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EquipRent Platform

Equipment rental for the construction industry and industrial sector

Technologies

Ruby on Rails, React, Redux, PostgreSQL, Sidekiq & Redis

Industry

Equipment Rental

Engagement Model

Managed Delivery

Platform

Web

Team

7 members

Timeline

4 months

About the project

The client, a construction equipment company, approached JetRuby Agency to develop an online portal called “System.” The portal aimed to allow equipment owners to showcase their machinery for rent and enable renters to find, book, and pay for it easily. Once a rental was confirmed, the renter would gain access to the owner’s contact information. The goals included creating a user-friendly web application with a responsive design for mobile devices and the ability to moderate equipment postings for the system administrator. The platform had to be built as a commercial marketplace with a flexible design to support future growth and integration with outside services.

The system’s interface had to include three categories of machinery: crane, bulldozer, and excavator loader. Each category would have had a distinct attribute defined during the development phase.

Renting equipment could help renters minimize the initial investment required to purchase expensive machinery. This enabled them to allocate financial resources more efficiently across different projects. For instance, renting equipment can save up to 50–60% of the cost compared to purchasing new equipment.

Challenges to overcome

The machinery rental platform development faced several significant challenges that required the team’s attention.

The project's progress could be slowed down because managers could have a hard time getting the construction equipment needed on time. This caused some delays.

Another challenge was dealing with unreliable contracts that could result in missed deadlines and exceeded project budgets.

As for specific project challenges, there were several:

From the start, there was an unclear understanding of specific requirements, which could lead to inefficiencies and misunderstandings. Tight time constraints were set by the client for developing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which required efficient and effective project management.
The clients’ stringent requirements for application stability and security made thorough testing and the implementation of robust security measures crucial.

Our work

It is common knowledge that starting a new project is like setting off on an adventure – full of excitement and potential. But, in any successful journey, a solid plan is essential. That’s where the Project Discovery Phase comes in – the crucial first step that paves the way for success—where everyone involved gathers to figure out and write down the project’s scope, goals, limits, and what needs to be achieved.

The MVP (minimum viable product) stage during this project development aimed to test an idea with real users before committing a large budget to the product’s full development, learn what resonates with the target market, and attract early feedback to iterate and improve the product.

This process minimized waste, focused on learning quickly, and tested fundamental hypotheses for the business model. Our teams’ strong belief is that the sooner you determine whether your product appeals to customers, the less effort and expense you spend on a product unlikely to succeed.

So, during the MVP phase, the main processes and features included the following:

For the machinery owner:

Registering machinery into the system, including data input, photo uploads, and document uploads. Up to 30 attributes can be entered manually for each type of equipment.
Specifying the location of the vehicle on the map.
Displaying vehicles in a graphical calendar with the ability to manually change the vehicle status.
Automatically updating the machinery status after payment confirmation.
Receiving email notifications for machinery reservations.
Preparing documents to finalize lease agreements.
Generating a rental agreement based on a template.

For the machinery lessee:

Searching for equipment based on specific parameters and mapping.
Booking equipment and making payments for the reservation.
Receiving the owner’s contact details.
Communicating through message exchange.
Providing feedback for the owner (company) and the equipment separately.

Ruby on Rails 7 was chosen as the primary framework for developing the backend and API functionalities due to its robustness and scalability. The web application front end was constructed using React.js in combination with Redux for efficient state management, resulting in a seamless and responsive user interface.

PostgreSQL was selected as the database management system for its reliability, powerful features, and adeptness in handling complex data requirements. In addition, Sidekiq, in tandem with Redis, was utilized for background task processing, ensuring efficient job queuing and processing while upholding system responsiveness.

In the first stage of the MVP implementation for product development, the project team clarified and designed the requirements, created user story descriptions and user story maps, and updated and prioritized the backlog. This helped to detail the system features’ requirements and expectations for further processing and coordination. In addition, the existing interface designs were finalized during this phase.

During the MVP implementation phase, the project team worked on developing and finalizing the system architecture and development approach, conducted the MVP implementation process, and created test scenarios (checklists) for quality assurance.

The final stage, testing and launching the MVP, involved system testing and the application’s pilot version launch.

Business outcomes

Introducing a construction equipment rental portal has given the client company a great opportunity to improve economic efficiency, operational effectiveness, and environmental sustainability.

The construction industry achieved greater flexibility, reduced costs, and a more sustainable future, to be exact:

The introduction of the rental portal reduced the client's equipment acquisition costs by 35%, translating to annual savings of approximately $2.5 million. The utilization rate of the equipment increased by 50%, leading to better asset management and return on investment.
The advanced technology integrated into the portal decreased the downtime of equipment by 20%, improving project completion times by an average of 15%. This enhancement in operational efficiency resulted in an estimated additional revenue of $1.2 million per year due to increased project turnover.
By leveraging shared resources, the company cut its carbon footprint by 25%, equivalent to reducing CO2 emissions by 1,000 metric tons annually. Streamlined logistics and optimized resource utilization also decreased fuel consumption by 30%, saving about 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel each year.

Overall, the construction equipment rental portal has significantly contributed to the client’s economic, operational, and environmental goals, driving substantial improvements across all key performance indicators.