The Compact Power business eventually expanded to 1,000 Home Depot stores and was fully acquired by the retailer for $265 million in 2017. That represents around 20% of its rental business. “We called that towable equipment – any mini excavator, skid steers, that could fit on a trailer,” says English, and typically weighing under 10,000 pounds. That ‘non-tool’ equipment was supplemented by small scissor lifts and towable aerial platforms. Investment in this segment has increased “meaningfully” over the last three years, and the business has already focused for many years in the compact equipment sector, in particular through its 2009 alliance with Compact Power Equipment Centres – the business run by Roger Braswell.Ĭompact Power placed rental yards at selected Home Depot stores and rented small skid-steers, excavators and tool-carriers which could fit in a traditional US pick-up truck or on small trailers. To target these customers, the aim is to provide a deeper range of large equipment. ![]() (The initiative comes just as its largest North American competitor – Lowe’s – announced its own national tool rental programme.) One reason for this is the fact – revealed by the company last year – that while 90% of its professional customers rent equipment, only 25% of them were renting from Home Depot. We have a vision to take a step or two up the equipment ladder, but we’re doing it carefully… it’s a growth opportunity that we are putting energy and resources into.” “Now we are growing the larger equipment business very aggressively”, English tells IRN, “We want to cater to larger Home Depot customers and go as large as their needs require. Tony English, Home Depot’s Senior Merchant for Rental (The pandemic has had an impact on Home Depot, of course, but not halted its growth – see box story overleaf.) Eight years ago, the rental business was less than $400 million, which corresponds to a compound annual growth rate of 12%. Started in 1995 with trial rental centres in Nashville, by last year it had grown to become a $940 million concern – behind only Sunbelt, Herc Rentals and United Rentals in North America – and with a target to exceed US$1 billion this year. ![]() An experienced supply chain and procurement specialist at Ingersoll Rand and then Sunbelt Rental – where he worked for almost six years – English has spent the last nine years focused on the DIY chain’s rental operation. Leading this rental expansion is Tony English, Home Depot’s senior merchant for rental. North American DIY giant The Home Depot said last year that an expansion of its almost $1 billion revenue in-store rental business was firmly in its sights, with key targets being more rental stores, a migration upwards in equipment sizes, and an increased focus on serving the professional customers who are the biggest spenders on rental. Small tool rental remains the core activity of the Home Depot’s rental business
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