How Rental Centers Profit from Bobcat Equipment

Chris Berry says his Bobcat equipment is rented out about 70 percent of the time.

In the rental business an investment in Bobcat equipment can pay double dividends. Because of advanced technology, rugged construction and reliable performance, they help boost the bottom line for rental stores. And, the compact machines boost customer productivity by saving time and labor.

Good Demand

Chris Berry, a manager with NES Rentals, Springfield, Mass., has had a decade of good experience with Bobcat® equipment. His company has five Bobcat 763 skidsteer loaders (now the S150) and four Bobcat 331 excavators. Both models are the right size for the company’s customer base, which consists mostly of contractors.

“The Bobcat name is very helpful in renting the machines,” says Berry. “Over the course of a year, our Bobcat equipment is rented out about 70 percent of the time, usually on a weekly or monthly basis.”

In-stock attachments for the 763 include augers, utility grapples, snow buckets and hydraulic breakers. Pallet forks are another popular attachment. “This attachment offers a convenient way to move roofing tile, cinder blocks and other materials around a construction site,” says Berry. “Changing between the pallet forks and other attachments is easy, too. Customers will ask for pallet forks, or we will often suggest them.”

The 331 excavators can be rented with 13- or 24-in.-wide Bobcat buckets and hydraulic clamp or a Bobcat hydraulic breaker. The simple, comfortable operation of the excavators is enhanced by the convenient control pattern selector lever. It allows operators to quickly switch between ISO and standard control patterns. “It’s a nice feature,” Berry adds. “Operators who are used to one pattern don’t have to re-learn a different one when they rent the excavator.”

For John Villarosa and his customers, the Bobcat name means quality.

Bobcat Quality Counts

Bobcat® compact excavators have been part of the rental fleet at Oakland (Calif.) Rentals for the past six years, and have been especially popular among plumbing contractors.

“They want quality and the Bobcat name counts a lot to them,” says owner John Villarosa. “They know that it represents good workmanship.”

Several features of the 331 excavator are a big plus for Villarosa and his customers:

• One of the challenges in the rental business is quickly turning equipment around when service or repair is needed. The swing-open tailgate and a side access cover offer quick, simple access to engine and hydraulic system components and service points. “It’s real easy to repair the 331 in the field, if necessary,” says Villarosa. “Being able to fix things right on the spot without having to bring equipment back to the shop is important to a small rental store like ours, plus it helps customers, too.”

• Comfort is also important to his customers. “The 331 is comfortable and easy to use,” Villarosa says. “Renters like the placement of the controls and the way they operate.”

• They also like technology such as sweep gauges, digital readouts, fingertip control of auxiliary hydraulic functions, button-activated two-speed travel, a lever for quickly switching between ISO and standard control patterns and the exclusive X-Change® mounting system that makes changing attachments fast and easy.

Anne Cristiani has operated her rental business for six years.

“Customers like those kind of features because they know that Bobcat Company is trying to make their job easier.” At the same time, a monitoring system that automatically shuts the excavator down, if needed, to prevent catastrophic damage to the machine, gives him added peace of mind when the
machine leaves for a jobsite.

The end result is increased productivity for customers and more profits for Villarosa. “Customers are really happy with the performance of the 331,” he says. “I’m very pleased with the machine. It holds up very well and it’s definitely been a good investment.”

Attention to Details

Paying close attention to details has helped Anne Cristiani succeed in the rental business.

For example, some skid-steer loader renters prefer hand controls and others like foot controls. To accommodate operator preference Cristiani equipped her S185 skidsteer loader with the Bobcat Advanced Control System (ACS). A dash-mounted switch gives operators an instant choice of controlling lift and tilt functions by hand or by foot at the flip of a switch.

“For a rental center this is the real deal,” says the president of A.C. Equipment Rental, Inc., Clarksville, Ind. “With a single loader we can provide both control options. This is especially handy for some of our large contractor customers who use multiple operators. Sometimes they don’t
even know what their employees prefer.”

Actually, having genuine Bobcat branded equipment available is another detail not to be overlooked. “Most of the people who walk in the door looking to rent a skid-steer loader say, ‘Do you have a Bobcat® loader available?’ We try to give them what they want.”

Cristiani and her staff of five employees go out of their way to make sure customers get the right equipment for the job.

“The large variety of Bobcat attachments makes that easier all the time,” she says. “When I first offered Bobcat equipment for rent I had no idea the company had such an extensive lineup of attachments. If we don’t have what a customer needs, we contact our dealer (Bobcat Enterprises, Louisville) for the right job-matched attachment. Our goal is to take care of our customers.”

Eight new Bobcat loaders have made John Nutt and his customers happy.

