AV Nerds has landed a multi-year preferred supplier contract with a local venue. Great news — except the venue has its own gear, and the agreement says their equipment always gets used first. Every project at this location means AV Nerds needs to plan around inventory they don't own, stored somewhere they don't fully control.
This article covers three approaches for planning equipment at a client or partner location where in-house inventory takes priority, so you can keep visibility on what's theirs, what's yours, and what still needs to come off your truck.
Note: This article focuses on the equipment planning aspect. If you need guidance on managing the financial side of this setup, we can provide a separate explanation.
Options overview
Option 1 — Use an equipment folder
Create a dedicated folder (with optional subfolders) in your equipment database for this location, and list the location-owned equipment with their quantities. This lets you plan those items first and track availability easily. You can also use tags to help with filtering.
This option has no additional cost and is simple to set up. The main drawback is that availability control is manual - you need to track what's actually available at the location yourself. It can also become complex if multiple rooms, setups, or projects are involved.
Option 2 — Use a storage location
Set up a storage location in Rentman that represents the equipment available at the client's site. You then plan the project from your own warehouse and internally subrent the location's equipment from the storage location into your project.
This option also has no additional cost and gives a clearer separation between equipment sets. It does require more operational steps, as you need to manually rent from the storage location for each project.
Option 3 — Create a dedicated warehouse (recommended)
Create a separate warehouse in Rentman for the location. For every project at this location, you plan from this dedicated warehouse. That way, you always plan with the local inventory first, and then resolve shortages by internally subrenting equipment from your own main warehouse.
This approach gives the clearest distinction between location and customer equipment, excellent visibility on what needs to be brought in addition, and simplifies future financial tracking. The only trade-off is an additional cost for the extra warehouse in Rentman — though this is still cheaper than creating a full separate workspace.
Additional tips
In all three options, it's possible to assign serial numbers, QR codes, and other tracking identifiers to items.
Regardless of the method you choose, we recommend using visual markings on-site — such as coloured labels or stickers — to clearly distinguish between equipment that belongs to the location and your own inventory. This helps on-the-ground staff quickly identify what's what without needing to check the system.