Checked 25 September 2026
Where contractors actually get iron, tools and materials
Rent it, buy it new, or buy it at auction. The answer is decided by one number most contractors never calculate, and it is not the price of the machine.
Heavy equipment is the only category on this site where renting is often the correct permanent answer rather than a stopgap. Which is why the rental houses are the biggest players in it, and why the decision starts with how many days a year you would actually run the thing.
The six ways to buy
Rental houses
United Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals, Herc Rentals, EquipmentShare
Excavators, lifts, skid steers, compaction, generators, by the day, week or month.
- Works when: No capital, no maintenance, no storage, no transport between jobs, and you can take a machine you need twice a year without owning it. United has the largest fleet in North America; Sunbelt runs over 1,000 locations.
- Costs you: Day rates add up brutally on a long job, and availability in your area on your date is never guaranteed in season.
Dealer new
Caterpillar, John Deere, Komatsu, Bobcat, Kubota dealers
New machines with warranty, parts, and a service relationship.
- Works when: Warranty, financed through the manufacturer's own credit arm, and a dealer who has your parts. On a machine you run daily this is the cheapest hour.
- Costs you: The largest capital commitment you will make, and it depreciates hardest in the first two years.
Auction
Ritchie Bros, IronPlanet (both RB Global), Machinery Trader listings
Fleet disposals, retirements and repossessions, sold on a date whether or not the price is good.
- Works when: Where the real value is for a contractor who knows what to look for. Unreserved auctions mean the machine sells.
- Costs you: As-is, inspect it yourself or pay someone who can, and budget for transport and a buyer premium on top of the hammer price.
Used dealer and rental fleet sales
Dealer used lots, and the rental houses selling their own fleet
Machines with known hours and, from a rental fleet, a documented service history.
- Works when: A rental company sells machines it has maintained on a schedule, and the records exist. That is worth paying for over an unknown auction unit.
- Costs you: Priced above auction, because the risk has been taken out.
Materials distributors
ABC Supply, Beacon, SRS (roofing); SiteOne (landscape); Ferguson (plumbing); White Cap, Fastenal, Grainger (general)
The consumables and materials that actually run through a job.
- Works when: Trade accounts, job-site delivery, and terms. This is where a contractor account earns its keep.
- Costs you: Pricing is account-specific and negotiable, which means the list price means nothing and nobody will tell you that.
Tools
Home Depot Pro, Lowe's Pro, Fastenal, Grainger, Acme Tools
Power tools, hand tools, fasteners, safety.
- Works when: Pro desks do volume pricing and will deliver, which stops your crew doing supply runs on the clock.
- Costs you: Easy to bleed money here in small purchases nobody tracks.
What they want before they deal with you
| Where | The gate | What they want |
|---|---|---|
| Rental houses | An account, or a card | You can rent on a card as a one-off. An account gets you better rates, job-site delivery and billing, and needs the usual credit check. |
| Dealers | Credit application | Manufacturer credit arms finance most new iron. Expect financials, time in business and often a personal guarantee. |
| Auctions | Register and prove funds | Anyone can register, but you settle fast and you move the machine on their deadline, not yours. |
| Materials distributors | A trade account | This is where terms live. Opening one properly is worth more than shaving a percent off a purchase price. |
The number that decides rent or buy
Contractors argue about rental rates versus purchase price. That comparison cannot be settled, because the two are not comparable until you add the missing variable: how many days a year the machine actually works.
A machine you run most working days is cheapest to own, because you are paying a day rate on every one of those days otherwise. A machine you run a few weeks a year is almost always cheaper to rent, even at a rate that looks outrageous, because ownership charges you for the eleven months it sits.
Utilisation is the whole argument. Count the days honestly, on the jobs you actually won rather than the ones you hoped for. Then add what ownership really costs beyond the payment: maintenance, storage, insurance, transport between sites, and the hours your people spend on it.
The second thing rental buys you is a balance sheet that stays flexible when work slows down. A note on a machine does not care that the season was quiet. That is the argument for renting through an uncertain year even where the arithmetic on utilisation is close, and it is the argument for financing rather than buying outright when you do commit.
Worth knowing: a lawsuit reported by Engineering News-Record alleges price collusion among major rental firms including United Rentals and Sunbelt and a rental ratings firm. Those are allegations in a pending case, not findings. We mention it because if you rent heavily, it is a reason to get competing quotes in writing rather than assuming the published rate is the market.
Rent, buy new, or buy used
| Decision | When |
|---|---|
| Rent | Anything under roughly half-time utilisation, anything you need once on one job, and anything in a year you are not sure about. |
| Buy new | Your core machine, the one that runs daily, where downtime stops a crew and warranty and dealer parts actually pay for themselves. |
| Buy used from a rental fleet | The sweet spot for a second machine. Known hours, maintained on a schedule, records you can read. |
| Buy at auction | When you can inspect it properly or bring someone who can, and you have the cash and the transport ready. |
Are you a business owner who could use the capital?
Most of what is on this page is a purchase you have to fund before it earns anything back. If that is the part holding you up, this is the funder we recommend, and it costs nothing to ask what you qualify for.
More on the products themselves: equipment financing, or what lenders look at in contractors and construction.
Suppliers named here are companies owners in this trade use; we are not paid by any of them and this is not a ranking. Membership rules and fees were checked against each company's own pages on 25 September 2026 and can change, so confirm before you drive anywhere. Nothing here is financial advice.