Ask a residential installer why they don't do more commercial and you'll hear a version of the same answer. The sales cycle drags. The deals are unpredictable. And too many of them die after the engineering work is already done and paid for.
Climate First Bank just changed part of that math. They cut the rate on their commercial solar loan to 7.99% and stretched the term to 30 years. But a better rate only matters if the deal reaches underwriting, and most commercial solar deals don't fall apart over system design. They fall apart because nobody asked the financing questions early enough.
On August 5th we hosted The Secrets to Commercial Solar Financing: What to Know Before Engineering Begins. Here's the short version.
Moderator: Scott Nguyen, OneEthos and Bodhi
Panelists:
- Dema Headley, SVP and Director of Digital Banking, Climate First Bank
- Cooper Boeff, Commercial Solar Digital Banker, Climate First Bank
We opened with a poll asking how much commercial solar people are doing today. Half the room said a mix of resi and commercial, 45% said mostly resi and looking to get into commercial, and 5% said commercial all the way. With 25D (the residential tax credit) sunsetting at the end of last year, that split was not a surprise to anyone on the panel.
What we covered
- The new loan. 7.99% fixed for 30.5 years, with the first six months interest only. Deal sizes from $25,000 to $25 million, no prepayment penalty, and a UCC-1 on the solar equipment instead of a lien on the building.
- What else fits in the loan. Roof replacement, batteries, electrical upgrades, HVAC, carports, and EV charging bundled with solar all qualify as adders. Windows, doors, and generators don't.
- The five questions to ask before you engineer anything. Who owns or controls the property, how long the business has operated, whether it's profitable, who owns 20% or more, and whether the property is owner occupied.
- A live run through the Commercial Solar Prescreener. Cooper walked through real scenarios, green and yellow and red, using the free tool that tells you whether a deal is worth your design time.
- The document package. Two years of business tax returns, year to date financials, personal returns for owners at 20% or more, and the debt schedule that stalls more files than anything else.
The one thing they want you to do this week
We closed by asking Dema and Cooper for the single thing they'd want every installer on the call to do next.
Cooper came back to the same point he'd made all hour, which is that underwriting speed is almost entirely in the installer's hands:
"That full package is everything for underwriting. If you guys have that full package, the customer has it right away, we can get deals out to you so much faster. There's no back and forth between us and the customer. So it's just going to make it faster for us, faster for you."
Dema's ask was to bring the bank in before a deal gets complicated instead of after. Most deals coming through the prescreener land yellow, which means manual review and a longer timeline, not a decline. Her point was that walking away from a yellow result is the wrong instinct:
"Involve us early, reach out to commercial. Most of the deals that we get are in that yellow category, to be honest with you."
Climate First Bank reps will do joint calls with your customer to work through holding companies, separate operating entities, and ownership structures that don't fit neatly. Send those deals to commercialsolar@climatefirstbank.com.
And Scott's, which is the whole hour in one line: "Don't spend time engineering on a commercial project unless it's already survived that prescreening financing question."
Watch the full webinar here
The full session runs about an hour and includes both live demos and the audience Q&A on tax extensions, funding and disbursements, and the price per watt cap.
Commercial deals are slow enough without losing one to a document nobody asked for in week one. If that's a problem your team keeps running into, Climate First Bank and Bodhi can help. Find a time to talk to us.
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