Hot take: renting a scissor lift for that two day job was a complete waste of $1,200

I figured renting would save me time and hassle compared to just using ladders and scaffolding I already own. Nope. The lift broke down on day one, lost half a day waiting for a replacement, then the second one had some sensor issue that kept cutting the power. Ended up finishing with my old gear anyway. For that price I could've bought a new extension ladder plus had cash left over. Has anyone else had bad luck with equipment rentals eating into their margins?

3 comments

3 Comments

anna_fox71mo agoMost Upvoted

Man that stinks, I feel your pain. Equipment rentals can be such a gamble sometimes and when they go wrong it's a total nightmare. I had a similar thing happen with a concrete mixer a few years ago. Showed up with a crack in the drum and leaked half the load before I noticed. The company was nice enough about it but still wasted my whole morning. When you're paying that kind of money you expect the stuff to work, right? It's like they don't check things properly before sending them out. Hope the next job goes smoother for you.

abbyg141mo ago

That whole thing about them not checking equipment before sending it out is really the core problem. You pay all that money thinking you're buying reliability and instead you get a machine that was clearly just sitting in the yard until someone grabbed it. I bet most rental places just do a quick visual check and hope nothing breaks down until after the return time. It's a gamble every time and when you lose you lose hard on both time and money.

taylor_young7d ago

Eh, I kinda get where you're coming from but a quick visual check is usually enough for most rentals. Half the time it's user error or bad luck, not negligence on the rental place's end.