Broker support for your next inspection investment
If you are expanding inspection capacity or replacing ageing instruments, Sorbus can help connect the equipment requirement with relevant finance options. We identify potential lenders from our extensive panel of 150+ lenders according to the business, asset and lender criteria. This is access to a wider panel, not a claim that every lender finances every type of metrology or testing equipment.
We can help you explain the purchase as a complete project while separating the machine, software, installation and service costs for lender consideration. That gives the finance conversation a clearer basis before you commit to a supplier. Your technical advisers remain responsible for specification, calibration and accreditation; our role is to help prepare and explain the funding case.
Metrology is the field; calibration is a process
Metrology is the science of measurement. Calibration is a specific process: comparing an instrument against a reference of known uncertainty so its readings are traceable. The National Physical Laboratory, the UK’s national metrology institute, describes providing UKAS-accredited calibration traceable to SI units, and lists helping customers demonstrate traceability and support accreditation among its aims.
For finance purposes that distinction matters. You buy an asset (the instrument). Calibration is a recurring service performed on it. Accreditation is a status your laboratory or process earns. Only the first is equipment.
- Equipment purchase
- The instrument or machine itself. The part asset finance is designed for.
- Calibration service
- Recurring, performed by you or a laboratory, producing a certificate. A service cost, not an asset.
- Accreditation
- Assessment of your competence and process. Not something a lender finances as equipment.
CMMs: geometry, probing, environment and software
A coordinate measuring machine is a system. The frame geometry, the probing system and styli, the controller and measurement software, and the room it sits in all affect results. Temperature stability and vibration are part of the specification, so a quote may include foundation or environmental work as well as the machine.
Renishaw’s CMM support knowledgebase treats calibration as its own topic alongside installation and retrofit. If the machine is moved, whether that is a relocation within your site or a used machine delivered from elsewhere, plan for it to be re-verified before you rely on its results. Budget for that in the project, and ask whether it is on the supplier’s quote.
- Measuring volume and accuracy specification you actually need
- Probe type: touch-trigger, scanning or non-contact
- Software licence terms and part-programming support
- Room temperature control, foundation and access route
- Re-verification after delivery or relocation
Electrical test instruments and NDT are different disciplines
Electrical test equipment, such as installation testers, insulation resistance testers and portable appliance testers, measures electrical safety and performance. Non-destructive testing (ultrasonic, eddy current, radiographic, magnetic particle and dye penetrant methods) inspects materials and welds for defects without damaging them. They use different instruments and different operator competence.
For NDT in particular, the value of the equipment depends on qualified people interpreting results. A lender may ask how the business will use it and who will operate it. Operator training and certification are not equipment, so keep them out of the hardware line on your quote.
Used and relocated equipment
Used metrology equipment can carry a past calibration certificate that is no longer meaningful once the item is moved. Ask for its service and calibration history, the software licence position and evidence the seller owns it. Whether a lender will fund the specific used item, and on what evidence, is checked before anything is proposed.
Hire purchase or lease: what changes for this kind of kit
With hire purchase, the business hires the equipment from the funder and title only passes once every contractual payment, and any option-to-purchase fee, has been paid. Until then the funder owns it.
A finance lease is a rental agreement. Ownership does not transfer automatically at the end; what happens next, including any secondary rental, return or sale arrangements, depends on the specific agreement. Ask the broker to explain the end-of-term clause before you commit.
Which structure suits you depends on how long you expect to use the equipment, how quickly the technology moves on, and how your accountant wants it treated. We do not give accounting, VAT or tax advice; ask your accountant before relying on any treatment.
What happens after you enquire
- 1
Enquiry
You tell us about the equipment and the business. This is not an application and no lender sees it.
- 2
Discussion and evidence review
A broker talks it through with you and reviews the quote, accounts and any used-equipment evidence.
- 3
Lender proposal, only if suitable
If it looks suitable, and with your agreement, we approach lenders from our selected panel (not the whole market). Any decision is the lender’s, subject to status, affordability and its criteria.
Sorbus Finance is a broker, not a lender. We do not quote rates, deposits or terms on this page, and an enquiry is not approval.