Above roughly 200 operating days a year, ownership beats even the monthly rental rate, so that is the segment to target. For rental fleets, compete on residual value, parts lead time and Tier 4 Final documentation rather than list price.
*By Telescro Editorial Team*
The American Rental Association’s quarterly forecast, published on 13 August 2026, puts combined US construction, industrial and general tool rental revenue on track to grow 3.4% in 2026 to $83.5 billion. The construction market underneath that number is not moving at the same pace, and that gap is the part worth reading if you sell machines to rental fleets or compete with them.
## What Changed
ARA left its 2026 US figure close to flat against its May 2026 forecast, which had projected 3.6% growth to the same $83.5 billion total. The outer years moved up, to 4.4% in 2027 and 5.1% in 2028, against 3.8% and 4.4% in the May release.
Canada moved further. The combined Canadian construction, industrial and general tool rental industry is forecast to grow 5.2% in 2026 to $6.3 billion, then 5.4% in 2027 and 5.5% in 2028, which ARA attributes to infrastructure spending and oilfield development. The May release had put 2026 Canadian growth at 5%.
Tom Doyle, ARA vice president of program development, described the pattern as structural, saying the rental revenue increase indicates a preference for renting over ownership. Scott Hazelton of S&P Global, which compiles the forecast for ARA, said in the May release that growth in the construction and industrial equipment segment was in stasis because the construction market was stagnant.
## Key Numbers
US combined rental revenue is forecast at 3.4% growth in 2026 to $83.5 billion, then 4.4% and 5.1% in 2027 and 2028, per ARA’s 13 August 2026 release. Canadian combined rental revenue is forecast at 5.2% growth in 2026 to $6.3 billion.
Telehandler rental pricing sits on a steep duration curve. DOZR, which aggregates marketplace transactions across the US and Canada, reported national averages of $665 per day, $1,644 per week and $3,592 per month from 2,380 rental transactions, with pricing last updated in March 2026. That works out to roughly $235 per day on a weekly rate and $120 per day on a monthly rate.
By class, DOZR put standard machines rated 6,000 lbs to 8,000 lbs in a $500 to $750 daily band, and heavy machines rated 10,000 lbs to 12,000 lbs in a $700 to $1,000 daily band.
DOZR estimated all in ownership cost at roughly $80 to $100 per day for operators running a telehandler 200 or more days a year, against a purchase price of $50,000 to $150,000 depending on capacity and reach.
## What It Means for Equipment Buyers
If your utilisation is genuinely above 200 days a year, the arithmetic in DOZR’s own guide favours ownership over even the monthly rental rate. That is the segment where a factory direct purchase competes on cost, and it is narrower than most sales decks assume.
Rental companies are the other read. A rental industry growing faster than the construction market it serves is adding fleet against a flat demand base. ARA does not publish a utilisation series alongside these revenue figures, so read the compression risk as our inference rather than an ARA finding. If you are quoting North American rental fleets, expect the specification conversation to move to residual value, parts lead time and the emissions certificate rather than list price alone.
For a North American fleet buyer, an EPA Tier 4 Final engine family is a regulatory requirement for a new non-road diesel machine rather than a selling point. Benchmark a Tier 4 Final machine against the JLG, CAT, JCB and Skytrak units DOZR names as the common rental fleet brands, on parts availability and dealer coverage, because those are the costs a rental operator feels month to month.
## Telescro Analysis
This suggests the ARA figures are better read as a fleet investment signal than as a construction demand signal. The two have separated: revenue growth is coming from the shift toward renting rather than from more construction work, so fleet replacement and expansion decisions may hold up even where project starts do not.
For buyers outside North America, the same divergence is a caution. Rental revenue growth in one market does not translate into equipment demand at the same rate, and sizing an order for another region off a North American rental forecast tends to overstate the volume.
## Risks or Limitations
ARA’s figures are forecasts compiled by S&P Global rather than booked revenue, and the association revises them each quarter. The 13 August 2026 release flags energy price transmission from the conflict with Iran as a risk to the inflation path, which in turn constrains interest rate policy and construction spending.
DOZR’s pricing is marketplace transaction data rather than a statistical survey, blends all capacity classes and geographies, and its page carries a conflicting headline average alongside the figures cited here, so treat the levels as directional and the duration curve as the more reliable signal. None of these revenue figures are telehandler specific: ARA reports combined construction, industrial and general tool rental, not a telehandler line.
## Sources
– [Rental Management, American Rental Association](https://news.ararental.org/updated-ara-economic-forecast-points-to-continued-growth)
– [Rental Management, ARA May 2026 forecast](https://news.ararental.org/ara-releases-updated-equipment-event-economic-forecasts-for-north-america)
– [DOZR telehandler rental cost guide](https://dozr.com/blog/telehandler-rental-cost)