How many of you rent equipment as opposed to buy?

[Plasmech]

Talking about say chippers, stump grinders and such.

Is it possible to still make good money if you rent your big machines instead of buying them? I'm thinking about doing this with a chipper...

 

[Bermie]

Yup, 'rent' or sub all my big equipment, bucket truck, crane truck, dump truck, chipper.

Everything from $250 to $4000 jobs...I don't have to borrow the $$$$$$ to buy them, pay licencing, insurance, loans, maintenance etc...and to have the equipment parked more often than its moving, or have to hire another person to drive them.
A lot of my clients have gardening services that will do the cleanup if I leave stuff neatly stacked so I don't need the extra equipment...works for me!

The guy I use for my bucket truck and dump truck has his own business, he does a lot of other height work, so his rig is working all the time, rather than me having one that I only bring out every two weeks or so, I call, I get priority, its win-win.

A crane truck, 2 ton 50' crane with 8yd dump is well over $100,000...again, pick up the phone, call Jerome, and away we go, I have no hassle!

 

[Plasmech]

Cool, thanks for the input! Always appreciated.

So what's the going rate for a chipper, say 50 HP, per hour in your neck of the woods?

Yup, 'rent' or sub all my big equipment, bucket truck, crane truck, dump truck, chipper.

Everything from $250 to $4000 jobs...I don't have to borrow the $$$$$$ to buy them, pay licencing, insurance, loans, maintenance etc...and to have the equipment parked more often than its moving, or have to hire another person to drive them.
A lot of my clients have gardening services that will do the cleanup if I leave stuff neatly stacked so I don't need the extra equipment...works for me!

The guy I use for my bucket truck and dump truck has his own business, he does a lot of other height work, so his rig is working all the time, rather than me having one that I only bring out every two weeks or so, I call, I get priority, its win-win.

A crane truck, 2 ton 50' crane with 8yd dump is well over $100,000...again, pick up the phone, call Jerome, and away we go, I have no hassle!

 

[treemandan]

A chipper that works will cost you bout 400 a day.

 

[Plasmech]

A chipper that works will cost you bout 400 a day.

...wow. Ouch.

 

[Bermie]

A big vermeer 6" will run about $80 per hour with an operator from my landscaper buddy. He usually cuts me a lower price though.

 

[Tree Pig]

Not really cost effective. Around here United Rental you can get a 12" Vermeer for $250-275 a day. Problem is now with the low market and undercutting going on its hard to build rental fees in to the price because you are going to end up higher then a lot of bids. Best bet is to keep busy shopping craigs list ebay whatever you can try and find an old chuck and duck that will get you by for cheap. Pay that off then stick $100 job away for a good chipper or whatever you have in mind.

 

[mckeetree]

We don't rent nothin.

 

[oldirty]

A big vermeer 6" will .....

sounds like an oxymoron to me. lol.

 

[mckeetree]

sounds like an oxymoron to me. lol.

Yeah but I like that "a big 6 inch" saying. Next time I get a chance I will remind my wife that I have a "BIG 6 inch" so look out.

 

[yooper]

Yeah but I like that "a big 6 inch" saying. Next time I get a chance I will remind my wife that I have a "BIG 6 inch" so look out.

it must be 6 inch by 6 inch:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[oldirty]

Yeah but I like that "a big 6 inch" saying. Next time I get a chance I will remind my wife that I have a "BIG 6 inch" so look out.

jumbo shrimp?

 

[oldirty]

plas. depending upon how much work you actually do what would make more economical sense would be to do a couple or three jobs and get the work done and piled up and then on the 4th day come by with the chipper and bang it all out in a day.

 

[Rftreeman]

I'll rent if it cost less then paying one of the many friends I have with pretty much anything I need from Cat D9 dozer down to a stump grinder....most of the time I'll hire one of them but not everyone has these privileges so if you need to rent then you have to figure that in to the bid price, the only place around here to rent a chipper that's worth renting is Vermeer and it was $900 a week the last quote I got from them for a bc1800 I think it was....

 

[yooper]

plas. depending upon how much work you actually do what would make more economical sense would be to do a couple or three jobs and get the work done and piled up and then on the 4th day come by with the chipper and bang it all out in a day.

great advise! I usta do that with stump grinding.

 

[ozzy42]

I think it depends on how much work you do with a particular tool.

Wouldn't be too smart to be renting a chainsaw,but on the other hand,you have to do a lot of large removals to warrant buying a crane.

Yeah,I know I gave the extremes from each end to make the point,but it
can not be answered generically without knowing one's circumstances.

 

[Plasmech]

My situation is one, I do this on the side. Two, I really don't know what I'm doing and it's only a matter of time before I get killed anyway. And three, I live in a townhouse with, obviously, no room whatsoever to store anything big.

So I was really hoping to get this thing off the ground by renting, but at $400/day for a chipper, I don't see that happening.

As fas as a chuck and duck chipper, I think that's just a dangerous machine made even more dangerous.

I think it depends on how much work you do with a particular tool.

Wouldn't be too smart to be renting a chainsaw,but on the other hand,you have to do a lot of large removals to warrant buying a crane.

Yeah,I know I gave the extremes from each end to make the point,but it
can not be answered generically without knowing one's circumstances.

 

[ozzy42]

My situation is one, I do this on the side.

How about renting a dump trailer.Stack it and pack it.

Two, I really don't know what I'm doing and it's only a matter of time before I get killed anyway.

Aw come on .I thought you were committed to learning to do this stuff the right way?

And three, I live in a townhouse with, obviously, no room whatsoever to store anything big.

Secured storage yards are pretty inexpensive.
Kept my stuff at one for 4 yrs while living in a deed restricted area.

So I was really hoping to get this thing off the ground by renting, but at $400/day for a chipper, I don't see that happening.

As fas as a chuck and duck chipper, I think that's just a dangerous machine made even more dangerous.

:agree2: on both points

 

[Rftreeman]

ahhh man, can't knock a good chuck n duck chipper......I feel safer with it than a self feed...


Plas, check home depot, they rent a small chipper that will take 6" stuff and it's less than $400 a day I do believe.

 

[treemandan]

Plas, what you need is a place to short dump.