Survey: Contractors Focus on Price, Brand, Dealer When Buying Equipment
Two-thirds of contractors responding to our survey said they consider at least two brands before purchasing heavy equipment.
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When buying construction equipment, contractors are most likely to look at the price, who made it and the dealer that sells it, according to a recent Equipment World survey.
Two-thirds of responding contractors said they consider at least two brands when looking to purchase heavy equipment, and 70% said the same for buying compact equipment. Among those who said they don’t consider brands outside their primary one when purchasing equipment, the most popular reasons were having good experiences with that brand and having an easier time getting dealer support when only using one brand.
In each equipment category, over half of all surveyed contractors looks at more than one brand when purchasing a machine.Equipment World
Contractors are most likely to look at multiple brands when buying vocational trucks, with 70% saying they consider at least two brands. When it comes to pickups, just 55% of contractors consider multiple brands.
Key Influences on Contractors' Brand Purchase Decisions
| Heavy equipment | Compact equipment | Construction trucks | Pickups | |
| Price | 14% | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| Loyalty to brand we typically buy | 13% | 11% | 12% | 17% |
| Relationship with dealers | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Readily available aftermarket parts | 8% | 9% | 10% | 8% |
| Ease of maintenance | 9% | 11% | 10% | 7% |
| Warranty | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% |
| Financing offers | 8% | 6% | 7% | 6% |
| Resale value | 8% | 6% | 5% | 7% |
| Operator/driver preferences | 9% | 10% | 9% | 9% |
As for why they pick a specific brand, the price was either the leading choice or was tied for the lead in all four equipment categories, with slightly higher percentages of contractors looking at prices with trucks and pickups.
Relationship with dealers was another key reason contractors choose a brand, though this reason was most popular (at 14%) when contractors are buying heavy equipment and slightly less popular when buying a pickup.
Brand loyalty was the second-most popular reason for a contractor to buy a particular pickup and was a common reason among the other three categories.
Factors like remote diagnostics capabilities and recommendations from other contractors were the least common purchase influences.
Contractors were most likely to consider more than four brands when purchasing a construction truck.Equipment World
When asked about the last machine they purchased, most surveyed contractors looked at two to three brands regardless of machine category.
A higher percentage of contractors looked at one brand for their last heavy equipment purchase (23%) than their last compact equipment purchase (19%). Looking at just one brand was most common for contractors’ last pickup purchase, at 41%.
Vocational trucks saw the lowest percentage of contractors looking at just one brand, at 15%, as well as the highest percentage that looked at two brands (41%).
The percentage of contractors looking at four or more brands was highest for compact equipment (16%) and vocational trucks (17%).
