ForConstructionPros.com

Field service has long been a big part of the rental business, and the trend has been growing in recent years. What has not been the norm, however, is field-service equipment for rent.

Rental operations have been key clients of QT Equipment, Akron, OH, ever since QT was founded in 1991, but that business required rental companies to own service vehicles in order to maintain their rental fleet in the field. All of that changed when QT launched what it believes is the first nationwide service-truck rental program.

Many rental companies have come to realize the value of field service to their customers. Good customer service includes providing around-the-clock customer care that quickly addresses breakdowns, and a good equipment-maintenance program should include a dedicated field-service vehicle.

“We help our rental clients understand that field service comes back to their bottom line in the end,” says Doug Root, president of QT Equipment. “When a customer calls to say that they are suffering downtime because of an equipment breakdown, you have to be able to get to the jobsite and fix it immediately. Every dollar you save your customers by sparing them downtime is a dollar that’s going to come back to you.”

Until QT launched its rental program, rental operations had two choices if they needed to do field service: buy their own service vehicles or contract with a third-party service provider to fix their customers’ breakdowns and take care of preventive maintenance schedules. Now there is a third option.