

EquipmentShare (YC W15) Is Like Airbnb for Construction Equipment - sunilkumarc
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/09/equipmentshare/

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sitkack
Isn't this Hertz, Sunbelt or United?

I see how this is a startup, get people with capital equipment sitting around,
monetize it, make a cut of the transaction.

But seriously, this is a feature of one the three I just mentioned.

Look at how Hertz and Enterprise have taken on the self service car
competition and at the same time made it a non-starter to run your own fleet.
Same exact thing. You have an extremely small window to execute. The only
reason to own is for chain of custody and latency, if you can "solve" those
problems, done. Most construction companies don't own anyways.

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MatthewMcDonald
Co-Founder here. Happy to answer any questions.

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DevFactor
PLEASE stop using the advertisement "like AirBnB for x". I swear all of the YC
companies are using it now.

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jessaustin
IDK the description seems to fit. What's wrong with terms of art?

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bau5
There's also [http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/27/with-1-8m-from-
andreessen-c...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/27/with-1-8m-from-andreessen-
chris-sacca-more-rental-marketplace-getable-digs-into-the-32b-construction-
market/)

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MatthewMcDonald
We're aware of Getable. We see them as more of a middleman between contractors
and rental companies, whereas we focus on helping contractors lend out idle
equipment.

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cpursley
Just sent this to my father who owns a commercial landscaping company. His
skid-steers sit unused 80% of the time. And other times he has to rent
specific equipment just for a few days. Great idea.

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jessaustin
Wow. Limited release, to Missouri? I didn't think we got _anything_ first. I
expect several people in my family will try this out.

Off the top of my head, some challenges:

 _Insurance_ Equipment can be rendered unusable in so many ways. It's not even
in the same ballpark as an Airbnb guest ruining the carpet. You've _got_ to
have insurance for this. Who pays? How much? Does anyone even want to offer
insurance to this market? The "About" page mentions verification, which in
theory might reduce EquipmentShare's risk, but I wonder. It _won 't_ be the
same as insurance sold to existing rental companies. I doubt that a standard
contractor's worksite insurance plan covers this either.

 _Maintenance_ Most of the equipment pictured on the website requires _daily_
maintenance by a qualified operator or mechanic. Sure, the interval gets
stretched, but that's usually by the owner or her agents, so they get what's
coming to them. I understand that this is the primary headache for equipment
rental places, but they are better able to deal with it than an individual
contractor would be, and typically they know their customers pretty well
before they e.g. rent a Bobcat for a month.

 _Mobilization_ If it fits in the back of a pickup, this probably won't be a
problem. Lots of stuff doesn't. Who is hauling the equipment? When? Is it a
separate fee? Does the hauler have insurance that will cover the value of the
equipment? (Is that the sort of thing that we should leave to reviews?)

 _Fees per what?_ Lots of stuff is fine to rent by the day. If it has an
engine, however, it's often better to rent by the operating hour. If the
lessee just wants to use something for an hour a day, however, minimum fees
might be appropriate. This could get complex.

 _Find the right model for older equipment_ With old enough heavy equipment,
operating costs swamp equipment value. That is, if you have an old bulldozer
sitting out in a field, it's costing you nothing. (The capital is fully
depreciated.) If you then use it for a month, you're going to have to replace
all the many filters a couple of times, run a couple of buckets of oil through
it a day, fix all the dry-rotted hydraulic hoses, locate and repair some
seals, replace both batteries, locate and fix clogged grease fittings, and
then pray that nothing big like a pump or a turbo goes out. If this stuff is
the lessor's responsibility, the rental fee will need to be higher than one
might expect. If it's the lessee's, it won't get done, the machine will be
ready for the scrapyard after a week, and one might expect lawsuits. The right
model _might_ be "don't allow old junk", but this is an area where this
service can differentiate itself from existing equipment rental, so maybe not.

Actually now that I think about it, this service might be better for specialty
tools like hammerdrills and scaffolding than it would be for motorized
equipment like that pictured on the landing page. Fewer details, and less
money on the line in case of disaster. One suggestion I would definitely make
would be to sign up existing rental companies and equipment dealers (perhaps
through a separate website if you don't want to confuse contractors). They
have a lot of existing inventory and will view this as another sales channel.

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MatthewMcDonald
Thanks for your comments and suggestions! Would love to hear from anyone you
know in Missouri that's interested.

> Insurance

Insurance is a huge pain for equipment. Most of the contractors we've
encountered have an insurance policy that covers rental. Those that do not
must pay ~15% to be added to a 3rd party insurance policy. We do not allow
uninsured rentals to occur through our site.

> Maintenance

We work with mechanics in the area to have equipment automatically serviced
when it's needed

> Mobilization

If you need the equipment delivered, we have agreements with towing companies.
There is a fee for this (depends on weight, distance, etc).

> Fees per what?

We charge per day, for the very reason you pointed out (complexity). We
haven't had any pushback about this so far, but if we do we'll look at it.

> Find the right model for older equipment

We don't have an official policy on what can be listed and what cant, but
"don't allow old junk" isn't far from the mark. We're also collecting reviews
and rating information, which will help us filter out equipment that gives a
bad experience.

