Why scaffold rental pays off? – Answers from our scaffold rental expert

Why scaffold rental pays off? – Answers from our scaffold rental expert

Worldwide, Scafom-rux sells and rents high-quality scaffolding systems at fair conditions. That is why we have experts for both options in our global teams. In our team of Scafom-rux Germany, for example, Stephan Winterhoff is the expert for all questions concerning the scaffold rental business. In an interview with the scaffolding magazine "Der Gerüstbauer", he explains the advantages of scaffold rental for the client, the influence of the current price fluctuations for raw materials on the scaffold rental business and why this is precisely what makes scaffolding rental particularly attractive at the moment.

 

Scaffolding magazine DER GERÜSTBAUER in conversation with Stephan Winterhoff, responsible at Scafom-rux for the business of RUX Rental GmbH

 

 

DER GERÜSTBAUER: RUX Rental GmbH has established itself on the market as a rental company for scaffolding equipment. Isn't that the business of your customers?

Stephan Winterhoff: RUX Rental GmbH is an independent company that actually deals with the rental of scaffolding material. The scaffolder is our customer, not our competitor. What unites the scaffolder and us is that we buy from the same manufacturer, the Scafom-rux Group. And that is a good thing.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: Why?

Stephan Winterhoff: Because RUX Rental GmbH, with its adequate scaffold material pool, is a usable and useful addition to the Scafom-rux customer's material stock.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: That means that only Scafom-rux customers rent scaffolding from you?

Stephan Winterhoff: As you know, the Scafom-rux Group is a supplier for a wide range of approved scaffolding systems. Users of all scaffolding systems can rent supplementary scaffolding material from us.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: Do you have all the standard scaffolding systems available for scaffold rental?

Stephan Winterhoff: Almost. Of course, there are also scaffolding systems that we do not rent out, but that concerns those that are rented out by the manufacturers in question themselves, because they get hold of the projects for formwork and/or scaffolding for themselves. Here one could rightly express the suspicion underlying your initial question.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: To get it right, again the question, why are you doing the same thing as the scaffolder, which is renting out scaffolding material?

Stephan Winterhoff: Look: a scaffolder is asked by building owners for scaffolding including the associated service. The first difference between the scaffolder and us is that we don't offer any scaffold assembly services, which is why we don't serve these clients at all. If, for example, scaffold decks are missing in such projects because the scaffolder has to bring all his scaffold frames and brackets into use at the same time, then he can rent them for the building project, which may last three or five months. The scaffolder is also welcome to buy them from the Scafom-rux Group, sure, but if he can't or doesn't want to buy, we’ve got his back. We are also there for the scaffolder if he needs a special scaffolding component for a building project that he would not otherwise use. Or if, for example, he has to use a tarpaulin or cassette roof, needs a concrete ballast, emergency stair towers or large bridging girders. Not every scaffolder has to keep these scaffolding components in stock. Nor does every farmer have his own expensive combine harvester.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: For scaffold users, there are sufficient possibilities today to acquire scaffolding material by means of favourable hire-purchase or leasing options. Why do customers still choose the more expensive option of short-term rental?

Stephan Winterhoff: Because the somewhat more expensive short-term scaffold rental can be the cheaper option in the long run. If the scaffolder is only likely to use a component for one construction project, buying it makes no sense. Even if the costs of the component would be covered by the final income after use, in the end it takes up storage space, it has to be registered and inventoried, efforts may have to be made to remarket such a special scaffolding component, etc. In the end, dead capital often remains. If such scaffolding components - which is more likely - are not paid for after a single construction project, nor have they been financed, costs for exceptional scaffolding components run up all year long, which cannot be used at all in the off-season. The short-term scaffold rental rates, on the other hand, are are directly absorbed by the project.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: Do you only rent out individual special scaffolding components or is it possible to get the complete scaffolding for a building project, from the base jack to the roof catch?

Stephan Winterhoff: Both are possible. It happens that a scaffolder has erected ten scaffolds for his regular customer and has no more material for the eleventh scaffold. Before the scaffolder leaves this customer to his competitor, he would do well to get the needed additional scaffolding material. Of course, the scaffolders also help each other with scaffolding material, but when every scaffolder is at full capacity during the season, RUX Rental GmbH comes into play. For the scaffolder it is important that he can take 70 to 80 % of the scaffold material for his orders from his own stock, 20 to 30 % additional short-term scaffold rental is then a healthy mixture. What we don't support is supplying new start-ups with scaffold rental material. That doesn't pay off. You don't rent cars from a car rental company to open a car rental business. For start-ups, there are other options in the financing toolbox on the sales side.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: These days we are experiencing extreme price distortions in the resources market. How are the price increases reflected in the scaffold rental rates?

Stephan Winterhoff: Just like the scaffolder, RUX Rental GmbH has to pay the manufacturer's surcharges. These surcharges are not play money to secure or even generate an improvement in the manufacturer's margin, but a contribution to halting the extreme deterioration in margins. In my estimation, all scaffolding manufacturers are already producing with a minimum margin despite surcharges. In this respect, RUX Rental GmbH and the scaffolder are lucky that they can still buy scaffolding material relatively cheaply. In the mixed calculation with what is already available in scaffold rental material, RUX Rental GmbH is not yet forced to turn the price screw or even introduce a manufacturer's surcharge. We base our scaffold rental prices on the list price of the manufacturer Scafom-rux, which is currently still at the 2018 level.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: In other words: Your short-term scaffold rental rates become more attractive in relation to the scaffolder's purchase prices?

Stephan Winterhoff: Yes, you could say that. Anyone who is betting on a sustained fall in raw material prices - and we all hope that this price trend will settle at a lower level than today in the foreseeable future - is exactly right with us in terms of renting scaffolding material. However, buying materials still has its place these days. Consider the 80:20 rule. If the scaffolding is ever a little more expensive, the scaffolder may have to put it up for one more building project than usual to pay it off. But the long-lasting scaffolds can easily cope with that.

DER GERÜSTBAUER: Thank you for the interview.

(Source: DER GERÜSTBAUER 04.2021)

 

In over 15 countries, Scafom-rux gives you the option to rent your scaffolding systems on flexible terms. So take a look at the website of your nearest Scafom-rux location or contact our team directly.

If you want to know more about when scaffolding rental is worthwhile for your next scaffolding project, read our blog post on the subject here.