Fifteen kinds of route business. One set of criteria.
Routebook Capital funds every trade that runs a truck down a route of recurring customers — cleaning, pest control, lawn and landscape, pool, HVAC and plumbing service, and the trades around them — including the seasonal ones that most lenders size off the wrong month. The criteria are the same for all of them: $15,000 a month in deposits, 6 months in business, no minimum credit score for working capital.
- Commercial janitorial & office cleaning
- Residential cleaning & maid services
- Pest control & termite
- Lawn care & mowing routes
- Landscape maintenance
- Pool & spa service
- HVAC service & maintenance
- Plumbing service
- Window cleaning & pressure washing
- Tree care
- Irrigation & sprinkler service
- Snow & ice management
- Carpet & floor care
- Septic & portable sanitation
- Franchise route operators
Commercial janitorial & office cleaning
Nightly office cleaning, medical and dental practices, retail chains, schools and day-porter contracts.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for crews and supplies; invoice factoring on the net-30/net-60 accounts; term loan to buy a competitor’s contracts.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Payroll goes out every week or two. The property manager pays 30 to 60 days after the month closes. That gap is the whole cash cycle of a janitorial company, and it widens every time you win a new building. We read your commercial invoices as factorable receivables and your long-running contracts as the forward revenue they are.
Residential cleaning & maid services
Recurring weekly, biweekly and monthly home cleaning, move-out cleans and franchise maid services.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for hiring and vehicles; a line of credit for the hiring season.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Residential cleaning is paid at the time of service, usually by card on file, so the deposits are frequent and the recurring share is high. Your constraint is labor: every new crew is hired, trained and insured before its first week of stops pays. We underwrite the recurring book and size the payment to the weeks when a new crew is still ramping.
Pest control & termite
Quarterly and monthly residential plans, commercial accounts, termite work and wildlife control.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for trucks, technicians and chemical; factoring on commercial accounts; term loan or SBA to buy a route.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Pest control has the best recurring book in the trades: quarterly and monthly plans that renew without a sales call. It also has a spring surge, chemical that is bought before it is used, and technicians who need a license before they produce. We count the plan revenue as forward revenue, which is why a pest route often qualifies for more than its last month suggests.
Lawn care & mowing routes
Weekly mowing routes, fertilization and weed-control programs, aeration and seasonal clean-ups.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for the spring crew; a line of credit opened in summer for the off-season; term loan to buy a route.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- A mowing company earns most of its year between April and October and pays its crews, fuel and mower repairs on the way in. Lenders that size off a January statement decline it; lenders that size off a June statement set a payment that fails in December. We ask for four statements, size against the floor, and structure for a season with a start and an end. Read the off-season guide.
Landscape maintenance
HOA and commercial grounds maintenance, apartment communities, corporate campuses and municipal contracts.
- Products that fit
- Invoice factoring on HOA and property-management contracts; working capital for crews and materials; term loan for a second branch.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Landscape maintenance bills monthly on annual contracts and gets paid net-30 to net-60 by HOAs and property managers, while mulch, plant material and payroll are paid up front. The contracts are solid; the timing is the problem. Factoring closes that gap on the commercial book, and working capital covers the spring enhancement season before the first invoices land.
Pool & spa service
Weekly residential pool routes, HOA and apartment pools, repairs, openings and closings.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for chemicals and a second truck; a line of credit for the off-season in cold markets; term loan or SBA to buy a route.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- A pool route is weekly recurring revenue billed monthly, with chemical cost that spikes in summer and, outside the Sun Belt, a season that ends in October. In year-round markets the file is steady; in seasonal markets we size against the winter floor. Pool routes are also one of the most actively bought and sold books in the trades, and we fund that purchase.
HVAC service & maintenance
Residential service and maintenance agreements, commercial preventive maintenance contracts and replacement work.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for technicians, vans and parts inventory; factoring on commercial maintenance contracts; term loan for growth.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- HVAC runs on two peaks — the first heat wave and the first cold snap — and the maintenance-agreement book is what carries the months between them. Parts are bought before the job is billed, and commercial accounts pay on terms. We read your maintenance agreements as the recurring revenue they are and factor the commercial side if it is slowing you down.
Plumbing service
Residential service plumbing, drain cleaning, water heater replacement and commercial service contracts.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for vans, technicians and parts; factoring on commercial and property-management work orders.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Service plumbing is paid at the door on the residential side and on net terms by property managers and general contractors on the commercial side. Your cash cycle is set by how much of each you do. We underwrite the deposits and the deposit frequency, and we factor the property-management invoices so a big commercial month does not starve the residential trucks.
Window cleaning & pressure washing
Recurring commercial window routes, residential pressure washing, fleet washing and building exteriors.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for rigs, lifts and crews; factoring on commercial routes with net terms.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Window cleaning routes are recurring monthly or quarterly commercial contracts; pressure washing is more seasonal and more one-off. A company with both has a steady floor and a summer peak. We size against the floor and count the commercial route book as forward revenue.
Tree care
Trimming, removals, plant health care programs and storm work.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for crews, climbing gear and chipper repairs; term loan to add a crew; factoring on municipal and utility contracts.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Tree work is a mix of one-off removals paid on completion and plant health care programs that recur. Storm seasons produce months of revenue in weeks, and municipal and utility contracts pay slowly. We read the plant-health program book as recurring, the storm months as what they are, and factor the slow-paying public-sector invoices.
Irrigation & sprinkler service
Spring start-ups, fall winterizations, repairs and smart-controller installs.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for the spring and fall surges; a line of credit opened in summer for the off-season.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Irrigation has two short, intense seasons — start-ups in spring and blow-outs in fall — and a quiet winter. The recurring customer list is the asset: the same homes every April and every October. We underwrite that list, size the payment against the off-season floor, and prefer a line of credit opened in June over an advance taken in January.
