Construction Equipment – Rent, Buy, or Lease?

Abstract

If the piece of equipment is something you are only planning on using occasionally or seasonally or if it's a piece of specialty equipment that you only need for a small number of jobs you should probably consider renting. You can get what you need when you need it without having to tie up a lot of cash in buying equipment or get locked into a lease on a piece of equipment that doesn't meet your long-term needs. Buying Construction Equipment Owning your construction equipment means you determine how and when the equipment is used as well as having complete control over its maintenance and upkeep. Owning equipment means it's always at your disposal when you need it and it allows your equipment operators to have a higher level of familiarity with using the equipment which could lead to higher productivity. If your company doesn't have the ability to keep equipment properly maintained and serviced then you should probably consider renting or an operating lease for your equipment needs. If you had rented the equipment you could simply return it if you no longer needed it and not incur any additional costs and if you had purchased the equipment you could simply resell it and recoup some of your costs. A capital lease means the lessee is treated as the owner of the equipment which means you are responsible for all maintenance, taxes, and insurance which also means depreciation and interest on the equipment can be written off.