The rate sheet is not the whole story
Your sales rep already got the yes. Then the lender declined it, countered it, or approved half of it. GoodLeap approves more of the customers you already paid to sit in front of, so sold jobs stay sold.
Booking from this page locks in your ServiceTitan Hacks offer.
Where approvals get lost
A note from Bill
When I ran Paramount, financing fees had their own line on my P&L. I watched it like a hawk, and knocking a point off it felt like a win. What never showed up on that P&L was the $15,000 install that died in the living room because the customer got declined, or got approved for $7,000 and settled for a repair. The truck roll, the two hours of selling, the marketing dollars that put us in that home. All gone, and no line item to show for it.
That is the trap with shopping lenders on a rate sheet. Every dealer fee is printed right there in front of you. The declined jobs, the counteroffers, the sales reps who quit because their close rate tanked on things they could not control. None of that is printed anywhere.
GoodLeap's pitch is simple: they approve customers other lenders decline or counter, with max approvals that typically start at $25,000. More approvals means more installs from the appointments you already paid for. Whether that math beats a cheaper fee is something you can check against your own numbers, and that is exactly what the calculator on this page is for.
I only partner with tools I would have used at Paramount. GoodLeap is one of them.
Bill Brown · Founder, ServiceTitan Hacks · Built and sold Paramount Heating and Air
Transparency: GoodLeap is a paid sponsor of ServiceTitan Hacks. We only accept sponsors whose products are vetted with real contractors in the community.
20+ years in home improvement finance
Figures reported by GoodLeap at goodleap.com.
What GoodLeap actually does
Approves more of your pipeline
Most first-look lenders cut off around 45% DTI and get shaky below 700 FICO. GoodLeap underwrites a wider box, which is exactly where declines, counters, and partial approvals are killing your sold jobs today.
Max approvals that hold the ticket
An $18,000 job countered at $7,000 turns an install into a repair. GoodLeap approvals typically start at $25,000 and run up to $55,000, so the system your rep sold is the system that gets financed.
Payments built for the trades
Tap to pay and e-check processing at rates that beat most processors: 2.59% plus 20 cents for in-person card and 1% ACH capped at $10. One more line on the P&L that gets smaller.
One ecosystem, not one product
Financing, payments, an HVAC lease, and a HELOC in one platform, with waterfall lending that picks up the deals a single lender cannot. One login for your team instead of three apps at the kitchen table.
What the rate sheet does not show
Dealer fees are printed on a page. These costs never are. They just quietly leave your P&L looking fine while your revenue shrinks.
The counteroffer trap
A 9.99% lead offer that comes back countered at 14.99% blows up the payment you quoted. One large contractor dug into their data and found 70% of their deals with a first-look lender were being counteroffered. They had no idea, because a counter still shows up as an approval.
Burned acquisition cost
You spend marketing dollars and a truck roll before your rep ever says a word. When the financing falls through, that acquisition cost is simply gone. Nothing offsets it, and no report flags it.
The second-credit-pull problem
Getting declined feels like shame at someone's kitchen table. Many customers will not let your rep run credit a second time. You do not lose the deal to a competitor. You lose it to the first decline.
Sales reps follow approvals
Your best closers know their close rate is riding on financing they cannot control. Enough declines and countered payments, and they take their talent to the shop down the street. Rep turnover never shows up as a financing cost, but it is one.
Examples reported by GoodLeap from contractor account data. Run your own numbers below.
What is a decline really costing you?
Plug in your real numbers. This models the revenue you lose when sold jobs get declined, countered, or partially approved, and what recovering even part of them is worth against a higher dealer fee.
GoodLeap has shown accounts where 28% of funded volume sat in the FICO/DTI range other lenders decline.
Net = (recovered revenue x gross margin) - (recovered revenue x fee difference) + acquisition cost saved. Your actual results depend on your mix and approval rates.
Free session. GoodLeap models your real pipeline against their approval data and shows you exactly what is at risk.
Up and running in 4 steps
Book your demo
Bring your funded volume and decline data. GoodLeap models where approvals are leaking and locks in the ServiceTitan Hacks offer.
Set up your offers
Configure plans, payment options, and the approval waterfall for your shop, connected to your workflow.
Train your reps
Reps learn to lead with the payment that closes, not the teaser rate that gets countered. Simple scripting, big close-rate difference.
Track the lift
Watch approval rate, average funded ticket, and installs saved from the decline pile in your dashboard.
Questions every owner asks
Is a higher dealer fee not just a higher cost?
Only if approval rates were equal, and they are not. A fee you pay on a funded job beats a cheap fee on a declined one. Run the calculator above with your own decline and counteroffer rates and let the math decide.
How is GoodLeap different from my first-look lender?
Wider underwriting: approvals beyond the 45% DTI ceiling most lenders stop at, deeper into the 600s FICO range, with approvals that typically start at $25,000 and run up to $55,000. That is precisely the slice of your pipeline getting declined or countered today.
What is a counteroffer actually costing me?
Your rep quotes a payment at 9.99%, the approval comes back at 14.99% or for half the amount, and the customer either walks or downgrades. It still shows up as an approval in your lender report, which is why most owners never see it until they dig in.
Does GoodLeap work with ServiceTitan?
GoodLeap runs alongside your ServiceTitan workflow, and their payments product (2.59% + $0.20 in-person card, 1% ACH capped at $10) gives you a lower-cost processing option to compare against what you pay today.
Do I have to switch everything at once?
No. Most shops start by routing their declined and countered deals to GoodLeap, measure the funded lift, then decide how much of the pipeline to move up front.
Stop paying for appointments that cannot get funded
Book a demo and GoodLeap will model your real funded volume, show you what sits in the decline zone, and lock in the ServiceTitan Hacks offer.
Book My DemoBooking from this page tags you as a ServiceTitan Hacks member so you get the offer.