Leasing out equipment

[dancom]

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I have a friend who cuts a few of his own lawn. Yesterday he woke up and some one had stolen his trailer his 48" scag walkbehind, his weed eater and his blower right out of his driveway. he called me to see if I wanted his lawns. well in the course of the conversation he ask me if I would loan him my extra trailer, walkbehind, weed eater and blower one day a week so he could cut his 14 lawns and he would pay me half of his business. he does not have insurance or the means to replace this equipment. he will most likely end up working for me next year. but this late in the season I think I will loan him my equipment.
My question is do you think 50% of his business is high, he offered and I said ok but after thinking about it I feel that is a little high what percent do you think would be good.

[MacLawnCo]

Since he is a freind, i would offer him the equipment at what it cost you per hour. (Not what you bill per hour) Im assuming you can figure that, but if not, let me know or do a search.

[rkbrown]

Dan:

Not knowing this gentleman or his situation, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but here is what I would do. If this was
a) truly a friend of mine and
b) I had an extra trailer, WB, etc that was not in production,
I would loan him the equipment and not take a percentage, but rather would ask him to pay for equipment tune-up/check-up (or a portion thereof) by a dealer at the end of the season. Obviously, if there were problems with the equipment at the end of the season that were not of his doing, I would not ask him to pay for that. Conversely, if there were problems with the equipment that he did cause, I would have him agree to be responsible for the repairs

The 50% does sound a bit high to me. If he insisted on a percentage of his business, I would probably go with 25 %.

[Gravely_Man]

That is a very hard call. Friends are friends and business is business. What is he going to do if he damages anything? Will he treat the equipment like you would and do preventive maintenance or checks? What if the equipment is stolen again who pays for that? I personally would be very nervous to loan out my backup equipment.

[awm]

i like rks answer. just a helping hand,and small investment in a good friend.
good friend aint that easy to find.
a more valuable asset than any mower.
plus u can say u did something positive today. if he abuses the favor ,u know he is not quite the type friend im talkin.
but he might be ,and man what a find that would be.

[MJStrain]

I go with Rob:cool:

[jsaunders]

agree with awm

[DLS1]

If he is a friend and he is in the business then he knows what it cost to upkeep the equipment so he should pay you per job what the wear and tear, replacement cost of equipment would be.

I am with Gravely_Man on this one. I have alot of questions. Do you have replacement insurance if your loaner equipment gets stolen? Is it covered if you loan it to some else and it is stolen at his house? What if gets in a wreck will his insurance pay for the replacement of equipment? Remember he doesn't have insurance. So he wants you to risk your equipment with him yet he doesn't have insurance.

Friends don't ask friends to borrow lawn business equipment when they don't have insurance to cover the loss if it happens.

[Ryan Lightning]

If its only one day a week, have him bring the trailer back every week.
Id get in writing what he will pay if stuff break downs, are if he damages something. And i wouldnt take %50, Id only want what it cost to run, unless something breaks. And if something breaks, you should know before hand, what he will pay.

[Bob Minney]

Originally posted by awm
i like rks answer. just a helping hand,and small investment in a good friend.
good friend aint that easy to find.
a more valuable asset than any mower.
plus u can say u did something positive today. if he abuses the favor ,u know he is not quite the type friend im talkin.
but he might be ,and man what a find that would be.


Says it all.

[darryl gesner]

I've gotten nothing but headaches from lending friends power equipment. Now I don't lend it out to anyone, period. Determining why something broke and who is responsible for it can ruin the best of friendships. What if that 50% (which does seem high to me) doesn't cover the wear & tear or damages? What if you suddenly need your spare equipment the same time he does? Sounds like a possible disaster in the making to me.

[beck]

would it be possible for him to work with you for a day and then you help him out by cutting his yards with him.
This way you do not have to loan out the equipment. 2) you can also get a feel for what type of worker he is (because you said he may work for you next year.)

[GreginAlaska]

If he was a real friend I would loan it to him with the understanding that he maintains it and fixes all damages he does.

I also might counsel him on getting insurance.

And I might spend a little time helping him look for the scumbag that stole his equipment.