7 construction equipment sharing services

A 2015 study in the United States revealed that as many as around 70% of government’s heavy construction equipment remains unused. In fact, the government equipment that’s sitting inactive for years in one state is, in a huge demand in another.

Many departments responsible for managing the equipment are trying their best to renting out the stored machinery. On the other hand, this same issue has led to the emergence of many sharing services.

What is the role of an equipment sharing service?

Basically, these services simply rent out construction equipment to contractors or businesses who need them, usually temporarily, and don’t have the required resources or financial stability. Similarly, some simply connect contractors looking to lease their unused equipment with others who want to cover their short-term needs.
The American Rental Association revealed that rental services own as much as around 54% of all construction equipment in United States, which didn’t exceed 40% ten years ago. Within the coming years a new increase is expected again. Rising uncertainties in combination with rising costs of machinery are leading more and more companies to use equipment sharing services rather than getting their own.

Why using a sharing service

Equipment sharing services can offer solutions to many practical problems during a construction project. We could list some pretty crucial of them below:

1. Flexibility during the building process
Being able to rent your equipment instead of buying it, offers sometimes great flexibility. First of all, you don’t have to spend a great portion of your budget just for buying one piece of equipment. Furthermore, you don’t need to worry about transporting the necessary equipment, as the sharing service will take care of it on your behalf.

2. Perfect for one-time projects
Imagine that you have to use a really specific piece of equipment for just one project task. This machinery may be extremely high-priced and may not be worthy to buy it for an one time project. In such cases, an equipment sharing service can be the answer to your problem.

3. Storage
Buying the right equipment is one thing. But taking care of its storage after the completion of your construction project is something really different and quite costly. The availability of places where you could safely store your machinery can be an issue, too. Those obstacles are automatically solved, when you decide to use an equipment sharing service.

4. Maintenance
In most cases, equipment sharing services take care of their machinery’s functionality. That’s a great money and time saver for your project. If done as it should, maintenance is a long and demanding procedure and having someone else to do it instead of you can always be good.

Most popular sharing services

Here are what seem to be the 7 most popular equipment sharing services, which are pretty similar to what Airbnb is for sharing homes.

#1 EquipmentShare
As the name suggests, this rapidly-growing equipment sharing service helps contractors rent equipment like excavators and boom lifts from peers in the industry that aren’t going to need them for a while. It’s basically just a web and mobile marketplace, but has lately been coming up with more advanced tools to make the process more transparent and effective.

#2 Getable
Launched 5 years back as Rentcycle, Getable has only recently started serving contractors across the country through an iOS app. Earlier, it used to be just available to contractors in the West Coast.
It allows contractors to rent construction equipment from a wide net of vendors, as well as to only deal with specific vendors that they may have developed a relationship with.
Furthermore, it even owns equipment that it rents out, too.

#3 Yard Club
Yard Club is a construction equipment sharing service, launched in 2013. It aims to revolutionize the way the construction industry manages equipment, by connecting contractor looking to earn a safe income by renting out their idle equipment to its members that frequently need equipment to meet their (uncertain) demands.

Check out also: When to Buy New Equipment in Construction: Pros & Cons

#4 United Rentals
United Rentals is believed to be the leader in the industry, offering a wide range of services, including construction equipment sharing as well as selling used equipment.

#5 Sunbelt
Sunbelt is one of the largest construction equipment sharing services in North America, serving to a wide network of contractors across 550 locations
Ranging from commercial and residential projects to specialized industries and do-it-yourselfers, it claims to have pretty much everyone covered.

#6 Hertz
Hertz is another major player that has been around since approximately 50 years now. It helps all types of contractors achieve optimum performance without making themselves vulnerable to the uncertainties of the industry by investing a huge amount of capital into new construction equipment.

#7 Big Rentz
Apparently, Big Rentz specializes in heavy machinery. However, it’s actually its rates that make it one of the most popular services in the industry, as the company prices its services surprisingly affordably.

Conclusion

Finding the solution that fits better to your needs is sometimes tricky. Under such circumstances, equipment sharing services can be a life-saver. Especially when we are talking about renting out the construction machinery, they can make things much simpler. Make sure that you have made the most efficient choice for your project and it will pay off almost immediately.