Every machine with its own record: what it has, where it is, and what it costs per hour
Hour meter with photo proof, maintenance that warns you first, fuel that flows into project cost, and external rentals with a branded public catalog.
The equipment module turns a builder’s fleet into data that works on its own. Every machine gets a record: hour-meter readings with a photo as proof, maintenance rules that warn before the breakdown, fuel fill-ups with receipts, and a true cost per hour that includes maintenance, fuel, operator and depreciation. Whatever the machine spends on a job site flows into that project’s cost automatically, and when it sits idle you can rent it out: share a branded public catalog with real availability and let prospects mark the machines they want. Everything also works offline, from a phone, in the yard.
| Machine | Status | Cost/hr |
|---|---|---|
| CAT Backhoe | On site | $487 |
| Concrete mixer | Rented | $96 |
| Plate compactor | Idle | $128 |
| Laser level | On loan | — |
What problem it solves
Most fleets live in the yard manager’s head and a notebook: nobody knows for sure where each machine is, hour meters get written down “later” or never, maintenance happens when something breaks, and fuel gets paid without knowing which project to charge. At year end the uncomfortable question has no answer: is this backhoe making me money or costing me money? And idle machines stay idle, because renting them out means building catalogs, contracts and statements by hand.
How it works
Register your machines in minutes
Just type and name to start (the rest can come later), or import your whole list from Excel with automatic column mapping.
Capture from the field
Hour-meter reading with photo and fuel fill-up with receipt from the “+” button, picking the machine. No signal? It queues on the phone and syncs when you reconnect.
The data flows on its own
Any hour meter captured anywhere feeds the same history; fuel and freight flow into project cost; maintenance rules count down real hours and warn you.
Rent out what sits idle
Share a branded public catalog with real availability; prospects mark the machines they want and you get the lead. Rentals carry deposits, extra hours, operators and per-client statements.
What's included
- A record per machine: photo, plain-language status, hour meter, utilization, cost per hour and net
- Hour meter with photo proof and a history that shows hours consumed between readings
- Preventive maintenance by hour meter or calendar (days, weeks or months) with an exact next-service date
- Operator pre-start inspection: every failed item creates a corrective ticket
- Fuel with receipts, liters-per-hour efficiency, and weekly or monthly totals
- True cost per hour: maintenance + fuel + operator + depreciation per hour
- Internal fees, fuel and freight flow into each project’s cost on their own
- External rentals: branded public catalog with real availability, contracts with deposit and extra hours, and per-client statements with a link
- Field capture from the “+” with an offline queue: works without signal
- Excel import with automatic column mapping
How equipment management works, from the inside
A record per machine, not a dead list
Most equipment inventories are a list of names with serial numbers nobody looks up. Here every machine has its own page with what an owner wants at a glance: its photo, its status in plain site language (“on Torre Norte since May 12”, “in the yard, no project”, “rented to Valley Builders”), and the four numbers that matter: hour meter, 30-day utilization, cost per hour and net.
Below live the tabs: activity (one timeline of everything that ever happened to it — assignments, readings, services, fill-ups, rentals), fuel, maintenance, money, and documents with per-file expiry dates. Moving the machine to another site, renting it out or sending it to the shop are actions on the record, not paperwork in separate screens.
Registration never gets in the way: a machine needs only a type and a name; purchase value, rates and useful life can come later. And if your fleet already lives in a spreadsheet, import it whole: the system maps your columns automatically and you just review the preview.
- A page per machine with photo, status and the 4 key numbers
- Activity: the asset’s whole life in one timeline
- Minimal registration (type + name) or Excel import
- Documents with per-file expiry: insurance, inspection, permits
The hour meter stops being a loose number
The hour meter is a machine’s odometer: maintenance, fuel efficiency and cost per hour all depend on it. The problem is it usually gets captured on scraps of paper, if at all. Here every reading accepts a photo of the meter as proof — date, reading and photo live in a history that also computes hours consumed between readings — and capturing takes 20 seconds from the phone’s “+” button, picking the machine.
Most importantly, there is one series: when the yard keeper logs the meter while fueling, when the mechanic notes it closing a service, or when it gets recorded handing over a rental, all those readings feed the same history. No double entry, no notebooks to reconcile: any flow that touches the meter updates it, and the machine’s total only moves forward (a secondary capture can never roll it back by mistake).
Everything else computes on top of that series: the “every 250 hours” maintenance rule counts down against real readings, liters-per-hour comes from the stretches between fill-ups, and cost per hour divides spending by true hours, not estimates.
- Every reading with photo proof, in a history with consumption
- One series: fuel, services and rentals feed the same meter
- 20-second capture from the “+”, with an offline queue when there’s no signal
- Maintenance, efficiency and cost per hour run on real hours
Maintenance that warns before, not after
Corrective maintenance is the expensive kind: you pay for it with the machine down and the site waiting. Preventive rules warn you first: by hour meter (“every 250 hours”) or by calendar, with whatever interval the machine needs — days, weeks or months — plus the option to pin an exact next-service date. The warning is proportional to the interval: a weekly rule warns a couple of days ahead; a yearly one, two weeks.
The pre-start inspection closes the loop from the operator’s side: a seven-point list — brakes, lights, leaks, fluid levels, tires, extinguisher, mirrors — answered in a minute before starting up. Every failed item automatically creates a corrective ticket on the machine, with the note of what was found. The small fault gets handled before it becomes the one that stops the site.
