Company will initially focus on Turner projects and renting to trade contractors working on them
On Jan. 8, New York-based Turner Construction launched First Equipment Co. (FEC) a centralized equipment rental and site services wholly owned subsidiary. Turner said the new division is a further strategic expansion of the services Turner regularly offers clients such as owners of mission-critical facilities while supporting the trade contractors working on the nation’s largest general contractor’s projects.
FEC has been providing equipment and site services on several Turner projects—particularly large-scale, advanced technology projects like data centers—where its integrated service model and online rental and services reservation platform has shown benefits. Turner is expanding those services to support projects across the U.S. and to more than 40,000 trade contractors who work on Turner jobs each year. FEC will also offer equipment rental and site services to other domestic general contractors and trade contractors. The aim is to reduce the equipment rental and management burden on clients and the trades who work on their sites, Turner said. As such, it will compete with large rental companies who have expanded their reach into rental and equipment strategy services.
«We were looking at where could an equipment rental division be implemented, where subject matter experts and rental experts and people from the industry can best help our clients just be smarter about how we deal with equipment,» says Joshua Ehlers, division manager of FEC and Turner’s national equipment shop manager. «FEC is helping put together the larger purchasing strategy. What are pieces of equipment that we could use on every site across the country, that are easy to move that once it’s done one place, it can move to another, and that we can maintain in a healthy fleet?»
First Equipment Co. is part of Turner’s broader investment in project delivery capabilities, alongside service offerings such as xPL Offsite for prefabrication and industrialized construction, SourceBlue for procurement and supply chain management, the Turner Accelerated Payment Program for subcontractor payments, the Turner Engineering Group for engineering, and the expansion of self-perform operations.
Ehlers said that as the new division launches, it will look to work with Turner trade contractors and owners on their jobsites but could eventually lead to work in equipment strategy and procurement on other contractors’ jobsites.
«Right now, FEC is consolidating and working with Turner teams to really streamline [the] equipment process,» he explains.
