work. “Equipment for a job I might get” is harder to review than “this used excavator, this year, this seller, this price.” The job, if you have a contract, can be context. It is not the asset.
Used machines are a normal part of construction buying. Used equipment financing explains hours, condition, and seller paperwork. A low score does not remove the need for that detail. If anything, the machine has to be easier to identify, not vaguer, because the score is not carrying the file alone.
Attachments, buckets, hammers, and trailers need their own lines on the quote. A provider can include them or leave them out. The word “package” does not force the issue.
What should a contractor prepare?
Requirements still govern the application. Have the legal business name, entity, address, and EIN if you have one. Time in business and monthly revenue should be numbers you can tie to records if they are requested. A contractor who works through a mix of progress payments should describe revenue in a way the statements support. Do not annualize a single strong month.
The owner’s estimated credit range should match what you believe the report shows. Rounding a Poor score up into Fair to clear a mental hurdle does not change the report. If there is a specific event—a slow job, a medical bill, a closed card—you can explain it briefly if someone asks. You do not need a long letter in the first form.
Keep the seller’s quote. Itemize the machine, the hours, the attachments, freight, and tax. The requested amount can be from $15,000 to $2 million. The amount is a request. A provider may offer less, ask for money down, or decline.
The equipment financing calculator shows a sample payment from a price and an assumed rate. Use it to see whether a payment in that shape could fit the work you already have. Do not treat a low assumed rate as the rate available to a Poor or Fair score. Dengaro does not publish that rate.
How should you think about the rest of the job?
The machine payment, if one is offered, is not the job’s only cost. Fuel, operators, insurance, repairs, and the cash to carry a draw schedule sit beside it. A score concern does not make those costs optional. If the only way the payment works is to ignore payroll, the purchase is ahead of the business.
A down payment, when a provider requires one, comes out of cash you have. There is no Dengaro schedule that says bad credit means a set percent down. If you see a percentage in another company’s advertisement, that is their claim. Compare it only with an offer written for your machine.
Newer construction businesses should read startup equipment financing. A new company and a low score are two facts. Describe both. Do not let a bid you have not won stand in for revenue, and do not let years of experience on someone else’s payroll stand in for time in your own business unless you label it as experience.
SBA programs are a different door. The SBA 7(a) program states a maximum loan amount of $5 million and says proceeds can include machinery and equipment. Eligibility still includes being creditworthy and showing a reasonable ability to repay. That standard does not mean a low score is accepted, and it does not mean it is refused. It means an SBA lender applies SBA rules. Dengaro’s application is not an SBA application.
What if an offer shows up, or does not?
Read any offer against the quote before you move the machine. Check the payment, term, fees, the security interest, and whether used-equipment conditions or an inspection are required. A verbal “you should be fine” from a seller is not the offer.
If the answer is no, the useful next step is specific. Was it the hours, the seller, the revenue, the score, or an incomplete quote? You can fix a quote. You cannot fix a score by resubmitting the same file the same day. Give the provider one clear request.
Track the application instead of guessing from silence. The workspace shows Dengaro’s milestones. It is not a live feed of a lender’s committee. Funding, if it happens, follows signed documents and the provider’s conditions. A job start date does not override that order.
What this page refuses to claim
This page does not say how often requests are approved, and it does not list lenders that will take a construction file at a given score. Those claims go stale and they are not ours to make. Competitors may advertise them. Dengaro’s role is to take a complete equipment request and coordinate review with participating providers.
Bring three things that are real: the machine on a quote, the business as the records show it, and the credit range you can say out loud. The provider decides what to do with them. You decide whether any offer that comes back is a payment the jobs can carry.