Starting self drive plant hire company

[fred]

You would be better off shoving your cock in a blender is my honest opinion i'm afraid.

Simple fact is the odd hire to a local builder whom you know won't pay for the damage caused on the majority of hires.... likewise I can get a brand new Dumper up to 6t for £120 a week or a brand new digger up to 1.5t for £140 a week. Insurance is 10% of the hire charge per week. You can't fault it. Transport is either £35 or £75 each way depending on if it has to go on the lorry.... BTW Jewsons will do anything delivered for a £5'er apparently

Vetting the customers is the other issue.... theres a reason people shop around, normally it seems that it's due to them being bad at paying and on stop elsewhere.

The other reality, is when Ted Clegg rolls your £18,000 1.5t investment over and let's it seize up you not only have the cost of the repair, but also the cost of the recovery.... then the question of does Ted's insurance cover it?

We did at one stage have a play with hiring out small tools (compressors, Wackers, Trench Rammers, etc) Utterly thankless thanks to cockwombles that don't care.... oh and BTW mate we only used it for about a hour... how much do I need to pay

Sorry to give a very morbid and negative reality... but If it was worthwhile i'd have everything out on hire.... but it's not IMHO so that's up to 5 excavators and 3 Dumpers that can sit for as long as they want.... they aren't loosing money parked in the yard! I'm not saying it's impossible to run on a small scale. but IMHO there are better ways to earn coin.

this

 

[Danny]

Joe bloggs recently phoned up and enquired about hiring one of my machines we normally only do farmers or people we know / builders.

Dropped the machine off for a weeks hire he has caused nearly £10k worth of damage the machine now cant go out to work and has now been parked in my yard for the last 3 weeks is it worth it? Yes, but when s**t like this happens no

 

[doobin]

What did he do Danny?

 

[Danny]

 

[CPS]

What did he do Danny?

View attachment 10147

What didn't he do you mean?

 

[CPS]

I'l stick my 10 pence worth in regarding the Hire business. Look for something specialist to hire out! aswell as some general hire! Compact loaders maybe.... if no one else is hiring them in your area!

 

[pettsy]

I’ve had people asking to hire my micro for odd days here and there, but for the amount offered by the time I’ve messed around loading and dropping off I can do a normal days work instead and make more money!

 

[Gunners]

You would be better off shoving your cock in a blender is my honest opinion i'm afraid.

What speed setting would you recommend Rory?

Plenty of horror stories around with self drive plant but also plenty of firms doing it and making a living. You're talking to a bunch of guys who care for the plant they own or operate and would rather be "reaching for the blender" than let unknown persons destroy their kit.
The basis of the business is this;
1. Buy new machines in bulk, pay less than other people would to buy them.
2. Hire them out for "competitive" rates. (For a definition of "competitive" see "cheap as chips")
3. Sell machines after 2 years (once warranty runs out) as "low hours" "one owner" machines for pretty much what you bought them for as you reduced the depreciation everyone else suffers by purchasing in bulk. For extra beer money - also sell some of your new machines without even hiring them for full RRP to others waiting for a production slot (Hitachi are a classic brand to do this with)
4. Profit is small but fairly low risk compared to other forms of investment.

It doesn't really work on 1 or 2 machines. But invest £1mil in kit, make 5% on that with the security that the assets you've bought aren't going to depreciate hugely. I.e. if all goes wrong you just sell up and get your money back.

Unfortunately £1mil isn't really enough. The big players are spending £20+mil a year on new kit (JCB keep announcing huge orders like this to one company) and so are buying cheaper than we could ever wish to do. At that level, the odd write off and paint scratch become insignificant and the 5% margin feels really good from your Sunseeker.

Bringing it back to one or two machines, the price you can hire for is effectively set by the bigger firms with all the buying power as you cant really compete in any other way really (a machine is a machine to a hirer). You will have to buy your machines for more money, put them out for the same money and therefore make less margin. And there are easier ways to make sub 5% on what will be a £20k plus investment risk for you.

Have you thought about hiring something more specialised that could avoid the pitfalls of competing with the big business but still make a return without giving up the day job? The new technology in the construction industry I think is providing some opportunities I think that the big players are overlooking.

 

[TiltyShaun]

You would be better off shoving your cock in a blender is my honest opinion i'm afraid.

Simple fact is the odd hire to a local builder whom you know won't pay for the damage caused on the majority of hires.... likewise I can get a brand new Dumper up to 6t for £120 a week or a brand new digger up to 1.5t for £140 a week. Insurance is 10% of the hire charge per week. You can't fault it. Transport is either £35 or £75 each way depending on if it has to go on the lorry.... BTW Jewsons will do anything delivered for a £5'er apparently

Vetting the customers is the other issue.... theres a reason people shop around, normally it seems that it's due to them being bad at paying and on stop elsewhere.

The other reality, is when Ted Clegg rolls your £18,000 1.5t investment over and let's it seize up you not only have the cost of the repair, but also the cost of the recovery.... then the question of does Ted's insurance cover it?

We did at one stage have a play with hiring out small tools (compressors, Wackers, Trench Rammers, etc) Utterly thankless thanks to cockwombles that don't care.... oh and BTW mate we only used it for about a hour... how much do I need to pay

Sorry to give a very morbid and negative reality... but If it was worthwhile i'd have everything out on hire.... but it's not IMHO so that's up to 5 excavators and 3 Dumpers that can sit for as long as they want.... they aren't loosing money parked in the yard! I'm not saying it's impossible to run on a small scale. but IMHO there are better ways to earn coin.

What he says!!!

 

[TiltyShaun]

I don’t do self drive hire. I was asked to attend a site last week to make sure the tree surgeons vehicle didn’t get stuck. The tree surgeon said I could leave the keys and bugger off as he could drive the machine. I looked at him and said would you let me take all your tools and the muncher then.....I got paid for the day!!

 

[Brendan]

personally would never entertain self drive, unless you can look at it purely from an accountant point of view as a buy, hire out and sell on before warranty expires

Majority of clowns who hire kit I wouldnt trust with a plastic seaside spade let alone 10k+ of kit, they just dont give a s**t as the plant isnt theirs, they are never greased, are refueled from any contaminated cans laying around site then used as battering rams/dozers

If you do decide to hire out a sub 3t machine, youll need suitable vehicle, trailer, tacho, insurances etc and then that doesnt account for any damages. Then end up having to match local merchants hiring a 1.5t or below for sub £150 a week and less than £250 a week for a 2.5t.

You would be better off as a man and digger setup even if you managed one day a week it would be more than the weekly hire

 

[V8Druid]

my couple of penny's worth'd be ...... No way José could I let some brain dead droid loose on a machine I owned .... Hirers don't give two ****s about it .. t'ain't theirs and HTF are you going to get them to pay the real costs of any damages ???

Plant hire is accountant led ... anyone who cares about their gear would be in tears .. very quickly.

anything I ever hire (which is rare) always goes back in better than found condition, well greased and gets looked after like it's my own.
I and probably most, if not all, of the guys on here are exceptions to the rule .... we care for our gear.
If you do .... forget it and go the hired with op. route.

 

[JD450A]

What speed setting would you recommend Rory?

That would depend entirely on the desired end result. But it'll make you cry at a far lower cost than deciding to setup a self drive firm.

 

[doobin]

That would depend entirely on the desired end result. But it'll make you cry at a far lower cost than deciding to setup a self drive firm.

pun intended....

 

[JAClark96]

Thank you all for your honest opinions and advice. I really appreciate it