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Equipment is one of the biggest line items in a construction company’s budget, and yet project managers and fleet managers all too often have to make fleet decisions based on incomplete or dated information.
EquipmentShare’s T3® platform can help you control costs and demystify the budgeting process, so you can pivot from guesswork to data-driven decisions.
“T3 takes your machines and the work they do in the real world, captures that information and puts it in front of you, with both real-time and historical data,” Jesse Johnsey of the T3 team said. “If you know when your machines are being used, how they’re being used, how much service they needed last year and when they’ll need service again, you can really think about the total cost of ownership. T3 gives you the data you need to make those decisions.”
What is T3?
If you’re unfamiliar with T3, it is a cloud-based operating system that allows contractors to manage their people, assets and materials in one platform. It is powered by hardware like trackers, keypad access systems and dash cams. The hardware feeds a constant stream of telemetry and operational data into T3 software, allowing you to monitor the location, utilization and health of your connected equipment.
Because it’s compatible with any make or model of equipment or vehicle, T3 is ideal for mixed construction fleets. T3 comes standard on EquipmentShare rental machines, and you can purchase it for your owned equipment to gain full visibility of your entire fleet from your phone or laptop.
Here’s how T3 can help you budget accurately.
Receive real-time reporting
T3’s value as a budgeting tool begins on the individual project level. It provides you with real-time reporting on the utilization of your connected equipment. That allows you to bill accurately and see which rarely used assets can be off-rented and which overused assets are approaching an overage charge.
“Anything you’re billing in real time, you’re going to have access to the data in real time,” Johnsey said. “T3 tracks real-time engine hours, where that asset is and whether it’s being used. Knowing exactly how long machines are running on the job makes it easy to assign the cost.”
Control tool costs
Lost and stolen tools can easily add thousands of dollars to the cost of a construction job or industrial turnaround. T3 can solve that problem.
EquipmentShare’s mobile tool trailers are stocked with a customizable supply of rental tools, which are outfitted with Bluetooth tags that connect to the T3 platform. That allows you to know who checked out tools, whether they were returned and where they’re currently located. Each day, an EquipmentShare tool administrator sends you a report with utilization rates, helping you update the tool inventory as the job progresses.
“Having the capability to know exactly who came and got which tools and consumables, we can point out to them if they have a worker abusing the system or they’re spending too much here or there,” Vice President of Site Solutions Grant Reviere said.
Manage maintenance spending
One of the most common ways projects get behind schedule and over budget is unscheduled downtime for equipment repair. T3 can alert you any time your connected equipment shows a diagnostic trouble code, allowing you to intervene before a minor issue becomes a job-stopping breakdown.
For annual budgeting, T3 helps customers accurately plan for maintenance spending. T3 automates work orders and service alerts based on actual engine hours, mileage and other key metrics.
“The No. 1 way we help fleet managers budget is predictable maintenance cost,” Johnsey said. “Even if you only automate preventative maintenance, T3 allows for cleaner budgeting than being reactive. For example, based on actual usage data from T3, you know that in the next six months you’re going to have 10 vehicles that need new tires, versus budgeting for five new sets of tires because you’ve always budgeted for five new sets of tires.”
Improve estimates
The more you use T3, the more effective it becomes as a planning tool. You can use the historical data from previous projects to accurately estimate the costs for similar future projects. Based on that information, you can start making more informed fleet-management decisions on buying vs. renting equipment.
“We have some T3 customers who are really using it as a budgetary tool,” EquipmentShare Director of National Accounts Ronny Robinson said. “So they’ll say that these projects are going to run all year and this is what’s on rent. We can help them build the model for their fleet needs as their skilled craft curve changes.
“If it’s January and you know you’re going to need 37 scissor lifts in June, you can make a decision now considering the cost of ownership vs. renting model. Maybe you buy those scissor lifts because the job is going to last another two years, or you can decide to continue with a rental model and just add that amount to the cost projections for the year. If you can tell us what type of project you're doing, the duration and estimated skilled craft curve, we can do an accurate chart for you to build out your plan.”
Buy and sell with confidence
Rent or buy? Sell or keep? These are among the most impactful budget decisions you’ll make. When you’re solving those math problems, you need to know the value of every variable.
“When it comes to lifecycle planning, when you see utilization rate, run hours and maintenance costs in one place, as a fleet manager that’s really beneficial,” Johnsey said. “It helps you decide if you need to repair something, rotate it in or out of the fleet, take something to auction or rent this piece instead of buying it because I’m not using it enough. Those rent vs. buy vs. sell decisions are incredibly important in the budgeting process, and T3 puts all that data right at your fingertips.”
Ready to learn more? Schedule a T3 demo.
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