"Every contractor on this project is using rental equipment," says Patrick Franks, project supervisor for Desert Care Landscape in Phoenix. "The reason is the unpredictability of the ground conditions. Nobody wants the uncertainty of project completion dates that machine downtime would bring.

"We would rather rely on Neff Rental's maintenance staff to keep us up and running when there is a problem."

Franks' words echo a question heard more and more all the time in the United States: If you are a contractor, why should you be in the equipment maintenance business?

One of the two new Neff Rental stores in the Phoenix area has instituted a maintenance program to keep a major customer up and running in rough desert conditions, and it's producing great rewards for everybody.

Reasonable estimates are that these days, U.S. contractors are renting equipment for 25 percent of their work - and for certain equipment categories, like trenchers, that percentage runs much higher.

Contractors are flocking to rental more and more, for some very simple and related reasons: they don't want expensive equipment sitting idle between jobs, tying up capital that could be applied elsewhere for greater profitability, and they don't want to be in the maintenance business - they want their employees generating income, not fixing machines.

But if contractors don't own the equipment or do the work themselves, they do want to be sure they're dealing with a rental company that has a high-quality, customer-responsive maintenance department to do it properly, and keep them up and running. Lost time saps profitability fast.

Within the last two years, Neff Rental has built two new stores in the Phoenix area - one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States. The Neff organization stands at 86 locations now, but the company expects to have more than 100 locations by the end of the year. What Neff is trying to do with these new stores is maximize customer loyalty.

Desert Care Landscape, a division of Land Care USA, has been installing 7,800 feet of mainline irrigation along the roads of the 6,000-acre Del Webb Anthem golf course and real estate project north of Phoenix, using the Vermeer V3550A trencher. In addition to the mains, thousands of feet of 1.5-inch lateral water lines are being installed under a minimum of 2 feet of cover in this rocky, densely compacted soil.

To gain the business from Desert Care and other customers in this harsh environment, Neff focused its maintenance program on customer satisfaction. That means staying close to the customer and understanding the problem as if it were your own.

Chris Den Herder, branch manager for the two Arizona Neff Rental stores, and his crew are out on job sites continuously assessing customer needs and asking the right questions.

"We're proactively servicing not only the machines, but the customers," Den Herder says. "Equipment on the 'wrong job' is more likely to malfunction or break down. So we're out making sure customers have the right equipment for the work. We're not just pushing product out the door."

Den Herder and his staff at the two Arizona stores ask a string of job-related questions before renting a trencher to a customer. Trenching in Arizona caliche or compacted, rocky conditions can seem like cutting asphalt. Trench chains and teeth - and Neff's return on investment - can really take a beating if the wrong machine is used or if the customer tries to push the machine past its limits.

"Some jobs require that a backhoe be used because of the rocky conditions," says Den Herder. "If a customer tries to push a trencher too far, the footage per day may be greater - if the machine can withstand the punishment - but the maintenance factor for us rises significantly.

"On some jobs, the contractor has to accept 150 linear feet a day with an excavator and not try to trench 400 feet with a trencher," says Neff Service Manager Jack Zelenka.

Another part of the Neff rental process is a centralized product "tracking" system, designed as a one-stop look for the sales force and maintenance crew. The system, which was implemented last December, helps track the number of hours on equipment, days on rental, service dates and revenue generated by each machine.

"It sounds simple, but it's key to our operation," Den Herder says. "The system eliminates any confusion over how and when our products are used. It ensures on paper that they're serviced and ready to go out working properly."

In the case of Desert Care Landcape, before the bid was even formulated, Desert Care personnel went to Neff Rental and explained what machines would be needed and for how long, and the productivity necessary to bring in a competitive bid.

So when Desert Care Landscape bid the job, the company had both the certainty of fixed rental rates and also a known cost for Neff Rental's maintenance plan.

"Neff Rental has quite a few pieces of equipment at the Anthem construction site," says Den Herder, "so our investment in keeping them well-maintained in the tough trenching conditions is considerable."

"Greasing, oil changes and trencher teeth changing can all be done in the field," says Zelenka. "We make it our business to check out the machines on a regular basis and keep track of the machine-use hours and the scheduled maintenance intervals. When the contractors are busy trying to meet production schedules, they don't always stick to the recommended maintenance schedules. In these tough work conditions, we can't afford to let the maintenance lapse, so on this Anthem project, we will have a service truck on-site every couple of days."

"The Neff Rental people have been terrific," says Franks. "For some problems, we have had same-day repair in a couple of hours. If we have needed a special part, it has been there the very next morning. It is this kind of responsive service that really makes a difference."

Den Herder has instituted a system of preventative maintenance - grease guns and instructions go out with every trencher.

When outside sales reps are out calling on contractors, they carry the tracking system sheet listing the Neff Rental machines currently out on rent. A quick check of those ma-chines and a conversation with the operators can bring service leads back to the Neff service staff. These leads can result in a service trip that may forestall a much more serious and costly problem.

Service management has helped Neff put more fleet in the field than ever and revenue is at an all-time high.

Copyright © 1999 American Rental Association. All rights reserved.