Refinance your mechanic workshop property loan

Ardent Capital Group brings the same method to every client: execution and strategy, clear advice for smart lending, and long-term growth. That means the right lender, structure and timing, straight advice so you borrow with confidence, and today's deal built toward where you want to be tomorrow. On a workshop refinance the security is the easy part. The shed gears to around 80% and values on comparable sales, and what decides the file is servicing: the contracted work behind the bays and the equipment facilities sitting on top of the mortgage. We build that picture properly, place the file, and stay with it past drawdown. Every figure is subject to serviceability, lender appetite and approval.

We refinance commercial facilities from $50K up to $30M, whether that is a two-hoist unit or a multi-bay service centre with a parts counter. The new limit is set by the current valuation and by servicing, not by what you originally borrowed.

Because your bank can only tell you what your bank will do, and in automotive the spread between lenders is unusually wide, both on appetite and on how servicing is assessed. We do the legwork: we run the comparison across more than 40 lenders, work out which are genuinely writing workshops right now, and present to one at a time so your credit file does not collect an enquiry for every conversation. We also model the break costs, valuation and legals against what moving actually gains you, and if it does not stack up we will tell you that.

Around 80% of the current value. A workshop is standard commercial security, grouped with warehouses, shops and offices rather than with specialised assets. The figure follows a fresh valuation, not the price you originally paid.

Usually because of what is sitting on top of the mortgage rather than anything about the trade. A workshop accumulates equipment facilities one at a time, and by year five there can be a hoist, an alignment rig, tyre machines, a compressor, diagnostic gear, a tow truck and a courtesy vehicle each on its own agreement. Every one of those repayments is counted in full when a property lender tests servicing, and none of them adds to the security, because the gear is worth a fraction of its cost to anybody else. Seeing the whole list in one place is the first useful step, and it is usually where the room is found.

It does, so name it rather than leave it inside a revenue figure. A fleet, warranty, insurer or dealership arrangement is contracted work with an agreement behind it, which a credit team can rely on in a way it cannot rely on passing trade. A clear labour and parts split alongside it shows where the margin actually comes from. This is also the clearest difference between refinancing and buying: a purchase file runs on the previous owner's figures, and yours are your own.

Yes, where the current valuation supports it. Cash out on a commercial refinance is assessed on the purpose of the funds, so the lender wants to know what it is for. Another bay, a drainage or interceptor upgrade, a clearance change so you can take heavier vehicles, the deposit on a second site or a working capital buffer are all ordinary purposes. We evidence the purpose properly at the outset, which is what keeps it straightforward.

Only where it genuinely helps, and often it does not. Equipment should run to the working life of the equipment, so a hoist stretched across a 25 year mortgage is being paid for long after it has stopped earning, and the interest paid over that term is usually more than the lower repayment saves. What is worth consolidating is high cost short-term debt that benefits from long-term property security. What is worth retiring is a facility nearly paid out. We map the whole position and move only the parts that improve it.

It depends on how it is installed, and the distinction is worth knowing. An in-ground hoist and its pit are part of the building, and so are the drainage, the interceptor and the slab. A bolt-down hoist can be unbolted and taken away, so it is a chattel, it is not included in a mortgage valuation of real property, and it belongs on its own facility. That single line divides what adds to your security from what sits on top of it as a commitment.

Often not. A decline on a top up is one lender applying one policy on one day, and on automotive property the policies differ sharply. The shed is standard commercial security, so it is written by a wide group of banks and non-banks with genuinely different appetites on the sector, on LVR and on how they read self-employed income. Where the answer was about servicing rather than security, restructuring the facilities behind the bays is often what changes it. We look at why the answer was no, then place the file where that reason is not the deciding one.

That is common on a workshop, because accounts describe the year that has finished. Alt-doc and low-doc routes exist for exactly this, supported by an accountant's declaration, BAS lodgements and business bank statements, at a slightly higher rate. Where you hold contracted fleet or warranty agreements signed since the last set of accounts, those go into the submission as well. We work through the income position upfront so the file reflects the workshop you are running now.

It is established rather than assumed, and where you already hold a clean report from your purchase, put it forward again. In Australia the process starts with a Preliminary Site Investigation, which reviews the site history and the land around it, and only if that raises a question does it go to a Detailed Site Investigation, which samples soil and groundwater. The requirement normally reaches you through the valuer rather than a published credit policy, and at least one lender lists contaminated land as an unacceptable security outright, so knowing which lenders will look at your site is part of the placement.

Four to six weeks from application to settlement for a straightforward file. Where an SMSF, a site investigation or several equipment facilities need to be unwound it takes longer. We give you a realistic timeline at the start so you can plan the expiry date around it.

The existing loan statements, two to three years of financial statements and tax returns for the workshop, personal tax returns and notices of assessment for the guarantors, a statement of assets and liabilities, and the schedule for every equipment facility with its balance and its end date. Your BAS lodgements and a clear labour and parts split help, and any fleet, warranty, insurer or dealership agreements are worth including because they are contracted income.

The costs are a valuation, legal and settlement fees, any lender establishment fee, discharge costs from your current lender, and break costs where you are leaving a fixed rate. Break costs are an economic cost, so they are calculated on the day and vary with how much fixed term is left. We put the real numbers against the benefit before you commit to anything.

Yes, it is possible, and we arrange these. It is also one of the more intricate refinances in commercial finance, and the detail is what decides whether it works. From 10 August 2026 a new arrangement can only be used for business real property, and a workshop trading wholly as a business qualifies, whether your own company occupies it or a tenant does. It has to stay the same single property. It is limited to the balance outstanding plus accrued interest, so there is no top up, no redraw and no cash out inside the fund, and borrowed money cannot fund an improvement, which means the arrangement cannot pay to add a bay. The equipment is financed outside the fund in any case. The holding trust is reassigned to the incoming lender rather than dissolved, which carries a legal cost worth weighing against the gain. Your operating company leases the workshop back in writing, at market rent supported by an independent appraisal, and the rent has to actually be paid. Cross-collateralisation is not available inside super. SMSF lending on standard commercial security generally runs between 65% and 80%, the major banks have exited SMSF lending, and lenders want a liquidity buffer left in the fund after settlement. We know this sounds complicated, and we can assist to make things clearer. Reach out to our team and we will guide you through the entire process. We structure the finance, tell you which lenders will take a workshop as SMSF security and on what terms, and bring in the SMSF specialists and licensed advisers who set the fund side up. You will not be working it out on your own.

Most of the time, no. Where a refinance requires significant preparation due to its complexity, a small mandate fee may apply, and we will always be upfront about this before any work begins.

Although we are based in Sydney, we service clients across all major Australian cities, including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide, Canberra and Hobart, along with their surrounding regional areas. Wherever your workshop is located, we can arrange your finance.

Yes, and it is more common than you would think, because the property loan is set up at settlement and then simply runs while the equipment behind the bays turns over around it. That is our core ethos, helping you understand the right strategy, structure and clear advice from the very first conversation. Our main borrower profiles are established business owners and commercial property investors with facilities from $50,000 upwards. We will start by telling you what the shed is likely to value at now, what every facility behind the bays still costs you, what moving costs, and whether it is worth making. If it is not, we will say so and you can stay where you are.