What I can help with

Working capital, equipment, stock, a hire who starts ahead of the revenue. I read your trading accounts the way an assessor will, tell you what they show, and set out whose policy fits the shape of your business rather than the shape of the form.

Buying premises, refinancing a commercial facility, funding a small development. Lease terms, tenant quality and the valuation basis all move the answer here in ways they never do on a house. I’ll tell you which one is driving your file.

Sole trader, contractor, company director. Which financial year a lender uses, which add-backs they take, and how long you’ve been trading will move the number more than anything else in the file. I check all three before your file goes anywhere.

A refinance is worth doing when the numbers say so, not because it feels due. I’ll set out the cost of moving against what actually changes: break costs, discharge and establishment fees, lender’s mortgage insurance if it applies. Then it’s arithmetic instead of a feeling.

Rolling short debts into a long loan lowers the monthly figure and can raise the total you pay over the term. You usually only get told about one of those. I’ll show you both, side by side. Sometimes the honest answer is to leave it alone.

Once the structure is settled, I arrange the lending under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement. Whether that structure suits your fund is a decision for your accountant or financial adviser, not for me. I work to whatever they set, and I’ll say so every time a question lands on their side of the line.

Still a big part of what I do, usually where the income, the deposit or the timing has a complication in it. If your file is a clean salary and a standard deposit, I’ll say so on the call. You may not need me at all.