Dozr Spreads Equipment Sharing to Florida Contractors
Online heavy equipment marketplace Dozr announced it has begun operating in Florida, providing construction and agricultural equipment owners in the area a platform to rent their idle machinery.
Dozr was founded by Canadian contractor Kevin Forestell, who owned a commercial landscaping company. Forestell said he hated watching his equipment sit idle between jobs and knew other contractors were in the same situation. With Dozr, equipment owners matches people in need of machinery with equipment, with insurance coverage built into the platform.
“With so much economic growth, construction and agriculture happening in Florida, there is a big demand for equipment,” Forestell said. “Dozr is here to help connect people with extra equipment with people who need it so that projects can stay on track and owners can earn revenue from their equipment.”
Dozr staff said the platform creates revenue for equipment owners, and that rates on the contractor-to-contractor platform tend to be about 40 percent less than retail rental rates and, Dozr said, variety is greater. There is no charge to join the network.
Dozr launched in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 2015 and is expanding operations in the United States following a CD $2.5 million equity financing from FairVentures Inc., the innovation initiative of Fairfax Financial Holdings. Dozr moved into the New Jersey market in December and is now operating in Florida, focusing on Miami, Tampa and Orlando.
Dozr added that Florida contracts will be able to find good deals on construction equipment from Canada and northern states where work is relatively minimal until spring.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.