That’s a philosophy Cristiani learned before she started her rental business six years ago. Her husband, Dan, is a long-time owner of his own excavation business.

“I remember the consequences of rental equipment not getting to his jobsites on time,” she says. “It can really hurt the customer.”

Cristiani set up her business based on how her husband was treated. “I latched on to the good points, and took the opposite approach to situations that caused him problems,” she says. “By emphasizing the positive and eliminating the negative, I developed a company that always puts the customer first.”

More Smiles and More Money

John Nutt, who owns Contractors Rental Co., Des Moines, Iowa, knows how to make his customers happy. Last spring he replaced older models of another brand of skid-steer loader with eight new Bobcat® skid-steer machines—six S175s and two S250s.

“Customers light up with a smile when they see the new machines,” he says. “Acceptance has been really great.”

One reason is the easy-to-use, smooth-operating steering levers, and lift and tilt controls that allow an operator to work quickly and efficiently. In fact, before buying the Bobcat loaders, Nutt and his staff compared them, side-by-side, with two new models of his previous brand. The Bobcat controls operated much more smoothly than the hand controls of the other brand.

Nutt’s primary customers are contractors and the two different sizes of the vertical lift path Bobcat loaders serve his market well. The mid-size S175, with its 1,750-lb. rated operating capacity, offers the agility and performance to save time and labor in smaller spaces. The S250, with its 75 hp turbocharged diesel engine, provides 2,500 lb. of rated operating capacity to easily power through heavier digging, lifting and loading chores. In addition to the loaders, Nutt offers such Bobcat attachments as augers, buckets, angle brooms and hydraulic breakers.

The S175 also fits the needs of homeowners who rent the machines, mostly on weekends. “Those weekend rentals help balance out the cash flow of contractor rentals during the week,” he notes.

Nutt has been impressed by the economics of the S175s and S250s. “The Bobcat machines generate about twice the revenue of our previous brand of skid-steer loaders,” he says.

The S175s and S250s join other Bobcat equipment which Nutt has purchased from his dealer, Capital City Equipment. His Bobcat rental fleet includes a T200 compact track loader for added traction and flotation on tough jobs and nine excavators (two 320 models, four 322s, a 331 and two 334s).

While the excavator lineup provides contractors with a wide choice of sizes and performance, two of the smallest Bobcat models —the 320 and 322—offer homeowners a cost effective alternative to a dedicated trencher, which rents for about twice the price of the smallest Bobcat excavators.

“Our homeowner customers can learn to handle the small Bobcat excavators comfortably in less than 30 minutes,” Nutt says. “And, unlike a trenching unit, they can use the excavators to work around foundations, put in a new sprinkler line or build a retaining wall without tearing up the rest of the yard.”

No wonder Nutt and his customers are smiling.

Return on Investment

Ato Z Rental, Elizabethton, Tenn., has been renting Bobcat® skid-steer loaders and excavators to contractors and homeowners for the past six years. “We’re real excited about Bobcat products,” says owner Terry Norris. “They’re reliable and durable and the return on investment is unusually high.”

The size of the machines makes it easy for homeowners to pull them on a trailer behind a pickup truck. That saves delivery charges. Plus, adds Norris, “the Bobcat machines are easy for customers to start and to operate.”

Terry Norris says Bobcat machines are easy for customers to operate.

They also have the capacity to do the work his customers want done. “Many people can’t believe that a machine the size of the 325 can dig like it does,” Norris says. “Our customers use it for everything from excavating footings and trenches to digging graves. The backfill blade is another big selling point.

“Also, the 325 is a real smooth piece of equipment to use. The joystick requires much less pressure to operate than some other compact excavators. And you can very precisely control the boom and bucket. Alot of our customers like that. We get positive feedback from operators all the time.”

Loader Backhoe Generates Excitement

“Our Bobcat® B100 loader backhoe has been well received,” says James Drennan, who owns A-1 Rent-All, Longview, Tex. “When customers see it for the first time, they’re excited about it.”

So was he. In fact, Drennan was the first in North America to buy a B100 when it hit the market in the spring of 2002. “I liked the way it looked,” he says. “Mechanically, it’s superior to another make of compact loader backhoe that we have. Getting on and off the B100 is easier and, because it has a lot more room for the operator, it’s more comfortable.”

He gives the machine high marks in terms of usage and performance. “It has more than ample power for its size,” Drennan says.

His customers can use the B100 with a loader bucket on the front and a 16-in. trenching bucket on the rear. Most are contractors who use it for digging trenches for utilities and septic systems. The B100 is popular due to its ability to efficiently work where space is limited, Drennan notes. “And, people feel comfortable with the controls,” he says.