Rental Return Calculator Equipment rental profitability · 3-way financial model

Guides

How the numbers in an equipment rental business actually work

No jargon, no theory for its own sake. Every guide answers its question in the first paragraph and then works through a real machine with real figures. When you want to try it on your own fleet, the calculator is one click away and needs no sign-up.

Guide 1 · 9 min read

How to calculate equipment rental rates

The full method, from the seven costs of ownership to the day, week and month rate you publish. With a 3-tonne mini excavator worked through end to end.

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Guide 2 · 8 min read

How much should you charge to rent out equipment?

The floor is arithmetic, the price is the market, and the money is usually in the charges around the machine. Including the rate ladder and when discounting is worth it.

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Guide 3 · 8 min read

Will this machine pay for itself? Payback explained

The month your cumulative cash turns positive, why it matters more than ROI, and the worked telehandler that pays back in month 24 — or never, at fifteen points less utilisation.

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Guide 4 · 8 min read

Buy it or hire it in? The numbers that decide

Ownership is fixed cost, hiring in is variable cost, and the crossover is one division. Plus the asymmetry that means you should never buy at the crossover.

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Guide 5 · 8 min read

Time utilisation vs financial utilisation, and why busy machines lose money

Two identical excavators, same yard, same year. One was on hire 54 days more and earned $1,905 less. Which number your depot manager is measured on decides which one you get.

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Guide 6 · 8 min read

What your machine is worth in year three, and why it changes the rate

Book depreciation is for tax. Market residuals set your rate. Decline curves by machine family, what an eighteen-point error costs, and how to build your own curve in an afternoon.

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