Buying an equipment rental company in Treasure Coast
Treasure Coast has 21 established equipment rental companies by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 67% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Equipment rental companies in Treasure Coast come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $57,000 a year
- Price about
- $170,000
- Your cash
- $24,000
- Could pay you
- up to $26,000 a year
- Earns about
- $574,000 a year
- Price about
- $1.7 million
- Your cash
- $241,000
- Could pay you
- up to $263,000 a year
- Earns about
- $1.4 million a year
- Price about
- $4.3 million
- Your cash
- $605,000
- Could pay you
- up to $661,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 3.0 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 7 |
| 20 to 29 years | 7 |
| 30 to 39 years | 4 |
| 40 years or more | 3 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 6 |
| $1M to $2M | 1 |
| $2M to $4M | 1 |
| $4M to $8M | 1 |
| Over $8M | 1 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Martin | 9 |
| Indian River | 5 |
| St. Lucie | 5 |
| Other counties | 2 |
What the best equipment rental companies have in common
- A fleet with a sensible mix of ages, and maintenance records for each unit.
- Utilization tracked item by item, with machines that rarely rent sold, not left in the yard.
- Contractors and industrial customers who rent often on credit accounts and pay on time.
- Skilled mechanics and a clean, organized shop that turns returns around quickly.
- Rental contracts that make customers responsible for damage, theft and misuse.
- A niche (lifts, pumps, trench safety, event equipment) where the company knows more than general rental yards.
- Equipment loans on reasonable terms that a buyer can refinance or take over.
What to check before you buy
- A list of every unit: age, hours, condition, utilization and what's owed on it. Compare it with a count of what's in the yard and out on rent.
- A mechanic you hire to inspect the larger machines.
- Rental contracts and damage waiver terms, and the history of damage and theft.
- What contractors owe: how old the bills are and how much may never be paid.
- Insurance for the equipment, general liability and vehicles, including claims from injuries on rented machines.
- How much revenue came from storms, which are unpredictable. Judge the business on its ordinary years.
- The yard lease and zoning, and whether there's room to grow.
- Whether the rental software's records can be trusted.
Questions to ask the owner
- Which equipment earns the most for what it cost, and which mostly sits in the yard?
- How do you decide when to sell a machine?
- How much of your recent revenue came from hurricanes?
- How many customers rent from you every month?
- How much equipment have you had stolen or damaged, and what did you get back?
- Who keeps the fleet running, and will they stay?
- How is the fleet financed, and how much is still owed?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying an equipment rental company in Florida.
Owning a company in Treasure Coast
The local economy
This region covers Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties on the Atlantic coast and Okeechobee and Highlands counties inland: Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, Sebastian, Okeechobee, Sebring and Avon Park. Port St. Lucie is the largest city and has grown quickly as a suburb within reach of Palm Beach County to the south.
The coast draws retirees and winter residents, and health care, construction, real estate, boating and sport fishing are big parts of the economy. The coast lies in the Indian River citrus district, named for the lagoon. Inland, Okeechobee and Highlands are cattle, dairy and citrus country around Lake Okeechobee and along the ridge near Sebring, with many retirees of their own. Home service companies, the building trades, marine businesses and medical practices find steady customers here.
What's different about owning a company here
The coast is seasonal, with winter residents filling restaurants, golf courses and service schedules, and summer is quieter. Hurricane Nicole came ashore near Vero Beach in November 2022, and the region has a long history of storms, so check insurance, flood zones and how a business came through recent ones.
Water quality in the St. Lucie River and the Indian River Lagoon is a recurring problem, and in a bad year it can hurt fishing, boating and tourism businesses. Inland, distances are longer and the labor pool thinner. A company in Sebring or Okeechobee may be one of very few of its kind nearby, which can mean loyal customers and little competition, but also few people to hire. Most new homes on the coast are going up in and around Port St. Lucie.