Tool rental places and there demise?

JOCCO · May 12, 2016

Guys around me we had a bunch of tool rental places pop up over the years. Seems they did ok off the crack of the bat but than failed in one way or another. Some outfits rent simple stuff as a sideline (rug cleaner, sheet rock lift etc) and do ok. Excavators, stump grinders, chippers, and so on did not make a go. Wife worked in one for a bit and said abuse was a factor and $30000 stump grinder could set for 3 weeks. What is the story in your area on them and do they do better in a very heavy populated area? thanks

Billy Shafer · May 12, 2016

When I lived in Dallas. Lost equipment,broken equipment and lawsuits. Put the one near me out of business.

Geo-TH,In · May 12, 2016

jocco,
There is a DIY rental business for the past 30 years on the north edge of Terre Haute. They have everything and are very busy.

Others have tried setting up a business and failed in a year or two. Just don't have the inventory this established business has.

They are always busy. They do their own repair work in house.

They have two new terramites too.
geo

oldtanker · May 12, 2016

(quoted from post at 05:15:00 05/12/16) Guys around me we had a bunch of tool rental places pop up over the years. Seems they did ok off the crack of the bat but than failed in one way or another. Some outfits rent simple stuff as a sideline (rug cleaner, sheet rock lift etc) and do ok. Excavators, stump grinders, chippers, and so on did not make a go. Wife worked in one for a bit and said abuse was a factor and $30000 stump grinder could set for 3 weeks. What is the story in your area on them and do they do better in a very heavy populated area? thanks

I think they do better in areas with a higher population. Here for example one opened in a smaller town (Otter Tail MN) and lasted about 2 years. Another in a larger town (Fergus Falls) has been around a very long time. One thing that hurts rental places like that is the Cat and Bobcat dealers both in Fergus Falls have rental equipment too. The startup in Otter Tail a couple of years ago rented man lifts, sheet rock lifts, skid steers, trailers and other stuff. I think a lot of the problem with that was lack of advertisement. No one knew they were there.

Rick

brutus49DC · May 12, 2016

For what the ones charge around here either they ought to make money or they are not renting out the equipment because of the high cost to do it. For what they get for some of the hand power tools like hammer drills ect. if you are going to use it a few times you are just as well off to buy one.

Pitch · May 12, 2016

I have seen several come and go. The two that I use and have stood the test of time rent as a side business. One is an Amish building supply company that has grown in leaps and bound over the last couple of years, started out as a steel roofing concern, only renting roofing shears. then expanded into lumber, then hardware and now is a complete line store.
The other started as a tent and catering rental company and then some how added equipment rental.

D beatty · May 12, 2016

We only have one left in town and it is an ACE hardware store and owner has seven stores in the area. The biggest problem is people don't care how they use the equipment because its not theirs.

DGinVT · May 12, 2016

One near me says that people come in and rent, don't care about how it is used , since its not theirs. They have sales nearly every year to get rid of badly damaged pieces.

Fatjay · May 12, 2016

Here, prices to rent are comparable to prices to buy used. My guess would be they're losing their shirt on abused and broken equipment.

More than that though, I would suspect it has something to do with the renters renting equipment they have never used, and don't know how to use properly, that results in breakage. Just like the guy who drives a honda civic every day of his life, then rents a 30' box truck to move, and causes traffic accidents and backups.

Donald Lehman · May 12, 2016

I worked for a construction supply company that rented the smaller stuff like hammer drills, sawzalls, concrete buggys, concrete saws, tile saws, mortar mixers and such. This stuff was easy to maintain and relatively inexpensive to repair. The company made good money on the rentals and when we sold the equipment it was in good mechanical condition. We didn't fool around fixing much as far as motors and that kind of stuff. A motor started getting worn, we junked the motors and replaced them with new. There is nothing on this Earth more irate than a construction foreman on a tight schedule who is confronted with a piece of junk rental machine. We had another outfit who rented the same type of stuff we did plus some light hoes, skid steers, etc. We got a lot of business that originally went to this other outfit because their stuff was in poor repair most of the time.

Anderson rents heavy equipment in this area. They have been around for quite a while. You see a lot of Anderson heavy equipment being purchased by the local farmers. The equipment I have seen looks like it was very well maintained over it's rental life.

Mike(NEOhio) · May 12, 2016

The one I use once in a while seems to be thriving. They have three locations now. Then there's Home Depot rental. Buy it, use it, return it saying "I didn't like it" or "It didn't work."

rrlund · May 12, 2016

The one here seems to do OK. They're a full service hardware store and small engine business in a town of under 1000. They have a few dozers,I think there's two full sized excavators and several mini excavators. A local BTO had one of their big excavators for the better part of a year I guess.
I've rented one of the jack hammers a few times. The BIL had their stump grinder and ground one for me while he had it. Pretty handy to have them around.

Mike(NEOhio) · May 12, 2016

The one I use once in a while seems to be thriving. They have three locations now. Then there's Home Depot rental. Buy it, use it, return it saying "I didn't like it" or "It didn't work." They put it back in stock and someone else buys it with missing pieces.

Spook · May 12, 2016

Home Depots here do a good business on rentals. Their prices are a third to half what the local places charged. I think they put at least one out of business.

BarnyardEngineering · May 12, 2016

The places that seem to come and go are the small independent shops. Big chains like Sunbelt aren't affected by wrecked equipment as much because they can fix it in-house, and they have other machines to rent out while this one is out of commission.

Russ from MN · May 12, 2016

Acme tools in Bemidji seems to be doing well, they are also the Kubota dealer, so that works well. They did have a death recently when an employee ran a aerial lift basket up into the power line.

Ron-MO · May 12, 2016

Don't forget Harbor Freight impact. On two occasions I needed a tile cutter, and a hammer drill. I own both now, as it was less expensive to just purchase from Harbor Freight and use vs. rent. Yes, the rental is better equipment, but for the price and no more than I needed, I could use and throw it away and still come out ahead. I visited Menards going to rent the hammer drill, and found out it was basically the same drill from HF, and I was essentially buying the drill by renting it. I did purchase a couple of their better bits from them to use in the HF drill. Now, on more expensive items, such as bobcats, it is not cost effective to purchase obviously, but sometimes you are just as well off hiring that type work done, as I know I rented a bobcat a few times and it always takes me a couple hours to re-learn how to operate, and even then I am not efficient at it and takes twice as long to do the job.

Duane WI · May 12, 2016

To me buying used tools from Craig's List and then reselling when done is like free rental for as long as I need the item.

Tool rental places and there demise?

JOCCO

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Billy Shafer

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Geo-TH,In

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oldtanker

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brutus49DC

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Pitch

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D beatty

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DGinVT

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Fatjay

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Donald Lehman

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Mike(NEOhio)

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rrlund

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Mike(NEOhio)

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Spook

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BarnyardEngineering

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Russ from MN

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Ron-MO

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Duane WI

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