A lens that stayed in the van
For a car commercial the company hires an extra camera body, a long lens, a drone package and a lighting upgrade from two rental houses. The hires are arranged by email between the producer and each rental house, with collection on Monday and return on Wednesday evening. The shoot wraps late on Wednesday. The camera body and lighting go back on Thursday morning. The long lens is found in the van on Friday, when the rental house emails asking where it is.
At month end, the producer realises the drone package was booked through the company account but the job was quoted without it, and nobody put it on the client's final invoice.
Why hires slip past their return date
- Each rental house sends its own paperwork, in its own format, to whoever booked.
- Return dates are in an email the crew never saw.
- Kit from several rental houses is mixed together in the van with your own kit.
- Late wraps push returns into the next day without anyone telling the rental house.
- Hire costs reach accounts weeks later, often after the client invoice has gone out.
What late returns and missed recharges cost
Extra hire days and late charges come straight off the job's margin. Missing kit becomes a claim and a difficult call. Hires that are not recharged are pure loss, and they happen most on busy jobs where the producer has the least time to check. Rental houses also remember which companies bring kit back late, which matters when you need a favour.
How we build the hire log
- Every hire is recorded against a shoot: rental house, items, collection and return dates and times, and the order reference.
- Rental confirmations that arrive by email can be read and turned into a draft hire record for the producer to check, which saves retyping item lists.
- The crew member responsible for returns is named, and they get a reminder on the day with the rental house address, opening hours and items to return.
- If a shoot runs over, the producer can extend the hire in the log, which reminds them to tell the rental house.
- Returns are checked item by item, so a missing lens shows before the van is unloaded at base.
- Hire costs are attached to the job and marked as rechargeable or included in the quote. Rechargeable hires appear on a list for the client invoice, and can be pushed into Xero or QuickBooks as draft invoice lines.
- When the rental house invoice arrives, it is matched against the hire record, so any extra days or damage charges are visible before payment.
| Hire field | Used for |
|---|---|
| Items and rental house | Returns checklist |
| Return date and time | Reminder to the named crew member |
| Order reference | Matching the rental house invoice |
| Rechargeable or included | Client invoice lines |
| Extensions | Knowing why extra days were charged |
Wrap day, handled
On the Wednesday of the next shoot, the second camera assistant gets a reminder at lunch listing the hired items and where they go. At wrap, she checks them off in the log. The long lens is ticked, the van is checked, and everything goes back that evening or first thing, as agreed with the rental house.
The rechargeable drone hire is already on the client invoice list. When the rental house invoice arrives, it matches the hire record and is approved without a phone call. When a rental house does charge an extra day, the log shows whether the hire was extended, so the conversation starts from facts.
Sound like your hires?
- You have paid late fees on hired kit.
- Hired kit has turned up in the van days after a shoot.
- Hire costs have been missed off client invoices.
- Rental confirmations live in one producer's inbox.
- Rental house invoices are paid without checking against what was hired.