ForConstructionPros.com

For many contractors, when they first decide to incorporate pumping into their businesses they often rent a pump instead of purchase one. And until you know how often you will use a pump that is probably the best way to go about it.

But the cost of pump rental can start to add up if it is something a contractor does often. Depending on the job, pump rental could cost upwards of $5,000 a day. Eventually, a contractor may take a look at the money he is spending on renting a pump and find out that it would be a better investment to build equity by purchasing his own. There is no magic number for contractors to reach as it varies from company to company, but Terry Schniepp of Poured Foundations Inc. in Minnesota recognized this point in 1999. After renting concrete pumps for five years Schniepp decided it was time to get a pump truck of his own. One reason was the expense of renting a pump.

Schniepp compares the move from renting to purchasing a pump to renting then buying a house. After spending so much on rent a person may decide he or she could use that money to purchase a house and have equity in that home instead of renting. "I think around $100,000 on rental and you might want to think about owning one; as long as you have work for it," Schniepp says.

As Schniepp points out, the cost of renting is not the only aspect a contractor should take into consideration when deciding whether or not to purchase a pump. A huge factor is the volume of work a contractor does.

Irvin Vittitow of Vittitow Basement Walls Incorporated in Kentucky says the company was doing 200 to 300 jobs a year when it decided to purchase a pump. "We were having trouble getting pumps on a timely basis," Vittitow says. "It got to the point where not only were we paying X amount for pumps, we were also losing money on the labor end of it as well."