Peer to peer construction rental apps (comparisons)

This is the Google search that started it all for CLINK. As a general contractor from NE Florida I would rent equipment frequently. We also owned several items that sat idle the vast majority of time. Our Google search back in June of 2019 was initiated by a bench planer that collected dust in our garage. We put “Peer to peer construction rental apps” into the Google machine back then and this is what we found.

Search Results

To my disbelief, I found two results. One was TOOLTRIBE and the other I can’t even remember. Both had zero listings or activity on the East side of the country. TOOLTRIBE was the furthest along, but only seemed to be active in California. More on them in a bit. 

Fast forward to 2023

Now when you search for peer to peer tool and equipment rentals you can find around nine companies.

For the purposes of this article we are not going to go too deep into each company. We will give you a brief summary of each. This will hopefully give you enough information on your next steps. Most of these businesses are new so their activity may not be near you or at a capacity at which you’re needing. 

GoEquipMe

GoEquipMe seems to have a good selection of larger equipment listed in the Utah area. Searching their inventory they have most of their activity in Utah and some in other western states. They have a great inventory of larger items which is great. Their app was a bit difficult to navigate in that they didn’t have categories for the listings. You would have to search the entire list view to find something. 

Rent my Equipment 

Seemingly based out of Chattanooga, TN most of their listings are focused either in Chattanooga or Nashville areas. They have several listings throughout the US, but most locations only have a few items or users. If you’re in the TN area, this may be a good solution for your rental needs. Their website and app are generally simple to navigate. 

2Quip

Similar in style to Rent My Equipment, 2Quip is more active in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. They have a similar inventory selection to RME with small to medium sized construction equipment. They show skid steers, mini excavators, dump trailers, Georgia buggies, walk behind brush hogs, etc. All the fun stuff that construction companies rent on a regular basis. 

Sparetoolz

From first glance it appears that Sparetoolz was started by a DIYer that needed a tile saw. With nothing to do with the saw after their project, they decided to create a platform to list it for rent. We found this app difficult to navigate and we couldn’t find any inventory. We searched a few different states and couldn’t land on any listings. They also do not have an Android app yet. 

TOOLTRIBE

TOOLTRIBE was the original platform that I found in 2019. They have been around for at least that long and have evolved slightly from their original offerings. One thing that detracted me from them earlier was that they also sell tools on their platform. It seemed a bit noisy and difficult to navigate if you were trying to rent something. You had inventory for sale and renting and it was a bit much. They have since added a tool tracking feature for managing you inventory from job-to-job. They offer a subscription model for that feature.

EquipmentShare

Back in 2016 EquipmentShare was raising millions of dollars to become the AirBNB of construction rentals. At some point they made a hard pivot to owning their own inventory and equipment/data tracking. If you visit their website you won’t find a way to list your own inventory to rent to others in your area. So, don’t let the name confuse you. If you rent from them, you’re renting from just another large rental company like Sunbelt or United. 

Summary

It seems that if you are looking for a P2P option to rent construction items, you will be limited based on your proximity. If you in the NW, GoEquipMe. Tennessee and surrounding area, Rent My Equipment. If you’re in the Ohio/Michigan area then you’ll probably use 2Quip. 

We look forward to seeing how this landscape matures and how each company looks to expand into additional territories. 

Honorable Mentions

There were a few that you may find in Google searches that we didn’t elaborate on. They were either not located in the US or they no longer appeared to exist. Burly was active in the years past, but their website doesn’t seem to work anymore. Eqpme and Rent My Tool seem to be Canadian based. 

For additional reading on similar topics checks out our article CLINK – the AirBNB of Construction Rentals or our page titled How It Works.