Every completed service stores its full cost: labor, parts (which you can deduct from your central warehouse if you run that module), vendor, and a photo of what failed. That cost doesn’t sit in a logbook: it flows straight into the machine’s cost per hour and net.
- Rules by hour meter or calendar: days, weeks, months or an exact date
- Operator pre-start: 7 points; every failure creates a corrective ticket
- Services with full cost, warehouse parts and a photo of the fault
- Everything feeds the machine’s cost per hour and net
What your machine truly costs per hour — and whether renting it makes money
The number professional rental companies know and builders almost never do: each machine’s true cost per hour. Here it computes itself, on real meter hours: maintenance, fuel, operator cost on rentals, and depreciation per hour (purchase value over useful life in hours). It’s the number you price a rental — or a replacement decision — with.
With that number, the module makes a comparison that stings but pays: if a machine’s true cost per hour exceeds the rate you rent it at, it tells you in plain words — you lose money on every rented hour; raise the rate or review its costs. It also tells you how much money each idle machine is losing, based on its idle days and its rate.
And the spending doesn’t stay locked in the module: the internal fee the project “pays” for using your machine, the fuel charged to that site and the freight from transfers flow into the project’s cost on their own — in financial progress, reports and forecast. Equipment stops being a black box inside your job costs.
- True cost per hour: maintenance + fuel + operator + depreciation
- A clear warning when you rent below your cost per hour
- Idle-money alert for machines sitting without project or rental
- Fees, fuel and freight flow into each project’s cost automatically
The fleet in a notebook vs. with records
The same equipment yard, run two ways.
| Today (notebook + the yard manager’s memory) | With Matterial | |
|---|---|---|
| Where each machine is | You ask the yard manager | On its record, with project and date |
| Hour meter | Scraps of paper, if at all | History with photo and consumption; one series from every flow |
| Maintenance | When something breaks | Rules that warn first + operator pre-start |
| Fuel | Paid and forgotten | With receipts, L/h efficiency and weekly or monthly totals |
| Cost per hour | Nobody knows it | True: maintenance + fuel + operator + depreciation |
| Equipment cost on the project | Invisible or estimated | Fees, fuel and freight flow into job cost on their own |
| Idle machine | Stays idle | Public rental catalog with real availability and an idle-money alert |
| Renting to third parties | Handshake contract, collections from memory | Deposit, extra hours, operator, checklists and a statement link |
Illustrative example: a backhoe over a month
A hypothetical machine across one working month. Figures only show how the record reads; they are not a real case or a guaranteed result.
Illustrative example with hypothetical figures. Not market data or a guaranteed result; it only explains how the hour meter, fuel, maintenance and internal fee combine into a machine’s cost per hour and net.
One scenario per role
Opens the module and sees what needs attention today: a service coming due, an idle machine losing money, and an equipment request from a site. Captures hour meters for the whole fleet in one screen and resolves the request by reserving the right machine.
Before starting up, answers the pre-start on his phone: brakes, lights, leaks. When fueling, snaps the receipt and the hour meter from the “+” button. No signal in the yard: the capture queues and syncs on its own.
Reads the fleet ranking: which machine earns, which loses, which one to replace. Discovers the mixer rents below its cost per hour and raises the rate. Each project’s equipment cost is already in the reports, with nothing captured twice.
Shares a branded catalog of available machines; the prospect marks the ones they want and leaves their details. The rental goes out with deposit, included hours and a costed operator; the client gets a statement link and closing computes extra hours automatically.
Who it's for
Works with the rest of Matterial
Coming from another tool?
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to capture the hour meter in several places?
No. There is one series: the direct reading, the one captured while fueling, the one from closing a service, and the one from rental handovers all feed the same history, each with photo proof. The machine’s total only moves forward; deliberate corrections happen through the direct reading.
Does fuel flow into project cost?
Yes. Each fill-up links to the project where the machine works and enters that job’s real spending, along with the internal usage fee and transfer freight. You see it in financial progress, reports and forecast, with no double entry.
How is cost per hour computed?
On real meter hours: maintenance (labor and parts) + fuel + operator cost on rentals, divided by hours, plus depreciation per hour (purchase value over useful life in hours, if you set it). It’s the number you price rentals with.
What is the public rental catalog?
A branded link you share with prospects: it shows the machines you choose, with photos, optional rates, and their real availability for the coming weeks. Prospects mark the machines they’re interested in and leave their details, which arrive as catalog leads.
What does professional rental include?
A security deposit with its cycle, included hours per day and an extra-hour rate, out/in hour meters (closing computes extra hours and creates the charge), an operator with cost per hour, delivery and return checklists with photos, period charges, and a per-client statement with link and print.
Does it work offline?
Field capture does: hour-meter readings and fuel fill-ups from the “+” button queue on the phone (photo included) and sync when you reconnect. It’s the same offline queue as attendance, receipts and the site journal.
Is it useful if I only have small tools?
Yes. Tools are tracked with loans to workers (who has it, since when, when it’s due back, with signature) and history. And if you only want the basics, the professional features — fuel, transfers, requests, pro rentals and fleet — switch on separately whenever you need them.
Can I import my machine list from Excel?
Yes. Upload your file, the system maps the columns automatically (name, brand, serial, value, rates…), you review the preview and everything registers in one batch. Same for your warehouse if you run that module.
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