I LIVE IN PA and would like to know how i can rent machines to do jobs. most places want you to have thousands of dollars for insurance, is there anyone who knows a place in North Eastern PA? UNION4LIFE:usa
what size equipment? a local dealer around here rents equipment at very reasonable rates, cheeper than most rental places around here, but it all depends on what you want to rent.
Equipment rental is the easy part. General excavating liability insurance is the hard part. You may be able to get into a basic liability policy for $3000 per year or more depending what type of work you are doing, that is if you can convince a insurance company that you are capable of doing this type of work in the proper manner. Do not attempt to do jobs without insurance as one incident can stay with you for the rest of your life! As I said, equipment rental is usually easy part as rental companies don't really care who they rent to as long as they get their equipement back in the same shape as they gave it to you. Best of luck. Alan
Alan, it may not be as easy to rent a piece of equipment as you think, At least around here. If you are getting a skid steer, mini ex, skytrack, or maybe a small backhoe, you are all set. Most of the local outfits that cater to homeowners will let their machines go to about anyone. When you get into bigger iron, usually renting from a dealer, then it gets difficult. Most dealer rentals here require a million dollar liability insurance policy. Your point about excavation insurance is a good one though. If you are going to be making a living off of equipment doing excavation, you need to have it. You will learn this real quick if you tear out an electric line, phone line, or gas line. Not only do you have to pay for repairs, but you end up having to pay for lost potential of that line. In the case of gas, you also have to pay for the gas that you lost into the air.
general liability, yes...but at least where i 'm at, if you don't carry XCU "explosion, collapse, underground" rider along with your general liability....you're better off staying home, and it costs considerably more than $3k a yr.
I know the last few years that we were in business for ourselves we were paying around $25,000 a year for the "E, C, and U rider" as well as paying the general liability and other insurance. I belive dad said the E C an U were based on gross $$$ from the previous year. Trbo
If you are serious, you can cal Mel at Weaco equipment in Womelsdorf (near Redding). I have purchased equipment from him. I believe he is a big enough renter to have his own blanket policy that you can also "rent" from him. He is an honest guy.
Union for life... how would your union feel if they knew you were doing your own jobs??
I dont know about his local, but mine, 324, has a self employed option. I dont think you get any bennis from doing things that way though
What kind of insurance do they want you to have? Why would you not want to have that insurance?
Because they make you pay for it, of course. I know that sounds smart-assed, but seriously, for somebody who wants to do one job, with rented equipment, and walk away with enough money to have made it worthwhile, that added expense can be a deal-breaker. The temptation is great to try and get by without it. If union4life, or anyone else disagrees with that statement, I'm sure they'll say so.