Friday afternoon, three different prices
A DIY customer rings on Friday to ask how much a cement mixer costs for the weekend. One staff member says the weekend rate. On Monday the customer rings to extend until Wednesday and is told a price that treats it as a week. When they return it, a different staff member charges weekend plus two extra days at the daily rate. The customer is annoyed, and not unreasonably: three people, three answers.
Trade accounts see the same thing in their invoices, which is where the phone calls come from.
Why hire pricing is hard to apply the same way
- Rates vary by duration: day, weekend, week, and extra days after a week.
- Weekend rules differ: collected Friday afternoon, back Monday morning, and what counts as a weekend when a bank holiday is involved.
- Trade accounts have discounts or price agreements that apply to some tools and not others.
- Minimum charges, delivery charges and damage waivers sit on top.
- The price list is a PDF or a sheet on the wall; the rules for combining rates are in people's heads.
What inconsistent quotes cost
Customers who feel overcharged, even when the final price is fair. Undercharges that nobody catches. Invoice queries from trade accounts whose agreed rates were not applied. Staff who dread extension calls because they are not sure of the answer. And a website that either shows no prices or shows prices that do not match the counter.
One calculator, same answer everywhere
- Your price list and pricing rules are set up in one place: rate bands per tool, how durations combine, weekend and bank holiday handling, minimum charges.
- Trade account agreements are attached to the account, so their rates apply automatically.
- Counter and phone staff enter the tool, dates and customer, and get the price with a line-by-line breakdown.
- Extensions are priced by the same rules, so the customer gets the cheapest correct combination rather than whatever a person works out.
- The website uses the same calculator for its prices, so online and counter quotes match.
- Your hire software's charges are compared against the calculator on each invoice run, and differences are listed for checking.
If your hire software already prices correctly and the issue is staff overriding it, we will tell you, and the fix may be simpler.
How a quote is shown to the customer
| Line | Example |
|---|---|
| Tool and rate band | Cement mixer, weekend rate |
| Extra days | Two days at the extra-day rate |
| Account terms | Trade discount applied, if any |
| Other charges | Delivery, damage waiver as chosen |
| Total | With the dates it covers |
The layout is illustrative. Your own rates and wording are used.
What changes on the counter
Everyone gives the same answer. Customers see how the price was reached, which heads off most arguments. Extensions are no longer a guessing game. Trade invoices match agreements. And when you change prices, you change them once.
Getting the rules out of people's heads
The hardest part is not the calculator, it is writing down the rules. Most depots have a few that everyone agrees on and several that different people apply differently: whether Friday afternoon to Monday morning counts as a weekend if the tool comes back at 10am, whether the weekly rate kicks in on day five, what happens when a trade discount meets a weekend rate.
We sit down with you and the staff who quote most often, go through real examples, including ones that caused arguments, and agree the rules. Sometimes that conversation alone fixes half the problem. The calculator then makes sure the agreed rules are the ones actually used.
Is pricing a sore point at your depot?
- Different staff quote different prices for the same hire.
- Extensions often end in an argument about the rate.
- Trade accounts query invoices because agreed rates were missed.
- Your website prices do not match the counter, or there are none.