📝 Partner program outline — final application form and partner portal launching this quarter.
You build ADUs, additions, custom units. Your customers love the work — but half of them walk away at "how do I pay for this?" You shouldn't have to become a lender to close the deal.
The Financing Problem Kills More ADU Projects Than Zoning Does
You know the pattern. A homeowner comes to you with a vision for an ADU. You walk the site, talk through the design, work up a real quote. They love the design. They love the quote. Then the conversation ends with: "I just need to figure out the financing and I'll get back to you."
You never hear from them again. Or they come back months later with a HELOC that doesn't cover the full build, and you end up either eating the delta or walking away from the project you already designed. Either way, you lose.
The problem is not that ADU financing doesn't exist. It does — the One-Time Close (OTC) construction loan is purpose-built for exactly this kind of project. The problem is that your customers don't know it exists, don't know they qualify, and don't know which lender to trust with a non-standard build.
Why You Shouldn't Become a Lender to Solve This
Some builders have tried to fix this by becoming referral partners with lenders — or worse, by exploring "in-house financing" arrangements. Both paths are minefields:
- MLO licensing is expensive and slow. State-by-state mortgage origination licenses, SAFE Act registration, continuing education — it's not a side project.
- RESPA Section 8 is unforgiving. Any referral fee arrangement between a builder and a lender is a federal felony waiting for an audit. The penalties stack to $1M+ and include criminal liability.
- In-house financing destroys your cash flow. Construction draws tie up working capital your business needs for materials and payroll.
- You are not a compliance team. Every piece of financing-adjacent marketing your business publishes triggers Reg Z, TILA, Fair Housing Act, and state-specific disclosures.
The answer is not to become a lender. The answer is to give your customers a lender who is already expert at ADU construction financing — and to let that lender handle the entire regulatory apparatus so you can stay focused on building.
The HCP Partner Builder Program
Homestead Capital Partners offers a turnkey financing partnership for builders who specialize in ADUs, additions, custom homes, and other non-standard residential construction. Here is what you get when you join:
1. A white-labeled landing page for your customers
We build you a dedicated landing page on your domain (or ours, sub-pathed to your brand) that looks exactly like the OTC Construction Loan page you are reading right now — including the narrated audio player, the audience-specific story, and the integrated financing explainer. It carries your logo, your photography, your project portfolio, and a lead capture form that notifies you the moment a customer submits.
Customers come to the page via your website, your marketing, your word-of-mouth. They get the full HCP financing education without ever leaving your brand experience.
2. A co-branded contact form that routes to both teams
The form is white-labeled to you. Submissions create a lead in your CRM AND in ours at the same moment — so you and our construction loan specialist are both notified in parallel. You stay in the customer conversation as the builder. We handle the financing conversation. Neither of us duplicates work. Neither of us steps on the other's relationship.
3. A dedicated OTC construction loan specialist
Every partner builder is assigned a named loan specialist at HCP / NEXA Lending who becomes the single point of contact for all your customer referrals. They learn your project profile, your geography, your typical customer, and your build timeline — so when your customer calls, the financing conversation starts from context, not from a generic discovery script.
4. The right product for the project
Our OTC construction loan is designed specifically for non-standard builds — ADUs, additions, custom homes, tear-downs, modular and prefab, rural and USDA-eligible parcels. Conventional and VA programs are both available. One loan covers construction and permanent financing with a single closing. Your customer signs paperwork once, you get paid through the draw process, and the loan auto-modifies to a permanent mortgage when construction completes.
5. Marketing collateral you can use
Partner builders get access to co-branded social media graphics, email templates, customer explainer PDFs, and the same audio-narrated landing page content that drives our direct OTC traffic. Our content team ships compliant, on-brand marketing assets that you can publish to your channels without worrying about MLO disclosure violations — because we handle the compliance stack.
Who This Program Is For
- Dedicated ADU builders — businesses that specialize in accessory dwelling units, granny flats, casitas, and backyard cottages
- Custom home builders who also build ADUs or additions as a portion of their project mix
- Addition specialists — contractors focused on major home additions, second-story additions, in-law suites
- Modular and prefab ADU builders — companies shipping and installing factory-built units that need site financing
- Tear-down and rebuild specialists — builders replacing aging structures on lots customers already own
You do not need to be a large company. We partner with solo general contractors and with production builders shipping hundreds of units per year. What matters is that you build the product we finance, and that you care about your customers finishing the projects they start with you.
How It Works — Partner Onboarding in 3 Steps
- Application and approval. Submit the partner interest form below. We will call you within two business days to discuss your business profile, typical customer, project pipeline, and the geographies you serve. Approval is based on builder experience, insurance, and references — not volume commitments.
- White-label landing page build. Once approved, our content team produces your dedicated landing page using the HCP e-learning template (narrated explainer, audio player, caption bar, audience-specific story, lead capture form). Turnaround is typically 7–14 days depending on how much custom branding you want. Hosting is on us.
- Launch and support. Your dedicated construction loan specialist is assigned. You start referring customers to your new landing page. We handle every customer conversation from that point forward and keep you in the loop on every submission.
We Are the ADU Financing Experts
HCP / NEXA Lending has built the internal expertise specifically around non-standard residential construction — the projects that traditional mortgage shops either reject outright or fumble through. We know the UWM construction guidelines cold. We know the ADU zoning patchwork across the markets where we lend. We know when a project is conventional-eligible vs when it needs VA, and we know how to coach your customers through the builder approval process without losing them to frustration.
Because ADUs are a specialty, our loan officers see more of them in a month than most generalist mortgage brokers see in a year. That expertise matters when your customer asks you a financing question and you need an answer that does not put you on the wrong side of a compliance line.
Partner Interest Form
Ready to stop losing deals at the financing conversation? Reach out via the partner interest form below. A member of our partner development team will follow up within two business days to schedule a discovery call.
[PARTNER_FORM: adu_builder]
If you are a homeowner looking for ADU financing for your own property (not a builder), please visit our OTC Construction Loan page to learn about the one-time close construction loan directly.
Homestead Capital Partners NMLS #2587985 | NEXA Lending LLC NMLS #1660690 | Licensed in Colorado | Equal Housing Lender. This content is informational and describes a builder partnership program — it is not a commitment to lend and is not directed at consumers seeking financing. Partner program terms are subject to approval and compliance review. Consumers seeking construction financing should contact HCP directly through our primary consumer intake channels.