Whether you've fully recovered from the recent recession or you're still feeling its effects, chances are you learned a thing or two about tightening your belt to remain competitive through thin margins. But there's a difference between simply cutting costs, and developing strategies that will produce sustainable results. It's important to remember why your customers hired you in the first place, and what they expect from you - a quality product delivered in a timely manner with friendly customer service.

Cutting costs without compromising quality can be tough in times of rising labor costs and volatile commodity prices, and taking the time to overhaul your current strategies might seem like a luxury you don't have time for, but you can be more profitable and more competitive by eliminating inefficient work processes. 

“Lean construction is a reassessment and re-design of your entire workflow to minimize waste of time, materials and effort,” said Juan Corsillo, Senior VP of Sales & Marketing for United Rentals. “The result is that you maximize value while delivering everything your customers want and deserve.”

That means analyzing everything from how you keep track of your equipment and supplies to how much time your employees spend waiting around, or working on tasks that are redundant. Your main goal is for your workflow and product to be reliable and predictable with minimal waste. In an era of ever-advancing technology, that's easier to achieve than ever.

Lean construction starts with thorough planning of each project, and creating a safe work environment staffed with a skilled labor force. Each machine and worker must be capable of producing consistent, quality results with the fewest mistakes, delays and redundancies possible. The idea is to make sure everything goes right the first time, and eliminating steps that don't contribute to the goal of maximum value.

One major aspect of making your workflow as efficient as possible is managing your fleet of construction equipment. Consult equipment experts to determine the best fleet size for your job, and exactly which equipment you'll need to complete it. A benefit of renting equipment from a large company like United Rentals is easy access to the equipment you need, when you need it, as well as fast repairs if something goes wrong.

Additionally, technology like GPS and mobile apps make it easy to keep track of equipment location, status and usage data. GPS-equipped machines avoid time wasted looking for specific equipment on a job site, and integration with web-based user interfaces enable you to make sure you're actually getting your money's worth out of the equipment you rent. United Rentals also offers online rental management platforms that help you transform your job sites through greater visibility and accountability, streamlining the renting and billing processes and eliminating paperwork.

Learn more about how United Rentals can help you cut your annual rental costs by up to a third with Total Control.