Attachments Keep Rental Machines Productive

Jim Masison

For more than three decades, Equip-Rent in Foxboro, Mass., has rented Bobcat compact loaders and attachments to a variety of customers"from homeowners to landscape contractors.

"The rental industry has changed a lot in 30 years," says Jim Masison, owner. "We have gone toward compact equipment and have found a niche."

While most of Equip-Rent's customers rent a Bobcat skid-steer or compact track loader by the day, Masison says there are some machines that are in the field for as long as several months. He attributes part of the rental success, and duration, to the durability of the Bobcat equipment with little or no downtime, plus support from Bobcat of Boston and the versatility of his Bobcat attachments.

"Attachments are a big part of our business", Masison says, "even for those contractors who don't rent a loader from us.

"We have quite a few attachments, and when other stores don't have them, we get the rental," he says. "For instance, we have a planer attachment and there aren't too many stores around that have one. A customer will usually rent it with a Bobcat loader for a week. Attachments help rent machines."

He gets good rental income out of attachments such as his Bobcat stump grinder, pallet forks, augers and landscape rakes. According to Masison, the landscape rake is the attachment of choice by landscapers in the area for final grading. The rake collects surface debris as it smoothes and levels the soil. It will pick up three-quarter-inch and larger rocks with adjustable side skis to control depth.

Masison's fleet of equipment includes eight S175 skid-steer loaders. He likes this size loader because they can run a diverse line of landscaping attachments.

"It's a good all-around machine," Masison says. "It's a profitable piece of equipment for us. In fact, all of our Bobcat equipment is."

And profit is where Masison and his company's eight employees look when they rent and eventually sell their Bobcat loaders and attachments. Masison says Equip-Rent typically keeps their Bobcat loaders for two years before they sell them. He says there are always people looking for a used loader, mostly because they like them so much after renting the units from his store.

"We will get our entire investment back in less than two years," Masison says. "If you don't keep them a long time you can get good resale for them. We probably get as much as two-thirds of the original cost back, which allows us to go buy some new ones," he says.

"A lot of people have bought our Bobcat loaders and we'll just rent them the attachment," Masison continues. "A fair amount of landscapers rent attachments from our store, even driving by other rental stores to get to ours. I think they like to do business here because we have good equipment and a knowledgeable staff."

With the growing trend of compact track loaders finding their way on rental yards, Masison started experimenting with them in his product offering. He thinks the compact track loader market is certainly growing in his area. "We have two Bobcat T200s, a T190 and a T180 compact track loader." With their rubber track undercarriage, these machines can be used on days when rubber tire machines can't work because of wet, soft ground conditions.