Equipment managers indicated a drop in desire to rent in August, according to the Rental Trends dataset within the Equipment Manager Confidence Index. The Confidence Index, free to contractors and other users of construction equipment, was 108 on September 1. The rental trends dataset is one of nine additional datasets available to members. Members were asked if now were a better or worse time to rent externally.
“The trend line has been declining since June,” says Rod Sutton, editorial director. “Members indicate a slight improvement in the new-purchase climate, so perhaps they are not renting as much. It’s an indicator we want to monitor closely."
The Index gauges the sentiment among construction equipment users who provide opinions on confidence as well as other asset-management topics in exchange for free access to the group’s insights in a secure intelligence software platform. Participation in the Index is free for those who manage fleets of construction equipment. Interested? Sign up here.
Additional insights available to members:
- Overall economy health
- Current fleet health: now v. last year
- Future fleet health: now v. next year
- Equipment acquisition: better or worse to buy new
- Equipment disposition: better or worse time to sell used
- External rental: better or worse time to rent
- Peer to peer rental: better or worse time to generate revenue
- Planned maintenance: spend more or less than last year
- Rebuilds: more or less likely than last year
In addition to the Confidence Index, members of the platform also provide opinions on trends within asset management, including acquisition expectations, rental plans, and maintenance. In June, for example, the index showed that managers are not looking at the next few weeks as a better time to rent equipment. With the free access, managers can see how the trend is unfolding and compare themselves to others in the platform.
Equipment end users can have access to these insights for free. Others, such as manufacturers or dealers, may gain access to the data as observers by registering here. The next Index computation occurs at the end of the month. Equipment managers can join the group anytime this month in order to provide opinions and access month-over-month trends. Baromitr’s visualization features also allow members to analyze performance and compare how they are doing relative to others in the group.
The data-driven Index is powered by Baromitr, a scalable, peer-benchmarking platform. The Equipment Manager Confidence Index is a custom algorithm that combines multiple inputs to calculate a score from 0 to 200. The higher it is, the more confident equipment managers are.
