Thinking about starting an equipment rental business in Arkansas

[Pops15]

A local contractor owns some storage units. He found it was cheaper to hire a company that specializes in building storage units to build them, than to build them himself.....allot cheaper! The company that built his also financed them at very competitive rates. I don't remember how much he put down, but he said the break even point was less than 50% occupancy.

Another contractor built some bigger units. 16X 44 and 16 X 48. He rents those to small contractors that don't have their own shop but need a place to store equipment and material. He doesn't have allot of units, maybe 30, but they sure do bring in the money. Ten years ago he said he was netting around $6000 a month.

 

[PILOON]

As in most situations, LOCATION is first consideration and LOCATION is second.

Pops15 was on target re erection, go with a specialized erector.

Trevi is the buildings that my buddy selected. Very well thought out concept and fast to erect with a trained crew.
He went to a big storage industry convention/showcase in Nevada B4 selecting TREVI as his supplier.

One of his compeditors tried self erection with an untrained crew and it took forever to do so and ended costing a bundle. They also damaged many componants due to inexperience.

If U do go the storage route, have the area fenced in and monitor cameras to cover all areas.
Clients like that security aspec.
Also an electric gate with access codes for tennants allows 24/24 access and cameras tell who came in and when.
'tis almost a no employee cash cow.

But rules 1,2,3 location!

 

[/pine]

A local contractor owns some storage units. He found it was cheaper to hire a company that specializes in building storage units to build them, than to build them himself

if a building contractor does not employ the mechanics capable of erecting standardized storage buildings cheaper than he can pay another contractor...I would never hire that contractor to do any work...

If you buy packages from qualified suppliers one lead man and a couple of laborers can easliy erect common storage buildings without issue...I have done it many times in short order...they are some of the simplest "from package to turn key" structures you will ever encounter...

 

[Pops15]

if a building contractor does not employ the mechanics capable of erecting standardized storage buildings cheaper than he can pay another contractor...I would never hire that contractor to do any work...

If you buy packages from qualified suppliers one lead man and a couple of laborers can easliy erect common storage buildings without issue...I have done it many times in short order...they are some of the simplest "from package to turn key" structures you will ever encounter...

I can't quote him exactly but he said something to the affect that he could hire the buildings built cheaper than he could buy the material! He's a decent size contractor that builds homes and pole barns. He does enough business that he gets the "good guy" price from suppliers.

My brother-in-law is thinking about building some storage units in California. He got prices from a company that only builds storage units. The local contractors can't touch the price.

The guy that has the bigger units that small contractors rent also hired a specialty contractor because they were cheaper than he could build them himself.

Now that I think about it theres yet another contractor (two brothers) about 15 miles south that hire a specialty contractor to build their storage units because they were cheaper.

 

[/pine]

...he could hire the buildings built cheaper than he could buy the material!...

you generally get what you pay for...enough said !

 

[Duffster]

if a building contractor does not employ the mechanics capable of erecting standardized storage buildings cheaper than he can pay another contractor...I would never hire that contractor to do any work...

If you buy packages from qualified suppliers one lead man and a couple of laborers can easliy erect common storage buildings without issue...I have done it many times in short order...they are some of the simplest "from package to turn key" structures you will ever encounter...

Maybe the contractor employs skilled carpenters instead of laborers.

I have seen this several times around here. Very common with post frame buildings.

 

[/pine]

Maybe the contractor employs skilled carpenters instead of laborers

Most contractors that actually employ mechanics (like carpenters) should have no problem erecting a quality storage building package...

the process is much easier than constructing a building from dimensional lumber...there is very little cutting involved...it is so simple...

for someone that has never done it...there is hardly any learning cure at all...anyone that can read a plan and use a tape measure and a few wrenches & a screw gun would have no problem...A quality package has explicit drawings and details and all the parts are labled...the average "carpenter's helper" would have no problem...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

A few things the local rental yard has tried...
They bought an adjacent property that had been some type of dealership (truck, tractor, car...not sure as it was before my time). They decided to rent fully equipped service bays. They quickly abandoned that venture. The people renting the service bays stole allot of tools. They started renting canoes. The canoe rental thing really took off. They have guided river canoe trips now. They are very popular. Not sure how many canoes they have but its allot.
They tried the small concrete batch trailers. I think they held one yard. It was an expensive way to buy concrete and the customers rarely washed out the trailers very well. Last I payed noticed they still had all the equipment but had moth balled that part of the operation.

I vote for this appoach to starting a rental business. Finding a rental niche like the canoes where you can ADD value to the rental item by offering guides, etc can prevent direct competition with established rental companies if there are any nearby.


Remember doing nothing is a form of failure.

 

[aczlan]

Most contractors that actually employ mechanics (like carpenters) should have no problem erecting a quality storage building package...
the process is much easier than constructing a building from dimensional lumber...there is very little cutting involved...it is so simple...
for someone that has never done it...there is hardly any learning cure at all...anyone that can read a plan and use a tape measure and a few wrenches & a screw gun would have no problem...A quality package has explicit drawings and details and all the parts are labled...the average "carpenter's helper" would have no problem...

So, lets say that we have Contractor A who is looking to expand into the storage building buisness.
He has a crew of 10 people who fall into the jack of all trades category. They do everything from pole bars, to replacing barn foundations, to re-roofing houses, but they have never done a storage unit building and rarely deal with rollup doors, they generally do sliding doors for barns and shops. Also worth noting, is that Contractor A is equipped to deal with a little of everything and had tools to handle all of the types of jobs they do.

Contractor A calls Contractor B up. Contractor B ONLY does storage buildings. He always buys from the same factory, in fact he spends $300,000+ a year there and due to this, he gets a 15% discount over what someone else would get. His guys spend 40-60 hours a week putting up storage units. He has an advance crew of 3 guys who come in a few weeks before to do the foundation and then he has a 10 man crew that comes in.
This crew has
A. 3 guys who do the framing with the steel trusses
B. 3 guys who install the metal siding/roof pieces
C. 2 guys who do the trim
D. 2 guys who just do the doors
Contractor B has the tools so that they are each equipped to do their job without having to wait for someone else to get done with a tool, because this is all that they do.
Can you tell me that a crew of 10 guys who do a little of everything will not be 10-20% slower than a crew that ONLY does these buildings even if the crew is composed of guys who know how to think and work?
In addition, while his guys are working on his building, they are not out making him money.

Due to this, it is entirely possible that Contractor B could do the same job with the same materials for 10-20% less than Contractor A's own crew could. That is the beauty of specialization.

Aaron Z

 

[Pops15]

Most contractors that actually employ mechanics (like carpenters) should have no problem erecting a quality storage building package...

the process is much easier than constructing a building from dimensional lumber...there is very little cutting involved...it is so simple...

for someone that has never done it...there is hardly any learning cure at all...anyone that can read a plan and use a tape measure and a few wrenches & a screw gun would have no problem...A quality package has explicit drawings and details and all the parts are labled...the average "carpenter's helper" would have no problem...

No one said they weren't capable of putting up the buildings. I know 2 of the 3 contractors I mentioned very well and they could build anything you could provide a print for.