Guide
How to Find Forgotten Rental Equipment Across Your Jobsites
A forgotten rental is equipment still on rent that nobody is using and nobody is watching. To find them, compare three lists: what each rental company says you have open, what your invoices are still billing, and what is physically on each jobsite. Every mismatch is either a rental to call off or a charge to question. Here is how to run that sweep, and how to stop losing track afterwards.
30-day free trial • No credit card required • Web, iOS and Android
Why it happens
How contractors lose track of rental equipment
Rental waste from forgotten rentals is rarely carelessness. The rental simply has no owner once the task it was ordered for is done.
The work finished, the rental didn’t
The task is done and the crew has moved on, but nobody called the machine off. It sits on site and keeps billing.
The person who ordered it left the job
A superintendent or foreman ordered it by phone, then moved to another project. Nobody else knows it is a rental.
It moved to another site
Equipment gets borrowed between jobs. The paperwork still says the first job, so nobody on either site thinks it is theirs to return.
It was swapped or replaced
A unit breaks down and the vendor delivers a replacement. Check that the first contract was actually closed.
It isn’t a machine
Fencing, containers, toilets and dumpsters are set up at mobilization and nobody looks at them again. See tracking temporary jobsite services.
The invoice goes somewhere else
Accounts payable sees the charge, the field sees the equipment, and neither sees both.
The sweep
How to find equipment that is still on rent
You need three lists, built separately, before you compare anything.
Ask each vendor for your open contracts
Every rental company can list what it has out to your account: equipment, contract number, start date and the job it was delivered to.
Pull the recent invoices
Take every rental invoice from the last two billing cycles and list each contract that is still being billed.
Walk each jobsite
Write down every rented item you can see, with the vendor’s name and the unit number on its tag. Include yards and finished jobs.
Match the three lists
Line them up by vendor and unit or contract number. Anything on all three and in use is fine. Everything else needs a decision.
Reading the result
What each mismatch means
- On site and billing, but nobody is using it. This is the forgotten rental. Call it off now — the steps are in how to call off rental equipment.
- On the vendor’s list or an invoice, but not on any site. It may have gone back without the contract being closed. See what to check when you are charged after a return.
- On site, but on nobody’s list. Find out who ordered it and which job it belongs to before the first invoice arrives.
- On a different job than the paperwork says. Decide which job is paying for it, and who returns it.
- Called off, but still on site. A request is not a pickup. Keep it on a follow-up list until it is gone — see off-rent and return tracking.
Whether a late call-off or a missed pickup is billable depends on your rental agreement. This guide covers the mechanics, not your contract terms.
Afterwards
How to stop losing track of rental equipment
A sweep fixes today. These habits keep the list clean so the next sweep finds nothing.
- Record every rental the day it arrives, with the vendor, the unit number and the job, no matter who ordered it.
- Keep one list for the field and the office. More on tracking rentals across multiple jobsites.
- Put the next billing date on every rental so the keep-or-return question comes up before the charge does — see rental billing cycle tracking.
- Ask the site before each rollover whether the rental is still needed, and record the answer.
- Clear every job before demobilizing. Anything still open on a finished job is a rental to call off.
- Know what the open rentals cost. A list with dollars on it gets read — see construction rental cost tracking.
With Rental Leak
How Rental Leak keeps a rental from being forgotten
In Rental Leak every rental is one record with its vendor, unit number, project and next billing date. Rentals are grouped by project and by vendor, and search covers every rental in the company, so “what do we still have on rent at this job?” has one answer. If you already keep a spreadsheet, you can import it on the web and review each row.
A rental stays on the list until someone marks it returned. Before a rollover, the office can KEEP it or request off-rent, and on the Contractor and Pro plans can ask a team member on site to confirm whether it is still needed. Reminders on iOS and Android come ahead of each billing date.
Rental Leak doesn’t locate equipment and can’t find a rental nobody recorded — that is what the sweep is for. Once the list is right, it keeps it right.
Common questions
How do I find out what equipment we still have on rent?
Ask each rental company for a list of your open contracts, pull every rental invoice from the last two billing cycles, and walk each jobsite writing down what is there. Anything that appears on one list and not the others is a rental to look into.
Why does rental equipment get forgotten on a jobsite?
Usually because the person who ordered it is not the person who sees the invoice. The work finishes, the crew moves to the next job, and the rental stays open with the vendor until someone calls it off.
How often should we check for forgotten rentals?
Do a full sweep once to get a clean list, then check each job before the crew demobilizes and look at upcoming billing dates every week. A rental that is on one shared list with its next billing date rarely gets forgotten.
Does Rental Leak locate equipment on a jobsite?
No. Rental Leak does not use GPS or telematics and cannot find a rental nobody recorded. It keeps every recorded rental on one list by job and vendor, with its next billing date, until it is marked returned.
Keep reading
Related
Rental tracking across jobsites
One list of active rentals by project, shared by the field and the office.
Track rentals by jobsite →Rental billing cycle tracking
See each rental’s next rollover date and charge before it happens.
Track billing cycles →Off-rent and return tracking
KEEP, off-rent requested and returned, each recorded separately with who and when.
Track off-rent requests →Put every open rental on one list
30 days free, no credit card required. New trials include Pro features for the full 30 days. Plans start at $59/month after that.