Mossdale Lending Group, a small-business funding broker in Pasco, Washington, looks at Franklin County residential permit counts from 2023 to 2025 and what they mean for a contractor deciding whether, and how, to finance a machine. The short answer: permits are background, your own job list decides, and the financing term should fit the machine's working life.
Three years of county permit counts
| Year | Units authorized |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 923 |
| 2024 | 974 |
| 2025 | 768 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, county annual files. In 2025, 369 of the 768 units were single-family homes and 381 were in buildings with five or more units; the rest were in two- to four-unit buildings.
What the numbers do and do not say
They say how many new homes builders were authorized to start across the whole county in each year. They do not count commercial work, remodels or public projects. They do not say how many permits went to Pasco, WA alone, or how many became finished homes. And they describe the past; nothing in them predicts next year.
The mix matters too. When a large share of units sits in apartment buildings, the work goes to fewer, larger contractors than when the same number of units are single-family homes spread across many builders.
Your job list decides, not the county total
Franklin County had 380 construction employer establishments in 2023, and 253 of them had fewer than five employees (U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023). For a firm that size, one or two signed jobs matter more than any county total. Before financing a machine:
- List signed or highly likely jobs that need the machine, with start dates.
- Estimate the hours the machine will run on each.
- Price renting it for those hours, as a comparison.
- Buy or finance only if ownership beats renting over the term.
Owners searching for Pasco, WA building permits for a specific job should use the city's own permit search.
Setting an equipment term a crew can carry
Partners set the term, but the right term for you ends before the machine wears out. A compact excavator that you expect to run hard for five years should not be financed over seven. Ask the dealer or your mechanic about expected hours, divide by how many hours a year you will use it, and keep the term inside that number.
The mini excavator payment calculator shows how a longer term lowers the payment and raises the total. Run both versions before you decide.
A hypothetical decision, worked through
A three-person site-prep crew in Pasco has rented a compact excavator for most of the last two years. This year it has four signed jobs and two more likely. Rental invoices for last year add up to a figure close to what a used machine would cost to finance over a few years. That comparison, not the county permit total, is the case for buying.
Before calling a partner, the crew lists the jobs and hours, gets two dealer quotes, and decides how long it will keep the machine. With that in hand, a partner can review the request quickly, and the crew can compare a loan with a lease on the same figures.
If the job list thins out, the crew is still paying for the machine. That is why the term should be one the business can carry through a slow stretch, not one that only works when every week is booked.
Loan or lease for a contractor
A loan or a $1 buyout lease suits a machine you will run until it is worn out. A fair market value lease suits a machine you expect to trade in. Both are explained on the equipment financing page, and the wider picture for builders and trades is on contractor financing in Pasco, WA.
More local context
County employer counts and ZIP 99301 figures are on the Pasco, WA page. Further notes for Tri-Cities owners sit on the blog.
By Mossdale Lending Group ยท Updated