Snow & ice management
Commercial plowing and salting contracts, per-event and seasonal billing, residential routes.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for salt, plow blades and pre-season staffing; factoring on commercial and municipal per-event invoices.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Snow is the inverse of lawn: the money comes in from December to March and the salt, the trucks and the stand-by crews are paid for in October and November. Seasonal contracts billed monthly read as recurring revenue; per-event contracts billed to property managers pay net-30 to net-60 and can be factored. Many of our snow files are the same companies as our lawn files, and we underwrite both halves together.
Carpet & floor care
Residential carpet and upholstery cleaning, commercial floor care programs, strip-and-wax and tile restoration.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for truck-mounts, vans and technicians; factoring on commercial floor-care programs.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Residential carpet cleaning is paid at the door and leans toward spring and the holidays. Commercial floor care — a quarterly strip-and-wax on a retail chain, a monthly program for a medical group — is recurring, invoiced and paid on terms. We count the programs as forward revenue and factor the commercial invoices.
Septic & portable sanitation
Septic pumping and inspection routes, portable toilet rentals for construction and events, grease trap service.
- Products that fit
- Working capital for trucks and units; factoring on construction-site and event invoices; term loan to add a truck.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- Pumping routes recur on a one-to-three-year cycle per home, portable units rent monthly to construction sites that pay on net terms, and events pay deposits up front. The trucks are expensive and the receivables are slow. We read the rental book as recurring, factor the construction-site invoices, and fund the next truck without a lien on the fleet.
Franchise route operators
Single-territory franchisees through multi-territory operators in cleaning, pest, lawn, pool and HVAC brands.
- Products that fit
- Working capital on the territory’s own deposits; SBA 7(a) for a territory purchase or expansion where the brand is on the SBA Franchise Directory.
- Cash cycle & underwriting note
- A franchise route runs on the same cash cycle as an independent one, plus royalties and brand fund fees that come off the top. The difference is on the acquisition side: if the brand is listed on the SBA Franchise Directory, the franchise fee and the territory can be financed inside an SBA 7(a) loan. Tell us the brand first; it changes which product we start with.
What a route business needs to qualify.
Every number below is a real criterion. If you clear these, apply. If you don’t, call us and we’ll tell you what would change it.
| Minimum monthly revenue | $15,000 in business bank deposits |
|---|---|
| Minimum time in business | 6 months |
| Minimum credit score | None for working capital or factoring. 600+ for a line of credit. 650+ for a term loan. 680+ for SBA. |
| Funding range | $10,000 to $2,000,000 for working capital. Up to $5,000,000 for term loans, SBA, and factoring facilities. |
| Time to a real offer | About 4 business hours on a complete file. |
| Time to funding | 24 hours. Same day if a clean file is signed before 11:00 AM ET. |
| Documents required | Application plus your 3 most recent months of business bank statements. 4 months if your business is seasonal. |
| Contract length | 2 pages. |
| Repayment | Fixed daily or weekly ACH from your operating account. No split funding. No holdback percentage. No lockbox. |
| Prepayment discount | Up to 30% off the remaining cost of funding when a working capital advance is paid off within the first 30, 60, or 90 days. |
| Recurring customers | Counted. Monthly, biweekly and quarterly service agreements read as forward revenue, not as one-off jobs. |
| Seasonal routes | Expected. Lawn, pool, pest and snow files are sized against the off-season floor, not the peak-month average. Send four statements. |
| Commercial & HOA contracts | Factorable. Net-30 and net-60 invoices to property managers, HOAs and commercial accounts can open a factoring facility. |
| Service types approved | Commercial janitorial and office cleaning, residential and maid services, pest control and termite, lawn care and mowing routes, landscape maintenance, pool and spa service, HVAC service and maintenance, plumbing service, window cleaning and pressure washing, tree care, irrigation and sprinkler service, snow and ice management, carpet and floor care, septic pumping and portable sanitation, and franchise route operators. |
| Not required | Collateral for working capital. A business plan. Tax returns under $500,000. A lien on your trucks. A minimum number of routes, crews or customers. |
| Open to | U.S. businesses with a U.S. business bank account. All 50 states. |
Four minutes. Three bank statements. No credit impact to apply.
Questions by trade.
Do you fund seasonal businesses like lawn care, pool service and snow removal?
Yes. Lawn, pool, irrigation and snow files are expected to have a shape. Routebook Capital asks for four months of statements instead of three and sizes the payment against the off-season floor rather than the peak-month average. A slow winter is not a decline reason here.
Are the criteria different by trade?
No. The same criteria apply to all fifteen types: $15,000 a month in business bank deposits, 6 months in business, and no minimum credit score for working capital or factoring. What changes by trade is which product fits and how the payment is structured.
Does my recurring customer base count for anything?
It is the most important thing in the file. Monthly pest plans, weekly mowing, weekly pool stops, maintenance agreements and janitorial contracts are revenue you already know is coming. We read them as forward revenue, which is why a route business often qualifies for more than a one-off-job business with the same deposits.
Can I get funding to buy a competitor’s route?
Yes. A small route purchase you can close this week fits working capital. A larger acquisition fits a term loan or, cheapest of all, SBA 7(a) with 10% down. Read the route acquisition guide.
My commercial accounts pay slowly. Does that hurt me?
Not with us. Net-30 and net-60 invoices to property managers, HOAs, municipalities and commercial accounts are receivables, and receivables can be factored. We advance up to 90% within 24 hours and wait on the account so you don’t have to.
Your trade is on the list.
Including the seasonal ones. $15,000 a month, six months open, no minimum FICO for working capital.