Want to start a crane rental business, but not really sure.

dago said:

Yeah, I already checked out that entire thread and man-o-man those P&H cranes look amazing. Yeah tradesman and that other guy own and operate their own cranes, and also fix them so I have no chance.

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Knepptune said:

I wouldn’t say you have no chance. I wouldn’t let getting some education get in the way of a dream.
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Welder Dave said:

I think a crane rental business when you have no crane experience and just want to hire an operator would be about the hardest new start up business. Who's going to do all the maintainance? Like any other equipment cranes break down. There are a lot of permits and inspections required for cranes.

You should look through a bunch of CraneOperators posts. He's very experienced and has done a lot of unique jobs. He's also had some very unfortunate issues such as needing a new engine for his 100 ton crane because basically a hose let go. That was a big hit that would have been a lot bigger if he would have had to hire changing it out. Something like that happening on a new start up could put the brakes on it really quick. Lots of things to consider with any business but some you might not have thought of.

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JLarson said:

I've had buddies with similar rental plans, usually I ask if they fell down and hit their head.

Rentals mean customers breaking equipment, and not the good kind where they break their equipment and then pay me to fix, the kind where they break my equipment then just kinda give that oops look or don't say anything.

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Truck Shop said:

Get into the casket making business-won't be long and boomers will be dropping like flies.

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aighead said:

How would job estimates work with no operating experience?

I have a hard enough time estimating for a small landscaping job, or helping a buddy out, and that's after a couple decent years of running my backhoe and knowing, mostly, what to expect. I can't imagine heading out to a job site and saying "yup, that'll be $12 grand please" and getting it right.

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Buckethead said:

P&H is a good rig, BUT, it has master and slave cylinders with brake fluid to actuate the frictions. Not a bad system, but it requires a bit of maintenance. You might be better off with air controls like an old American. Hope this helps.

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Knepptune said:

I wouldn’t say you have no chance. I wouldn’t let getting some education get in the way of a dream.

I haven’t seen a conventional truck crane in years. Must be more of a regional thing. I know around here the in/out would eat your lunch on a conventional crane. The AT cranes have taken the market over for those. The smallest crawler we have is a 100t. Anything smaller then that a hydraulic crane will do for less money.

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