Concrete work often bookends a contractor's project. It can start with pouring a foundation or other form work and end with pouring curbs and walkways or finishing decorative concrete. It can also lead to a lot more business for rental companies that can provide tools and equipment for all the work that comes in between.

According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, annual volume in the ready-mixed concrete category is in the $25 to $27 billion range. Concrete forming, placement and finishing represent a sizable portion of construction segments accounting for $150 to $200 billion annually. Included in that range are $62 billion annually for Heavy/Civil Construction; $105 billion annually for Poured Foundation; and $30 billion annually for Structural.

Clearly, concrete work is big business and that often means huge rental revenues for companies that specialize in the rental of concrete-working equipment. Rental companies can also benefit from the convenience that they can provide to contractors who need other tools and equipment to get a job done.

RER recently interviewed several companies with a specialty niche in concrete rentals and learned what makes them successful. A common theme to their success is the fact that these companies successfully capitalize on securing additional rentals for projects that require work beyond the concrete job. When one project leads to another, that incoming rental revenue can add up fast, a welcome circumstance in the current economy.

“Concrete equipment rentals bring in that customer base that requires or needs many of our other materials or supplies, and vice versa,” says Bruce Logan, president and owner of Des Moines, Iowa-based Logan Contractors Supply, an 18-year-old family-owned business that caters to the concrete sector. With branches in Omaha; Kansas City, Kan.; and Bettendorf, Iowa, Logan offers a diversified range of concrete materials, supplies, rentals and rebar fabrication throughout the Midwest. “In addition, offering concrete rentals allows us an inventory of used equipment, and adds an inventory of the latest-model equipment to our fleet.”

For Citrus Heights, Calif.-based Aba Daba Rents and Ready Mix, concrete equipment rentals and an onsite concrete batch plant provide a broader customer base in its Northern California market. “We're able to provide additional services to the counties, city, municipalities and state government in our area,” says Bob Blackwell, Aba Daba Rents vice president. “[The concrete batch plant] adds additional revenues to our company, and it helps us to rent accessories and equipment with concrete projects.”

For Atlanta-based Home Depot Rentals the concrete and cutting category adds up to be its No. 1 rental tools segment, according to product manager, tool rental, Gary Lewis, who attributes that to the company's two-fold customer base. Because Home Depot caters to both professional and homeowner customers, and carries all of the products to complete the projects done by both, all it needs to fill in the blanks are the rental tools to do the job.

“We've got all the project materials, all that's missing are the tools,” Lewis says. “If it's a contractor who doesn't have all the tools they need for one reason or another — either it's a bigger job and they need additional tools; their tools have broken down; or possibly, what we're seeing a lot today, is general contractors that usually do larger projects and sub everything out are doing a lot more of the work themselves. Usually the subcontractors have the tools and the general contractors don't, so now they're renting the tools.”

On the homeowner side of Home Depot Rentals' business, most of the time a concrete job is once in a lifetime for them, explains Lewis, so it doesn't make sense to go out and spend $1,500 on a concrete breaker when they can rent one for $75 to complete that one job. That reasoning further explains what makes the concrete tool rental category a success for Home Depot.

For Boise, Idaho-based Tates Rents, concrete tool and equipment rentals enhance its overall rental business in two ways. “First, we are a resource for local home-owners,” says Krisjan Hiner, Tates Rents sales manager. “Not only do we have the tools and equipment needed for a homeowner to successfully start and complete concrete projects, we have a first-class staff that is willing and able to answer questions and help see a customer's project through to the end. Second, concrete tools and supplies are used by a wide range of contractors, not just concrete contractors. From time to time general contractors, landscape contractors, plumbing contractors, electrical contractors and other specialty contractors have to remove, fix, patch or replace concrete. Again, we are a resource to these customers and take great pride in helping them start and finish their job the right way.”