A contractor has hired an aerial work platform for several projects. Renting is convenient: the machine arrives when needed and goes back afterwards. The owner wonders whether a purchased lift would be less expensive if similar projects continue.
There is no single number of rental days after which everyone should buy. Estimate realistic future use, compare rent and ownership over the same period, and check that one proposed machine can perform those jobs.
1. Start with your project history, not a supplier discount
Review actual invoices: how many billable days were charged, whether the rental was daily, weekly or monthly, and what was paid for delivery and collection. Separate signed future work from jobs still being quoted. Do not count a hoped-for project as if its equipment demand were guaranteed.
Check that the tasks genuinely require a comparable lift. Different outreach, access restrictions or loads may demand different machines. Adding every historic lift-rental day together will overstate the use one purchased lift could replace.
2. Calculate three years of renting
The following example is hypothetical. Assume comparable work requires 65 billable rental days each year over the next three years. The effective rental charge is USD 180 per billable day, with USD 500 per year for collection, delivery and similar agreed costs.
| Rental-cost item | Calculation | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Billable days per year | 65 | — |
| Effective charge per day | 180 | — |
| Annual rental charges | 65 × 180 | 11,700 |
| Annual delivery and other agreed costs | Assumption | 500 |
| Annual rental outlay | 11,700 + 500 | 12,200 |
| Three-year rental outlay | 12,200 × 3 | 36,600 |
The USD 180 is an illustrative effective rate, not a current local offer. Use actual weekly or monthly billing where relevant; do not multiply a daily rate by every calendar day of a long-term rental if the contract has different charging rules.
3. Calculate the same period of ownership
Assume the selected new lift suits the work and costs USD 25,000 to import, deliver and make ready for necessary local use.
See the guide to the purchasing cash gap for the relevant checks.
| Ownership-cost item | Calculation | USD |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase, import, delivery and required preparation | Upfront | 25,000 |
| Maintenance and necessary inspections | 1,100 × 3 | 3,300 |
| Transport and handling between jobs | 1,300 × 3 | 3,900 |
| Insurance, storage and similar expenses | 800 × 3 | 2,400 |
| Assumed net resale proceeds after year three | Estimate | −11,000 |
| Three-year net ownership cost | Sum | 23,600 |
25,000 + 3,300 + 3,900 + 2,400 − 11,000 = USD 23,600.
In this base case, ownership costs USD 13,000 less than renting: 36,600 − 23,600. This is a simplified nominal-cost comparison. The future projects and resale proceeds are uncertain; financing, tax treatment, import cash-flow timing and materially different expenses still need assessment.
4. Change the use assumption before making the decision
If the contractor needs only 30 billable days a year instead of 65, the three-year rental outlay becomes:
(30 × 180 + 500) × 3 = USD 17,700.
The assumed ownership cost remains USD 23,600. Renting is then USD 5,900 less expensive.
For this specific model, a rough yearly break-even use can also be calculated:
(23,600 ÷ 3 − 500) ÷ 180 ≈ 40.9 days per year.
Around 41 comparable billable days a year is the simplified crossover under these assumptions—not a market rule. Change the maintenance, utilization, resale, financing or transport assumptions and the crossover moves.
5. Practical tip: translate jobs into an RFQ the Chinese factory can answer
If ownership looks worth exploring, do not merely request “a 12-metre electric lift”. Tell the supplier what work must be done, expected platform load, access restrictions, indoor/outdoor conditions, destination power requirements and how the machine will move between jobs. Ask them to identify any requirement their suggested model cannot satisfy.
Subject: RFQ — Aerial Work Platform for Construction Projects
Hello [Name],
We are considering an aerial work platform for our projects in [country]. Required working height: [ ] m; expected platform load: [ ] kg; access and site restrictions: [ ]; indoor/outdoor use: [ ].
Please recommend a suitable model and confirm its specifications, included configuration, price with Incoterms® 2020 rule and named place, warranty and estimated lead time. Please clearly identify any requirements it cannot meet.
Thank you.
Then use the RFQ guide to compare supplier responses, and replace the estimated USD 25,000 ownership input with an actual landed-cost quotation.
6. Decide on use, cost and practical readiness
Renting may remain the stronger choice when projects are sporadic, several different lift types are needed or buying would unduly constrain working capital. Buying deserves serious consideration when there is sustained, comparable demand, a meaningful cost advantage and workable local arrangements for storage, transport and maintenance.
Where the results are close or depend on unsigned contracts and optimistic resale proceeds, test a conservative case before committing.
Renting repeatedly? Put an actual China price into your buy-versus-rent calculation.
Tell Levantis which equipment you currently rent, the local rental terms and the number of days you expect to use it. We can help identify a suitable Chinese model, obtain or check a real equipment quotation, and clarify configuration, freight and delivery charges. You can then compare the actual purchase input with your rental costs rather than relying on a generic factory price.
We clarify what buying from China involves; your local project demand and the buy-or-rent decision remain yours.