A guide to leasing cleaning equipment

With Investec’s latest forecast likely to benefit both households and businesses alike.

However, double-digit inflation and a base interest rate of 3% continue to increase the financial challenges and borrowing costs facing businesses, making it hard for firms to fund capital investments while maintaining viable levels of working capital.

For customers in need of industrial or high grade cleaning equipment, however, a potentially affordable option may exist in the form of leasing. But what does this mean and what are the exact advantages of this practice?

1. What is Leasing?

In simple terms, leasing refers to a contractual agreement between two parties, namely the lessor and the lessee. 

From a functional perspective, this agreement calls for the lessee to pay the lessor for the use of a particular asset, with the most common and well-known lease arrangements focused on real estate and vehicles.

The scope of leasing also includes cleaning equipment, particularly costly and industrial grade items that are prohibitively priced and may exist beyond the means of small cleaning and maintenance firms.

This highlights the flexible nature of leasing, which can be leveraged across a broad and growing range of products and industries. As a result, cleaning equipment leasing from GRENKE and similar providers is now commonplace, with different packages and options available to clients.

2. What are the Advantages of Leasing Your Cleaning Equipment?

As we can see, the primary benefit of leasing cleaning equipment is that it enables businesses to dramatically reduce their starting capital investment.

This can be crucial for start-up ventures that rely on the use of commercial and high-quality cleaning equipment, as it optimises their level of working capital from the outset and minimises their initial financial outlay.

But what are the other advantages to keep in mind? Here are some of the most compelling:

• #1. Access Superior Technology and Flexible Upgrades: Given the cost of new industrial cleaning equipment (such as commercial vacuums and auto scrubber driers), it also stands to reason that replacing worn out or obsolete items will create a significant financial burden over time. When leasing equipment, however, customers can agree relatively short-term agreements that offer you access to the very best products and flexible upgrades as and when required. 

• #2. Simplify Ongoing Expenses: Arguably, budgeting is much easier when leasing cleaning equipment, with agreements providing a predetermined monthly line item that allows for more effective (and accurate) financial management. In addition to cutting initial costs for customers, this also makes the sourcing of high-end equipment more manageable over time, benefitting account managers and finance departments alike.

• #3. Grow Through Better Capital Deployment: Cash flow is the bane of most businesses, especially those that are small in nature. This can be made all the more challenging when you have to make large, upfront capital investments, but leasing negates this need and allows customers to deploy their starting capital in a way that drives growth while also creating a potential fiscal safety net. In this respect, leasing can expedite business growth even during a strained or austere economic climate.

• #4. Deliver a More Comprehensive Cleaning Service: For small and independent cleaning businesses, not having access to the best and most powerful equipment puts them at a competitive disadvantage when compared with their well-resourced rivals. Leasing enables them to access the best and latest cleaning equipment through short-term agreements, however, affording parity in the marketplace without negatively impacting pricing.

3. The Last Word

We’d argue that there are universal advantages to leasing cleaning equipment, particularly for small firms or startups that may not have the available starting capital to invest in the best or latest technology.

However, the argument for leasing industrial grade cleaning equipment is even more compelling in the current economic climate, which continues to squeeze consumer and client spending while hiking the cost of traditional borrowing for companies.