Phase two of LBR

In 2016, the ERA launched a free-to-use calculator that works out the total cost of ownership for equipment.

The equipment calculator, created in collaboration with the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, is the first of its kind. It provides a financial tool designed to help equipment stakeholders better assess the actual cost of equipment by working out the total economic value of the investment. It provides a level of cost analysis not previously available publically, on a simplified and user-friendly interface.

As an option, the calculator offers a completely unbiased view of buy versus rental analysis, to help equipment stakeholders draw comparisons and make informed decisions.

At the beginning of 2017, the ERA made the decision to complete the scope of the TCO analysis by including the lease options, both financial and operating, and by introducing the risk factors associated to the operation and the management of construction type equipment. This project is called LBR project, Lease vs Buy vs Rental, and is currently under development with the assistance of a leasing expert, Jeff Eisenberg, and with the input from equipment stakeholders.

The first phase of the project consisted in an analysis of Lease vs. Buy vs. Rent, including motivations, cost analysis, risk measurement, etc.

The intention of the second phase is to expand on the first part of the project and compare the calculations showing the LBR sensitivity to different factors, with real examples from contractors that are doing their own analysis today.

Jeff Eisenberg will present this study during the plenary session of the next ERA convention on 23 May 2018 in Vienna. He will also insist on the rental experience of the contractors he has interviewed.

To register to the ERA Convention, please go to the ERA website, http://erarental.org/en/events/convention/era-convention-2018

The TCO calculator is available in a website, http://equipmentcalculator.org/ and on Android and Apple App version, for user-friendly remote access.

For more information on the TCO calculator and on the new LBR project, please do not hesitate to contact the ERA secretariat, at [email protected]