Klickrent is an independent digital market for renting construction equipment. The online rental platform brings renters and rental companies together and makes your business more efficient.
Interview with Tobias Sudbrock, CEO klickrent GmbH.
Easy Engineering: A brief description of the company and its activities.
Tobias Sudbrock: With our Berlin-based scale-up klickrent we develop digital solutions for equipment rental in the international construction industry with projects in Germany and Austria. We founded klickrent in October 2021 on a mission to streamline rental processes making them faster and more efficient and thus drive digitalisation in the construction industry. Our digital solutions are the platform klickrent.de and the app klickcheck: klickrent.de is an asset-free rental platform for construction machinery and equipment. The klickcheck app makes the status documentation of rental objects easy and digital via smartphone.
With klickrent, we support customers from all over the world with their construction projects and events in Germany and Austria. The company is a subsidiary of the Zeppelin Group. Klickrent.de and klickcheck were previously developed in the Z Lab, Zeppelin’s incubator and innovation space. We currently employ 75 people at klickrent and we are especially proud of our Female quota of 49 per cent. We also initiated the community “Women in the Construction Industry” in 2022 to give women more visibility here and make the industry more attractive for women throughout Germany.
E.E: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
T.S: Our central solution is the asset-free and manufacturer-independent rental platform klickrent.de for construction machinery and technology. Klickrent.de rents out the entire portfolio of cranes, work platforms, containers, construction machinery, power and lighting technology, refrigeration technology, construction heaters and storage technology available on the German market. The platform offers a one-stop solution from consulting to invoicing. As an asset-free rental company, klickrent works with a Germany-wide partner network of more than 3,000 partners with 4,000 rental stations. The partner’s are digitally connected to the platform. We can access availability and prices in real time. Construction companies can obtain the entire range of machines and technology from klickrent at any time.
It is also possible for our customers to send their requests in bundled form. They have one contact person for their complete order, which can include a wide variety of machines and technology, and also includes everything on one invoice according to the principle of “everything from one source”. By bundling the orders, we have a very high purchasing volume. This allows us margins that we can pass on to our customers.
All in all, we are unbeatable as a service provider in the combination of advice, efficiency, flexibility and price. Our business model enables us to offer our customers the most suitable offer at the best price in the quickest way at any time. This makes klickrent an economically attractive and reliable partner for construction companies.
In addition to the digital product, klickrent.de focuses on personal and customized advice. Service staff with a high level of technical expertise accompany our customers with every rental request.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
T.S: Since autumn 2022, you can not only rent but also buy containers for construction projects or events with klickrent. Some of our customers need containers for a long period of more than two years or need the same containers again and again: For them buying is more cost-efficient. For this purpose, we have set up our own container shop at klickrent-container.de – with consultant advice, of course.
With the klickcheck app, we have developed a digital solution that makes documentation simple and the rental process even more transparent: the app documents the condition of each rental object easily and quickly by using your own smartphone camera. The tool safeguards renter and rentee alike. It is easy to use and the documentation promotes trust on all sides, ensures greater transparency and thus makes damage management smooth. That, of course, benefits the next customer.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
T.S: Regarding the level of digitalisation, we are still at the beginning in the construction industry compared to other industries. In Germany, the construction industry is in last place in terms of digitalisation. But we have definitely noticed that the affinity is increasing more and more, also due to the generational change. Most companies are now very aware of the advantages of digitalisation: above all, it enables an increase in efficiency, reduces costs, and saves time and resources. Our digital business model at klickrent.de also enables our customers to get better deals, continuous and secure availability, access to more suppliers and thus a wider range of options. Overall, however, many companies still find it difficult to implement digital processes because they lack the know-how. With klickrent, this is no longer necessary. With our digital solutions, we make it possible for each customer to access the new digital world from wherever they are at the moment and slowly – if they want to – familiarize themselves with the digital possibilities.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
T.S: Renting machinery, technology and equipment is becoming an increasingly important topic for construction companies and is on a strong upward trend. This is because procurement through rental is possible at shorter notice, faster and cheaper. This gives construction companies planning security and flexibility. Currently, material and supply bottlenecks as well as massive price jumps are making the planning and implementation of numerous construction projects difficult. For us and our platform klickrent.de, this crisis in the construction industry is an opportunity to show our full potential. The market environment demands maximum flexibility from construction companies, among other things in the procurement of construction technology and the equipment for construction projects. Renting is the form of financing that gives construction companies maximum flexibility. Through our digital, asset-free business model, klickrent has the ability to ensure availability and the lowest price for every rental request. This makes us the reliable partner of the international construction industry.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
T.S: klickrent. 😉
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
T.S: Our goal is to double our customer base, orders and turnover every year and we are well on track here. We are also starting to expand into other European countries this year and are working on the further internationalization of klickrent.de. The first international market we are currently establishing ourselves in is Austria.