Padel court finance: funding courts, installation and lighting

A padel court quote usually covers the steel frame, glass back and side panels, mesh fencing, artificial turf with sand infill, nets, posts and doors, and installation by the supplier's team. Panoramic courts, with fewer posts behind the glass, cost more than standard courts. On top of the court itself, most projects need some or all of:

• A level, drained base: usually a concrete or porous asphalt slab for outdoor courts, or a prepared floor in an indoor unit
• Floodlights, either mounted on the court frame or on separate columns
• Paths, perimeter fencing and access control
• A booking and entry system, and sometimes cameras for streaming or coaching

Lenders look at each of these separately, because they hold very different value if the courts ever have to be recovered.

Tennis clubs, golf clubs, hotels, holiday parks and leisure centres often add a small number of courts on land they already use. Our tennis club finance and golf club finance pages cover the rest of those clubs' funding. That is usually an easier case to finance than a new club, because the venue already has accounts, customers and a site. Lenders will still want to see planning consent, the legal structure of the club and who owns or leases the land. Members' clubs and charities can borrow, but fewer lenders work with them. Hotels and parks can find more on our hotel funding and caravan park finance pages.

If the courts sit on land or in a building you lease, an asset finance lender may ask the landlord to sign a waiver confirming that the courts belong to the lender and can be removed if the agreement is not paid. Raise this with your landlord early; a landlord who will not sign can rule out some lenders. The lease should also run for longer than the finance term.

Used courts can cut the cost of a project, and some lenders will fund them if they come from a recognised manufacturer, have been properly dismantled and are being rebuilt by a competent installer. Turf and glass may need replacing. Our page on used equipment finance explains how lenders approach second-hand kit.

A finance agreement keeps running whether or not the courts are busy, so test the payments against a cautious booking forecast, not a best case. Outdoor courts without a canopy will have fewer playable hours in winter. If the business fails, the courts may be removed and sold for less than the amount owed, and a personal guarantee can make up the difference. Weigh whether a supplier payment plan or a larger deposit would work better for your project.