NAICS 5323Industry group · 4-digitlocal market1 market record

General rental centres

This industry group comprises establishments primarily engaged in renting a range of consumer, commercial and industrial equipment. These establishments typically operate from conveniently located facilities in which they maintain inventories of goods and equipment that are rented for short periods of time. The type of equipment that these establishments provide often includes, but is not limited to, contractors' and builders' tools and equipment, home repair tools, lawn and garden equipment, moving equipment and supplies, and party and banquet equipment and supplies. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 296
Under 10 employeesA: 55%
Establishments · USA: 2,775
Employment · USA: 19,137
Payroll · USA: $1.0B

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–48729%

5–97726%

10–199331%

20–493110%

50–9983%

100–1990—

200–4990—

500+0—

Of 296 Canadian establishments with employees, 55% have fewer than ten — mostly small operators.

Where they areA

Quebec14148%

Ontario7224%

British Columbia3211%

Alberta196%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Real Estate and Rental and Leasing, US · opened 2020

88.7%

1 year

70.3%

3 years

57.9%

5 years

45%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 532, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

local competitionhigh capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 532 Rental and leasing services

A fleet bought with debt and earned back by utilisation. National consolidators buy independents, which is both the competitive threat and the exit.

Who sets the price: Utilisation against the local competitor's fleet.
The software it runs on: Rental management — contracts, availability, maintenance and telematics.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Operating businessScreened

General Rental CentresStructure decides

binding constraint: capital intensity

A rental yard is a balance sheet with a counter attached: utilisation on depreciating equipment is the only number that matters, and it is lowest in the first two years while the customer base is being built. The national chains buy equipment at fleet prices and can sustain lower utilisation. The equipment-rental software at 5324 is screened separately, and reached the same conclusion about how few yards there are to sell to.

NAICS 53236 vendors named12 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

No vertical software market has been recorded along this branch. What the subsector typically runs on: Rental management — contracts, availability, maintenance and telematics.

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Companies in this industry · 7

Every company this research names that is filed here or beneath — the operators, and the vendors that sell to them — largest disclosed revenue first. The rank is within the company’s own six-digit industry.

Company	Filed under	Revenue	Rank
United RentalsPrivate	General rental centres5323	$16.1B	1/7
HercNYSE:HRI	General rental centres5323	$4.4B	2/7
Home Depot rental countersPrivate	General rental centres5323	—	3/7
Lou-TecPrivate	General rental centres5323	—	4/7
SimplexPrivate	General rental centres5323	—	5/7
Stephenson's Rental ServicesPrivate	General rental centres5323	—	6/7
Sunbelt RentalsPrivate	General rental centres5323	—	7/7

Who works here

The occupations employed in Real estate and rental and leasing, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Insurance, real estate and financial sales occupations Mostly one sector 43.8%

Managers in construction and facility operation and maintenance Mostly one sector 10.3%

Support occupations in accommodation, travel, tourism and amusement services Mostly one sector 3.9%

Auditors, accountants and investment professionals Mostly one sector 2.2%

Logging, forestry, landscaping and other related labourers Mostly one sector 1.3%

Retail salespersons and non-technical wholesale trade sales and account representatives Mostly one sector 1.2%

Automotive service technicians Mostly one sector 1.1%

Security guards and related security service occupations Mostly one sector 1.1%

Graphic and interior designers Mostly one sector 1.1%

Photographers and support occupations in arts and culture Mostly one sector 1.1%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Administrative, property and payroll officers Across the economy 11.7%

Building maintenance installers, servicers and repairers Across the economy 9.6%

Accounting, insurance and related business administrative occupations Across the economy 5.4%

Financial, insurance and related administrative support workers Across the economy 3.6%

Office administrative assistants - general, legal and medical Across the economy 3.3%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 3%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 1.7%

Administrative and financial supervisors Across the economy 1.6%

Survey, statistical and data entry occupations Across the economy 1.3%

Customer and information services representatives Across the economy 1.1%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. In a small establishment several of these are usually one person, or an outside provider.

All 162 occupations →

Inside this industry

1 row sits directly beneath 5323, and 2 in all once every level is counted. Each has a base report of its own.

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
53231	General rental centres	296	screened at 5323

Alongside it, under 532 Rental and leasing services

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
5321	Automotive equipment rental and leasing	1,959	Vehicle Rental & Car-Share Operations Software
5322	Consumer goods rental	1,018	Rent-to-Own & Consumer Goods Rental
5324	Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing	2,703	Equipment Rental Management Software