No matter what kind of business you’re interested in starting, you’re going to need a well-put-together business plan if you’re going to succeed.
Not only is planning essential to your success, but it’s also something that any lender will have to see before providing a loan to start your business. With a good small equipment rental business plan, you can make a great impression and get the funding you need.
Your business plan should start with an industry overview, which serves as a sort of introduction. This brief section will discuss the general state of the construction industry to serve as a lead in to why you believe that your business will be profitable in this area.
The Industry Overview section should include some publicly available statistics on construction and rental industries, total revenue in the country and the state, growth percentages over the last few years, and other very general information at this point in your plan.
The Industry Overview
Your business plan should start with an industry overview, which serves as a sort of introduction. This brief section will discuss the general state of the construction industry to serve as a lead in to why you believe that your business will be profitable in this area.
The Industry Overview section should include some publicly available statistics on construction and rental industries, total revenue in the country and the state, growth percentages over the last few years, and other very general information at this point in your plan.
The Executive Summary
The executive summary is just that, a summary. In this section, you can go over why you’re interested in starting a construction equipment rental company, what kinds of services you’re going to provide, and some details about your background.
While this is one of the first sections of any heavy equipment rental business plan PDF template, it’s often the best practice to write it last. Because it serves as an introduction to the remainder of the plan, you should have a very firm idea of what’s to follow.
Your Services
Next, you’ll need a thorough description of what your actual services are going to be. In the case of equipment rentals, you’ll describe that you’ll be acquiring equipment to rent to individuals and companies in your area.
At this point, you should consider if rentals are going to be your only service. Most rental businesses sell at least accessories for some equipment and often provide repairs as well. If you intend to provide additional services, you’ll have to include them here.
The Mission Statement and Vision
While this section might seem like a bit of departure from the more practical parts of the business plan, it is expected and will be included in any construction equipment rental business plan PDF templates.
Here, you’ll generally explain that your mission statement and vision are to provide quality service as a rental business and to thrive within the market. You don’t have to make up something about values or principles; you’re here to start a business.
The Structure and Roles
Getting back to the details of how your business is going to run, you’ll have to define what the roles in your company are going to be. Depending on the size of the business you’re setting up, are you going to be the CEO, owner, manager, or all three?
Small businesses could just be one person, or perhaps several who all share in a variety of duties. For larger endeavors, you’ll have to define roles like maintenance manager, rentals and leasing manager, and more.
The SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It’s a way of looking at your business to find which areas you believe you’ll excel in and which will present challenges.
For your strengths, you might like to mention any past experience in either equipment or business in general. You don’t want to go too far into your weaknesses, perhaps just mentioning that there are plenty of competitors, but make sure to mention how your business plans to differentiate itself.
Your Sales and Marketing Strategies
Here, you’ll have to explain how your business plans to present itself and put itself out there to get started and find customers. Some common strategies might include brochures, a website, social media, or ads in local print publications.
You should also specify who your target market is supposed to be. Are you exclusively renting heavy equipment to construction contractors? Are you renting smaller equipment to mostly homeowners?
Your Sales Forecast
When dealing with lenders, they’re going to want to know how much money your business plans on making. While determining these kinds of forecasts can be difficult, you can often base them on industry averages within your region.
These should be broken down by fiscal year, so basically stating what you forecast your sales to be in the first, second, and third years of operation. Any information about a similar business would be very helpful in putting this together.
Your Pricing Strategy
So you’ve acquired some equipment to rent out, but how much does it cost to rent? Are there additional fees? Do customers have to put down deposits? What payment methods are accepted? These are some important questions to answer in your pricing strategy.
This section should also reference the ratio between equipment costs and rental rates to demonstrate that equipment rentals will be profitable over the lifetime of the equipment.
Your Business Expenses
Of course, your business plan is going to have to include a breakdown of your expected expenses. This breakdown will have to include both the initial expenses of opening your business and the ongoing operational expenses you can expect to continue into the future.
Your startup expenses will play a big part in justifying any loans you’re seeking, and a well-defined explanation of operational expenses will play a big part in demonstrating that your business can be profitable.
If this all sounds like a bit much, you can greatly streamline the process of developing your equipment rental business plan by downloading our straightforward business plan template PDF.
Setting Up Your New Rental Business for Success With Quipli
Even with an effective business plan, your rental business needs careful oversight and the right tools to succeed. Quipli provides an integrated platform that combines your inventory management and online presence to make online bookings that much easier for your customers.
To find out more about the many features of the Quipli platform and what they can do for your business, Contact our Team at Quipli for a demo of online equipment rental checkout software today!
Get Started With Quipli’s Construction Rental Equipment Software Today
