When Is the Best Time to Schedule Equipment Rental?

Planning ahead is an important part of any project, especially one that requires you to schedule equipment rental. Your business might provide an equipment-needed service that is only occasionally called upon. Or you may have a large one-time project ahead which will require unique equipment you may never use again. No matter what reason you are interested in renting equipment, planning ahead is a key factor to satisfactory service.

You want to be sure the equipment you need will be available and ready for use during your project dates; it is vital that you schedule your equipment rental contract as far ahead of time as you can. That said, there is always an optimal window for scheduling.

1) Two Months Ahead or Earlier

In most cases, you should schedule equipment rental for at least two months ahead of time. This will allow the rental company help you meet your availability needs. However, during busy seasons or for in-demand equipment, schedule equipment rental as far in advance as possible. The more warning you are able to give, the more likely your needed equipment will be available. Not only for your start date; but also to book the entire duration of time you’ll need the equipment for your project.

2) When Your Client Schedules an Equipment-Needed Service

If you’re a business providing services involving rented equipment, this can be a very practical way to reduce the costs of large equipment ownership, storage, and maintenance. In this case, the earliest time you can schedule your equipment rental is once a client has scheduled their service. It’s often best to set your service scheduling policies based on how much warning your rental company needs to get your equipment ready for a job.

3) When You Determine the Equipment the Project Needs

When planning a large upcoming project, schedule equipment rental as soon as you know which equipment will be needed. This can take time in planning, as equipment is determined based on every other detail of the planned work. However, once you have a list of equipment needed and a duration of the project on paper, it’s time to talk to your rental service.

In fact, you can even start talking before you have concrete dates. The rental service can work with you, and possibly competing rental requests, to ensure that the equipment you need is available in the window you need it.

4) When Your Schedule is Close to Finalized

Lastly, you should schedule equipment rental as your project date settles toward finalized. They do not need to be set in stone, as equipment rental for large projects is often planned with a little cushion time in case of delays, bad weather, and last-minute decisions. Rather, once you have a clear window in which you will be working and an approximate start date, it’s time to start sketching out the duration of your rental contract. Remember that the rental service is happy to help make fuzzy dates concrete and even offer advice on how to get the most out of your equipment if you wind up having a few extra days on the contract due to a lack of delays or reschedulings.

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When should you schedule your equipment rental? The best single answer we can give you is “as soon as you can”. You can put down the dates as much as a year ahead of time to be certain your gear will be available or you can even walk in same-day if the equipment you need happens to be available and unclaimed for the day. But as soon as you know your project dates, that is when to open the conversation about equipment rental and begin shaping the contract equipment list and dates that you will eventually need. For more useful information or help pinning down your equipment rental schedule into a reservation and contract, contact us today!