Extra Income - Is it Smart to Rent out Your "Stuff"?

[peaceandprosperity]

Hello community,

I have a few things that are somewhat vital to my country woods living lifestyle. However they are not always in use and in fact sit quiet much of the time. (e.g. wood splitter, trailer, garden tractor, chainsaw).

In the past i always spent a little extra for the good stuff. (post-mustachian awakening i go and get the good stuff on craigslist or an outlet).

Anyway i was thinking about renting a brush mower as i have a lot of buckthorn. And that got me thinking about how i could actually be making some money with some of these items.

Would it make financial sense to set up a small renting business with my equpiment and if so, has anyone done this and how do you do it?
I have seen people rent out kids bouncy houses and cotton candy machines. Why not wood splitters? What kind of liability insurance would i need and what sort of legal arrangements?

thanks in advance for your help,

MT

[arebelspy]

I have seen people rent out kids bouncy houses and cotton candy machines. Why not wood splitters? What kind of liability insurance would i need and what sort of legal arrangements?

I'd look first into pricing the insurance to make sure it's profitable and worthwhile timewise after that.  Then look into forming an LLC.

[Prairie Stash]

I've rented and bartered.  I like the barter system for my tools and I'm small time. Unless you think you'll be getting a lot of interest in your tools try starting small. A wood splitter I would trade for some firewood. If you have enough firewood then sell the wood. I would primarily market tools to friends and neighbours who you can trust to not steal your stuff, abuse it or otherwise mess it up.

With tools you should also be prepared to fix them, with increased use comes increased maintenance. I presume you're excellent at repairs, sharpening, maintenance.

[Exflyboy]

Yeah I have a nice tractor but I only trust two of my neighbours to use it.. Its a 33HP machine with a 5ft wide FEL bucket, I have a 5ft wide tiller, 4ft brushhog and a 5ft box-blade.. I have also recently built a 26ft wide boom sprayer from scratch.

What I do is figure out the WEEKLY rental cost per hour of a 25 HP tractor from the local rental company and rent my machine for the same price.

Thus I am basically undercutting the rental company because usually my neighbours want it for an hour or two and they are close so don't have to rent a trailer or get the machine delivered.

remember the liability with something like a tractor is huge.. What if a renter flipped tractor while carrying a large load of rock and seriously hurt themselves?.. The laywers would have afield day claiming YOU did not provide adequate training, the machine was poorly maintained etc etc.

I don't have liability insurance so it only goes to these two neighbours who I trust completely.

I don't make a lot of money.. Probably a few hundred or a thousand dollars per year doing this and yes things break, need to be welded back together etc, which I can do so not a big deal.

I couldn't make a living doing this, but I can take my Wife out for a nice meal once in a while..:)

Frank

[Rural]

The liability is enough of a concern for us that we only loan out equipment complete with an operator: that is, if it's a good enough friend or valuable enough investment in neighbor relations for my husband to go and do the work himself. He has done a couple of things that way, plus there's a joint project along a property line in the works. We'd loan to family, but they're all too far away and the backhoe too big to tow with an F350, so that's been out so far.


I did offer to loan a coworker our (cheap) pressure washer today, though, if her offer on a condo is accepted. The deck needs it, apparently.


So it's not something I've considered as a source of potential income. My husband has talked about doing backhoe work for pay, but so far his time has been worth more.

[Mr. Frugalwoods]

In my limited experience, barter with neighbors is usually vastly easier and more lucrative in the long term.

Think really carefully about liability.  Some things carry more risk and require more training than others.

A slow hydraulic log splitter is relatively safe as long as you set it up for someone and give them a short training.  I don't see much problem in loaning it out.

Something like a tractor with a front end loader... I would only loan out along with me as the operator.  Unless the person using it does professional equipment operating.  Just too many dangerous scenarios (for the equipment as well as the operator!) to be covered in a short training.

Loaning stuff out on a regular basis increases the chance that something will break.  Do you have the cash cushion and mechanical know how to make cost effective repairs?

[Milspecstache]

What I do is figure out the WEEKLY rental cost per hour of a 25 HP tractor from the local rental company and rent my machine for the same price.

Can you help me with the math there?  Are you assuming 168hr per week?  Or 40?

I'm in a situation where people loan/borrow all the time and I would love to figure out a fair cost to all.  Hearing your numbers really helps in that area!

[peaceandprosperity]

the liability is something i had not thought as much about as the possibility that the stuff would come back broken. And there i think contracts are needed and waivers and such. As well as insurance. Which makes bartering sound a lot better.

If i were to barter my equipment for theirs or for services do i still have liability if the person chops their hand off in the wood splitter?

again...if it breaks i assume it is all on me to fix it? I have some cash flow to do that but of course the point is to come out a little bit ahead and get some use out of this equipment beyond my own use.

Are there reliable third party systems out there for creating such a sharing environment, similar to AirBnB? I see a few but can't tell if they are viable and some are not available in my area. Anyone have experience with a site that handles the set up and transaction details for you?

[hybrid]

One of our trees had to come down this spring, I have a wood stove, and Mustachian Buddy had a sister and BIL with a wood splitter in the next county. I "rented" it from them (though being good people they would have likely just let me use it for free, delivered it, and picked it up because that's just the kind of folks they are). I insisted on giving them $100 for the few weeks I had it.  I would have paid the same money to Home Depot for a rental (and had to finish in one day) and they didn't need it back any time soon. Mustachian Buddy helped split some of the wood and got a load of firewood delivered to his house for his efforts. It worked well for all parties. But I think this is probably the exception to the rule, because everyone knew everyone and the liability issue was not a concern. But what if the splitter broke down through my negligence (or not, I just happened to be using it when a part wore out?)? Hmmmmmmm..... things can get tricky sometimes.

I think I agree with the folks above. I have a hard time seeing it unless you want to be a lot more formal with it (LLC, insurance, etc.), as my circumstance is not very likely.

[arebelspy]

What I do is figure out the WEEKLY rental cost per hour of a 25 HP tractor from the local rental company and rent my machine for the same price.

Can you help me with the math there?  Are you assuming 168hr per week?  Or 40?

I'm in a situation where people loan/borrow all the time and I would love to figure out a fair cost to all.  Hearing your numbers really helps in that area!

The local rental company probably rents it by the day/week, so find out that cost and scale it as you need.