Blog / Rentals
Rentals
12 articles on rentals.
Choosing software
Auto-Charging Monthly Barricade Rentals to a Card on File
How to set up recurring rental billing on a saved card: what the customer has to agree to before the first charge, how to pick a weekly or monthly cycle, and what happens when a card is declined.
Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min read
Choosing software
Jobber Alternative for Traffic Control and Barricade Companies
Where Jobber is strong, where a traffic control or barricade rental company outgrows it, and what to look for in a replacement: daily tickets with lane-closure billing rows, stock by yard, and rental billing. Prices as of November 2026.
Nov 10, 2026 · 6 min read
Equipment and yards
Portable Message Board Rental: What to Track Between Jobs
What to record on a portable changeable message sign when it comes back from one rental and before it goes out on the next: location, power, display and controller, the message left on it, the trailer, damage and maintenance, plus how weekly and monthly rental billing fits.
Nov 10, 2026 · 6 min read
Running the business
Sales Tax on Barricade Rentals, Traffic Control Services and Material Sales
How sales tax generally treats the three things a traffic control company bills — rented devices, crew services and sold materials — with Texas as the worked example, the questions to take to your tax agency, and how to keep the invoice lines that make the answer provable.
Nov 10, 2026 · 7 min read
Running the business
Inventory Cycle Counts for Traffic Control Yards: A Practical Routine
A traffic control company's inventory is spread across a yard, a dozen trucks and forty job sites, so a once-a-year count is wrong by February. Cycle counting checks a small slice every week instead. Here is how to set one up for cones, drums, signs and trailers, what to count how often, and what to do with the differences.
Oct 10, 2026 · 7 min read
Choosing software
Tracking Damaged and Lost Rental Equipment on Job Sites
The best system for tracking damaged or lost traffic control equipment ties every device to a job when it leaves the yard, records condition at drop-off and pickup, and reconciles what came back before the invoice goes out. Here is how to build that system, and what it needs to catch.
Sep 23, 2026 · 5 min read
Running the business
Equipment Utilization Rate for Traffic Control Fleets
Devices sitting in a yard earn nothing and still cost money. How to measure utilization for cones, drums, signs, boards and attenuator trucks, what the number tells you about buying and renting, and why most traffic control companies cannot calculate it at all.
Sep 17, 2026 · 5 min read
Choosing software
Rental Software vs Field-Service Software for Traffic Control
Traffic control companies get pitched two software categories that each solve half the problem. Here is what each one is actually built for, where the seam falls, and how to decide which half you can afford to run on a spreadsheet.
Sep 11, 2026 · 12 min read
Running the business
Renting vs Buying Traffic Control Equipment: How to Decide
Utilization decides most of it, but not all. Crashworthiness standards, storage and transport cost, and what happens to a device you own when the standard changes are the parts that turn a good spreadsheet into a bad decision.
Aug 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Choosing software
Taking Card Payments for Barricade Rentals: What to Set Up and What It Costs
Card acceptance shortens collection on the smaller commercial jobs that otherwise sit in receivables — but rentals bill repeatedly, and the setup that works for a one-time sale does not work for a device on site for six weeks.
Aug 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Choosing software
Charging for Damaged and Lost Traffic Control Devices
Device attrition is a real cost line that most traffic control companies absorb by default. How to track damage and loss to a job, when the contract lets you recover it, and why the evidence has to be captured before the devices come back.
Aug 2, 2026 · 6 min read
Choosing software
Managing Recurring Lane-Closure Contracts and Long-Term Rentals
A six-month nightly closure is not thirty separate jobs and it is not one job either. How traffic control companies structure recurring closures, long-term device rentals, and the billing cycle that sits underneath them.
Aug 2, 2026 · 6 min read