Module 2: Plan the money
Build a startup budget and downside case
Separate rent billed from cash collected, operating costs, owner labor, reserves, and cash remaining.
Outcome
Create a twelve-month operating estimate and downside scenario using your own equipment, collection, labor, vacancy, and reserve assumptions.
Build the startup list before forecasting rent
List the cash required before the first customer can be served: equipment, inspection or repair, cleaning, moving tools, vehicle or delivery cost, storage, insurance review, business formation, basic marketing, and an opening reserve. Use actual quotes where possible and label every estimate.
Do not spend the entire available amount on equipment. Cash tied up in an idle or failed machine cannot pay for a replacement, refund, delivery problem, or ordinary operating expense.
- 1Enter the number of rental sets or units you can operate, not merely afford to purchase.
- 2Enter average purchase and make-ready cost per unit.
- 3Add one-time tools, setup, storage, compliance, and launch costs.
- 4Set aside an opening cash reserve before deciding the final equipment quantity.
Separate billed rent from collected rent
Gross scheduled rent is the amount billed if every active rental pays in full. Collected rent applies your collection assumption to that amount. Vacancy or idle equipment reduces the active quantity before collection is considered. Keeping these concepts separate makes a weak assumption visible.
Use a monthly model even when customers pay on another schedule. Enter the average rent actually expected for the modeled units and a collection rate supported by your process, not a perfect-payment default.
- 1Calculate potential rent from active units and average monthly rent.
- 2Apply vacancy or utilization to determine billed rent for the period.
- 3Apply the collection rate to billed rent to estimate cash collected.
- 4Keep unpaid billed amounts out of cash remaining until actually collected.
Price the work and the wear
Operating costs include delivery, fuel, storage, software, insurance, payment fees where applicable, cleaning, routine parts, and other recurring cash expenses. Owner labor belongs on its own line even if you do not initially pay yourself. A reserve is different: it holds cash for future repairs and replacements instead of describing a current-period bill.
The calculator reports cash remaining before taxes, financing, and depreciation unless you enter those items as other costs. It deliberately does not call that number net profit.
- 1Estimate monthly operating costs using the same activity level as the rent estimate.
- 2Enter owner hours and an hourly value so the model exposes the work required.
- 3Choose a repair/replacement reserve per active unit or as a monthly amount.
- 4List taxes, loan payments, and depreciation outside the result if they are not explicitly entered.
Make the downside case uncomfortable but plausible
A useful downside case combines more than one problem: fewer active rentals, lower collections, a repair spike, or higher delivery cost. It should not be a catastrophe invented to end the analysis, nor a tiny change that protects the desired answer.
Compare cash remaining, reserve coverage, and owner hours in both cases. Decide the maximum equipment quantity that leaves enough cash and attention to recover from the downside.
- 1Reduce active utilization or collection by a meaningful amount supported by local uncertainty.
- 2Increase repair or replacement reserve and one operating-cost line.
- 3Review whether cash remaining becomes negative and how many months the opening reserve covers.
- 4Revise equipment quantity, price, service area, or launch timing instead of hiding the downside.
Completion check
Save a base case and downside case
- Equipment quantity is limited by delivery, storage, service, and reserve capacity.
- Gross rent and collected rent are shown separately.
- Operating costs, owner labor, and repair/replacement reserves are separate lines.
- Taxes, financing, and depreciation are either modeled separately or clearly marked as excluded.
- A downside case reduces collections or occupancy and increases repair pressure.
Use this in Rivet
Carry approved prices and operating assumptions into Rivet.
Rivet can store the products, customer-facing prices, inventory values, invoices, and supported payment state that belong to the operating workflow. The calculator remains the place to test planning assumptions.
- Add one product with the price you plan to use.
- Enter a few example equipment records and purchase costs.
- Keep planning estimates out of real invoices and performance reports.
The lesson and tool remain free without an account. New workspaces are free for up to three active rentals with no payment method required. Optional services have separate published scopes and limits.