The Rent vs. Buy Debate

- October 4, 2014

Massive Equipment have rather cheekily named the month of October, “National Rental Month”. Whilst this ‘month’ is not officially recognized here in the Cayman Islands we really don’t think its a bad idea. In general the rental industry is unknown by those outside the construction or special event worlds. That is not unexpected of course, and, in an effort to raise the profile of renting equipment, this ‘month’ will provide general marketing of the industry. However, we also hope to educate our regular clients on the very good reasons to consider renting versus buying equipment.

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As a side note, this blog post is primarily referring to the construction industry. We will do a follow-up post on rent vs. buy as it relates to the Special Events industry.

RENTING vs BUYING

In the construction sector, there are a great many reasons why the contractor or sub-contractor is better off renting versus buying equipment. Some of these are:

  • Reduced overhead. With a limited amount of capital equipment in a contractors fleet there is less need for the support operations that generally come with a larger fleet. Support staff such as mechanics are reduced or eliminated allowing for a leaner, more profitable operation during projects and the even more critical time between projects.
  • Cost control. Renting will cut a contractors costs by eliminating the need for storage, maintenance and repair of equipment, stock of parts, a dedicated service area and vehicles, and of course maintenance staff.
  • Support when you need it, not when you don’t. Renting provides 24/7 support when you have equipment-related needs after hours. Our staff is always on call to ensure that if equipment does go down we can get it up and running promptly on our dime, or replace it immediately with another item so the contractor can stay productive.
  • Knowledgeable staff. Our rental staff have been with us for many years (some since we started operations 16 years ago). We provide advice and training on the general and specialized tools and equipment for rent ensuring that the staffer who uses the item on your job is highly productive.
  • Flexibility. Renting allows you to bring in the specialized equipment you need for a job, whether large or small, to get the job done right the first time. The alternative is often to use the inappropriate tool or equipment on a project because the contractor has significant investment tied up in it. This inevitably leads to problems.
  • Scheduling. Renting helps the contractor keep projects on schedule by reducing downtime for equipment maintenance and the cost of purchasing and storing parts and labour for repair or specialized operations.
  • Productivity. Delivery to your job site is always available for all items of equipment, allowing your valuable man-hours to be applied directly to the area of greatest return for contractors – construction. We can bring the item to you, guaranteed to work as it gets there.
  • Serviceability of equipment. Equipment remains in good working condition, ready when you are. We have so many renters come in that bought a compactor, pump or power trowel only to return to renting these items as when they were needed they had been found in non-functional condition or worse had been stolen.
  • Accountability. This is a huge pro in favour of renting. Contractors figure the cost of renting into a proposal and tent to be much more focussed in when items are used, and return them promptly as time is indeed money. Owners of equipment often report lost or stolen equipment, typically discovered at the time it is needed, and the root cause is no one was personally responsible for the proper care and security of the item between uses.

 

There are many other reasons to consider renting. This short post was intended just to give a quick insight into some of the key reasons we have found that clients give for buying items, and ultimately why we see them back in our store later when their ‘buy’ premise does not work out as planned.

Feel free to leave a comment or, for more assistance in making your decision, feel free to contact us on info@massivegroup.com or 345-949-7990.

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