Calder Mechanical has fourteen trucks covering Boise, Meridian and Nampa. Priya Nandakumar joined as general manager in 2023 after a decade running service for a commercial contractor, and the first thing she noticed was a financing program nobody used.
“We had a lender. We had a form. The tech would mention it, the homeowner would say they would call, and that was the end of it,” she says. “Nine percent of our jobs were financed. Everyone else either paid cash or waited a year.”
Moving the money conversation onto the proposal
With Quotient, Calder’s techs never bring up financing as a separate pitch. Every option on every proposal carries a monthly payment, and a homeowner who wants to know if they qualify answers three questions on their own phone. The soft check comes back in about ninety seconds and does not touch their credit score.
Priya set Calder up with two lenders: Keystone Home Credit as the first look, and Saltfork Finance for the homeowners Keystone turns down. Four out of five people who apply are pre-qualified by one of them.
What changed in the numbers
- Financed jobs went from 9 percent to 34 percent of everything Calder signs.
- Financed jobs average $10,460, against $7,920 for cash jobs.
- Replacement revenue grew $1.18 million in the first twelve months.
The best part is the tech never has to talk about credit. The homeowner sees a number, taps a button, and decides. It is their business, not ours.
The winter test
Boise’s first hard freeze is when a furnace replacement stops being optional. Last December Calder signed 71 replacements in three weeks, 26 of them financed, most of them at night. “That is a week we used to lose,” Priya says. “People would rather freeze than sign something they cannot afford. Now they can see what they can afford.”
