You’ve seen it happen. The homeowner nods through your presentation, says they love your work, and then ends with, “We’ll think about it.”
A few days later, they hire someone else.
And you wonder what went wrong.
Most of the time, the issue isn’t your price, your reputation, or your craftsmanship. It’s how easy you make it for people to buy.
Homeowners want your work, but they also need a simple way to afford it comfortably. Offering financing removes that friction and gives them a clear path forward.
Financing, by the Numbers
First off, let’s look at the numbers: more than half of all remodeling projects involve some form of financing. Yet only about 3% of those jobs are financed directly through contractors.
That’s a major gap—and a lot of potential revenue left on the table.
That also means most of your customers are using financing. Just not through you. They’re pulling from credit cards, home-equity lines, or choosing a contractor who makes it simple to apply right away.
Think about it: the average U.S. savings account holds only around $5,000. The average home-improvement project costs more than $15,000. The math is pretty clear. That $10,000 gap explains most of those polite “we’ll think about it” goodbyes.
Across the top contractors we work with, about 60% of projects include financing. They understand the difference it makes when homeowners have a clear path to affordability—a simple, comfortable way to say yes to the project they want.
Why Don’t Homeowners Ask About Financing?
Most homeowners won’t say, “We can’t afford it.” Talking about money feels awkward, and many worry that asking about financing will make them look unprepared or less serious about the project.
It’s not that they can’t afford the work. It’s that few people are comfortable handing over a large lump sum at once. They’d rather make manageable monthly payments.
So they stay quiet.
Silence doesn’t mean disinterest; it means hesitation. And hesitation kills deals. Your job is to offer a way to make the numbers work—before they have to figure it out on their own or start shopping around for financing.
Think about it this way
Imagine running a restaurant that only accepts cash. Sure, the customers with bills in their pockets are easy to serve. But everyone else? They walk next door.
That’s what happens when you only accept big, lump-sum payments. The homeowners willing to cover those amounts are increasingly rare. Everyone else goes to the contractor who offers smaller, monthly payments instead—in this case, financing.
Think about your own life:
- Car? Financed.
- Phone? Financed.
- Even furniture? Financed.
Why should remodeling be the one major purchase that isn’t?
The companies winning today don’t send customers to figure out how to pay—they make it effortless. Amazon has one-click checkout. Apple has trade-ins and payment plans.
The best contractors? They make it easy to say “yes”.
What’s the Opportunity Cost of Not Offering Financing?
Every lead you earn costs money—often $300 to $500 by the time marketing and sales hours are counted. Each time a homeowner walks away, that investment disappears.
Let’s put it in perspective:
If you quote 300 projects a year at $15,000 each and close 30%, you win 90 jobs – and $1.35 million. But if just 10% of the 210 homeowners who said no could have moved forward with financing, that’s $315,000 in potential revenue lost, on top of the cost to earn those leads.
(And that’s before considering the hidden cost of discounting. When price is your only tool, reps start dropping it to save the sale!)
Financing protects your margins and gives customers a clear path forward without cutting into your profit.
What Top Home Improvement Contractors Do Differently
The contractors growing the fastest all have one thing in common: they make it easy for homeowners to say yes.
Financing can sound complicated, but with the right support, it doesn’t have to be.
That’s why many contractors use One Click Contractor, quoting and financing happen in the same workflow.
Reps present professional, accurate proposals—then show real financing offers through a single, soft-pull application. The system routes each customer to the lender most likely to approve, so more offers actually fund.
The team doesn’t have to become finance experts. They get guided onboarding, real-time coaching, and live support from people who’ve sold and financed hundreds of home-improvement projects themselves.
Contractors using One Click Contractor and 1LOOK® report take-rate increases of 8–12% and fewer cancellations, because financing is presented as naturally as the project price.
Interested to learn more? Book a demo to see how top contractors turn more quotes into an easy “yes”.
