Owning vs. Renting Equipment

Compare the cost of purchasing equipment against published rental rates for similar equipment in the same area as your job site. Compare the costs associated with each choice. Which one makes the most sense for you and your business? 

1. New equipment with a higher purchase price, but lower interest rate and longer lifespan.

2. Used equipment with a lower purchase price, but higher interest rate and lesser lifespan.

3. Renting equipment without any cash drain or liability commitment.

Enter your job dates, the equipment, the state, and how far the job is from your yard. The calculator totals the real cost of using your own machine — ownership, financing, maintenance, insurance, and mobilization — and compares it side by side with renting a similar machine in the same state. Use it to price bids, set internal equipment rates for job costing, or decide whether your next purchase pays for itself.

Only you know how long your equipment will last based on how heavily you've used similar equipment in the past, and based on what contracted jobs you have coming up. Search for the typical lifespan hours of your make/model, then divide that by the estimated number of hours you intend to use the equipment in a typical year.