Construction rental business (+ any women here)?

V8Druid

V8Druid

do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
Any one seen this before I've seen the hippo bags but always wondered why someone doesn't collect the dumpies.
50k maybe start you on this I'm London with a 3.5t and hiab.
seen them before and thought they were a good idea ..... FB and the like'd be the place for advertising ... but need waste carrier's tickets and disposal facilities for a wide range of stuff ... plus premises to sort t all..... 50k wouldn't cut it
 
Giles

Giles

Well-known member
Decent size that one assume it's not towable and has site office room?
Towable hydraulic jack up on double axle, office, toilet and drying room plus big eating area

shortage is likes of hs2 etc need a 12 man cabin for 2 due to corona
 
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Brendan

Well-known member
Towable hydraulic jack up on double axle, office, toilet and drying room plus big water area

shortage is likes of hs2 etc need a 12 man cabin for 2 due to corona
That's a great bit of kit
 
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Smiffy

Well-known member
If you want construction related 50k should get you set up a traffic management setup
If you can get in a company that wants to person on site all day would be profitable
Not if just dropping lights off


The other thing would be set up a cable avoidance company

Van cat and Genny plus there training course and insurance
 
Randla

Randla

Interloper
Hi everyone,
I am looking into starting a rental business for construction equipment (forklift, cranes, etc). Based in London but realise this will need to be done outside London. Have sufficient startup capital so the first few items of equipment can be bought outright in cash, so no bank loan needed, I think probably up to an initial outlay of about 40-50k. The idea will be to rent them to SMEs or larger companies who need them for a day/week etc. I know several other factors need to be considered - storage, parking, insurance, maintenance, etc. To be clear, I will NOT be operating these vehicles myself, we would either need to hire operates or provide them on an equipment only basis to the end users.
Welcome to the forum. Others have covered the merits/demerits of specific areas of the contruction rental space so I'll restrict my comments to more general business startup issues. Firstly, I think your seed capital is on the (very) low side to consider some of the plant that you are suggesting. You may get some headway if you looked at attachments, rather than the plant itself - as others have said. The other thing I would say is that the general rule for any business startup is that you should work on the basis that you need to hold your financial breath for up to three years (i.e. before you can draw a salary from the business). It can sometimes turn cash positive in shorter timeframes, but I wouldn't write a business model based on anything less.

HTH

Robert
 
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AusDave

Well-known member
No, it is from personal savings.

Thanks everyone for your replies, lots of useful information here, seems like 50k is just not enough to start a profitable rental business.

@AusDave Renting space as you suggested is probably a better option, but I assume you are in Australia?
@Quattromike interesting idea but about during the winter or next year when overseas holidays become normal again?
Yes, I am in Australia. However with higher density housing all over the world people often have no place to store everything they own. Storage facilities offer people the opportunity to store and remove for use items they own or would consider owning if they had storage. It's a simple concept and I can't imagine the UK wouldn't have a need the same as Australia. (Australia actually is more urbanised than the UK, most Australians live in our large cities)

After being self employed for the last 40+ years the secret to success is to find something that is in high demand and that you like doing. Then make it happen. You can start small with little cash and build from there. Best to make your mistakes with a small amount of money to lose than a large amount ;)
 
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Brendan

Well-known member
My old digger driver owned a launderette, it was a running joke how little he made from it.
There was one round the corner from my mum's house, lasted a year or so and now being converted to a hair place, which seems pointless as out of the 6 shops beside each other there is already a hair dresser and a separate beauty place 🤔
 
Routy56

Routy56

Well-known member
I really like the idea of a launderette. Just go and count your takings and fill up the vending machines every day.
Owning and running a launderette can be a great business model. Back in the 1980s my late father bought one in a modern parade of shops. It was not his full time job but more of a money spinning idea 🧐
There was 9 American Speed top loaders, 5 x tumble drier and a dry cleaner. I helped him out with maintenance. There was always loads of cash to empty every day😉
The big American machines were well made, reliable and popular with the locals
If you like fettling and messing around with machines then it’s a great part time investment job.
When he sold it the new owner converted it to a Chinese take away 🤣
 
R

Russell

Well-known member
If you could stick a coffee machine and a sweet and drink vending machine in there that would top it up a bit I would think. I wonder what it costs to have a Costa machine? At £3 for less than a pint of milk there is a bit of money there.
 
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Brendan

Well-known member
If you could stick a coffee machine and a sweet and drink vending machine in there that would top it up a bit I would think. I wonder what it costs to have a Costa machine? At £3 for less than a pint of milk there is a bit of money there.
Mark up on coffee is phenomenal, must be 4 drive thrus near me always got queues. retail park near our last job had 5 places doing coffee (4 the same company) all within a 5-10 min walk of each other
 
doobin

doobin

Well-known member
On paper you never make much at all with this type of business 😉
No, this was for real. It was a money pit. The worst was when there were plenty of coins, but the wrong type as the Polish had stuck euros in, breaking the mechanisms!

The 80s might have been glory days for laundrette owners, but who doesn’t have their own washing machine these days?
 
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Brendan

Well-known member
No, this was for real. It was a money pit. The worst was when there were plenty of coins, but the wrong type as the Polish had stuck euros in, breaking the mechanisms!

The 80s might have been glory days for laundrette owners, but who doesn’t have their own washing machine these days?
They are so cheap to buy these days there is very few households without them and same with areas with high student housing the demand just isn't there.
The only time a launderette comes into play, is if you need to do some large duvets lol.
 
V8Druid

V8Druid

do it as well as you can,but learn to do it better
Hi everyone,
I am looking into starting a rental business for construction equipment (forklift, cranes, etc). Based in London but realise this will need to be done outside London. Have sufficient startup capital so the first few items of equipment can be bought outright in cash, so no bank loan needed, I think probably up to an initial outlay of about 40-50k. The idea will be to rent them to SMEs or larger companies who need them for a day/week etc. I know several other factors need to be considered - storage, parking, insurance, maintenance, etc. To be clear, I will NOT be operating these vehicles myself, we would either need to hire operates or provide them on an equipment only basis to the end users.

What is your opinion on starting this type of business? Is it lucrative enough to take off? Any tips on which items of equipment will provide the most lucrative returns at the moment? Has anyone else done this or is everybody on this site operating their own machinery?

Also, are there any women on this forum, or am I the only one?!?🤣🙃
so ...... did you make any progress with this FL_G ??
 
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