They love the design. They cannot fund it.
Kitchen and bath remodelers, ADU builders, general contractors and home service franchises lose finished designs at the financing step. The equity is usually already there.
- The trigger
- The homeowner wants the work, has been through design, and does not qualify for a home equity loan. An unsecured home improvement loan is capped and priced in a way that kills the project economics.
- What it costs you
- You have already paid for the consultation, the measure, the design and in many cases the engineering. That spend does not come back when the financing falls over.
- Typical project value
- $30,000 - $200,000
This is not a Barastone problem. It is a financing problem you inherited.
21%
Of all agreements written fund home improvement
Across roughly 54,000 agreements originated 2015-2025 by the three largest providers. Better than one in five is already paying for work like yours.
Urban Institute, February 2026
$100k - $400k+
ADU project range
Garage conversions at the low end; new construction in major markets at the top.
Strategy framework v1.1, Part 4.3
$25k - $75k
Average kitchen remodel
Strategy framework v1.1, Part 4.3
$50k
Unsecured home-improvement loan ceiling
On 3-7 year terms, which is what puts larger projects out of reach.
Strategy framework v1.1, Part 4.3
Run your own numbers.
What your business is losing at the financing step today, using your figures.
Dead-deal ledger
Your numbers
- Customers you could not help
- 60
- Revenue not booked
- $1,920,000
- Already spent winning them
- $24,000
Every one of those was a customer who wanted to go ahead. They had the equity and could not reach it, so the project did not happen. The last figure is what you spent finding that out.
On an ADU, the interests actually line up
A homeowner who builds an ADU increases the value of the property the agreement is written against. The project the partner wants to sell and the outcome Barastone is exposed to are the same outcome. That is rarely true of a financing product and it is worth saying out loud.
PhotographyWide shot of a completed ADU at dusk, lit from inside, shot from the main house garden - owner-occupied, not staged.
Your role ends at the introduction. Ours starts there.
Who carries what, line by line.
You
Your role begins and ends here.
- Introduce the homeowner
- Share Barastone-approved materials
- Use your tracked link or branded page
Barastone
Everything past the introduction.
- Application intake
- Property valuation
- Investment review and eligibility
- Consumer disclosures, state by state
- Closing and e-notary
- Funding
- Servicing for the full Investment Period
- Settlement at sale, refinance or term end
Nobody asks you to
The reason a trade business can do this at all.
- Fund any part of the agreement
- Carry balance-sheet exposure
- Take an application
- Collect, store or transmit homeowner financial data
- Make an eligibility or investment decision
- Negotiate terms with the homeowner
- Operate compliance or servicing infrastructure
Solar & home energy
Residential solar lost both of its financing pillars inside a single year. Installers are being told to find alternatives. Home equity is the alternative most of their customers already have.
Real estate professionals
Agents and brokers sit across from equity-rich, cash-poor owners every week: the pre-sale renovation, the stay-or-sell conversation, the client who needs their equity working before the sign goes in the yard.
Mortgage & lending professionals
You already acquired the customer. A decline on a HELOC or a cash-out refinance sends them out of the branch and, often, out of the relationship.
Financial, wealth & insurance advisors
For most clients, home equity is the largest asset in the household and the only one the plan cannot reach. An introduction puts it to work without a sale.