Renting And Leasing Janitorial Equipment

posted on 6/16/2011

By Nick Bragg, Deputy Editor of Sanitary Maintenance

With facilities' cleaning budgets being curtailed as a result of the poor economy, capital purchases of new floor and carpet cleaning equipment have significantly dropped over the last couple of years. But just because end users nowadays are hesitant to purchase new machinery doesn’t mean that the equipment business isn’t a lucrative sector.

Because the majority of customers don’t have the budget to spend $10,000 on a new piece of equipment, distributors should instead be taking advantage of slashed cleaning budgets as a way to fulfill their customers’ equipment needs by giving them a low-cost option of either renting on an as-need basis or leasing equipment.

In fact, an online survey of building service contractors found that 62.6 percent of respondents indicated that they recently considered renting floor machines and carpet extractors, while 56 percent said the same about leasing equipment.

Distributors can get into the renting and leasing of equipment business with little to no investment — especially if they already have a service department. Distributors with service departments often give customers the option of trading in their old piece of equipment for cash towards a new equipment purchase. Distributors also will take discarded equipment off of their customers’ hands, often leading to a warehouse full of unwanted machines. However, what is considered one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Distributors in return can refurbish these discarded machines and make a profit by renting them out to customers on an as-needed basis or lease out the machines to customers with limited funds. When leasing, distributors can then give customers the option of purchasing the machine at a considerably lower price tag when their contract concludes.

So, the next time a customer trades in a machine or leaves it behind, if it’s financially and technically feasible, consider revamping it and renting it out or leasing it. Customers will appreciate the up-front savings, while distributors will enjoy the profit.