I thought about making something like this some years back, my ideas were as follows:
target neighborhoods, you should be able to walk to get tool. Have one house designated tool center, somebody signs up in neighborhood to be tool distributor gets some percentage money fees of everyone that joins - there are all sorts of issues in this of course, am just giving high level overview of thoughts I put in it.
This would mean that company would also distribute tools to target neighborhoods. Thus disrupting the traditional tool selling / hardware industry.
There are other business possibilities later on down the line opened up by this model that I won't go into here.
Part of this was based on things I noticed about home ownership in Europe, that is to say people who live in houses instead of apartments and their needs. Thus relatively affluent people and communities.
Maybe this home that’s designated as the depot could be staffed regular hours and have giant orange letters on the outside so people could find their nearby Home Depot more easily.
I like the idea of sharing (and freely do with friends already), but as a busy person and pretty avid DIYer, I don’t see the benefit of trying to undercut HD’s tool rental (which is convenient, open lots of hours, rarely any wait and never a no-show, and I’m often buying something there anyway when tackling a project that I’m short a tool for).
AirBnB and even Turo make sense because of the value of the item. “I’m going to coordinate a time to spend 15 minutes picking up and coordinate another time to spend 15 minutes returning a hammer that I can buy for $9 on Amazon with same-day delivery or ‘free’ tomorrow delivery” doesn’t have nearly the same appeal.
We're not trying to fully replace that, but offer a more local, sustainable option for tools and surplus materials. It won’t make sense for a $9 hammer, but for the expensive, rarely-used stuff, sharing can save money, space, and reduce waste. Same thing as the 6 drywall panel that would end up in the bin that is now covering my living room. A depot could help with the pickup hassle too.
Thanks a lot for sharing all of this! That’s a really thoughtful approach — and very aligned with how we’ve been thinking about it too.
The neighborhood-level model is especially compelling — tools within walking distance, built-in trust, and someone local acting as a tool steward or mini-hub. We’ve been exploring similar ideas, including ways to support individuals or organizations that want to take on that role.
Disrupting the traditional tool ownership model while creating new local economies is exactly the kind of long-term potential we see here. Would love to hear more about your original thinking — feel free to reach out at [email protected]!
A local hub to go get tools is the only way this works, in my opinion. Your current offering is obviously compelling from the renter’s perspective. I am renovating a cottage and would love to go pick up a chainsaw, brush cutter, etc for half the price of Home Depot (they have everything and great service).
But I just don’t see it from the tool owner’s perspective. My suburban aunt has two chainsaws sitting in the garage that she doesn’t use anymore. An extra $150 a month isn’t enough to deal with the hassle of coordinating meetings, dealing with damage, etc. And she definitely wouldn’t be giving a free tank of gas, PPE, etc like Home Depot does. She would gladly drop it off at a local spot, make passive income, maybe go grab it herself once a year when she needs it.
Ps - great website design. Looks beautiful on mobile and works really well. What are you using on the frontend?
Thanks for the feedbacks! The local hub model makes a lot of sense, making it easier for folks to contribute tools without the day-to-day management. Its true that this is not for everyones tho but some folks are happy to rent out tools and connect with neighbors, others would rather drop them off once and forget about it. We're exploring ways to support both but the local hub idea fits that really well.
The FE us using React and styled-components. We're not using components-library, pretty much everything is customized for our needs.
target neighborhoods, you should be able to walk to get tool. Have one house designated tool center, somebody signs up in neighborhood to be tool distributor gets some percentage money fees of everyone that joins - there are all sorts of issues in this of course, am just giving high level overview of thoughts I put in it.
This would mean that company would also distribute tools to target neighborhoods. Thus disrupting the traditional tool selling / hardware industry.
There are other business possibilities later on down the line opened up by this model that I won't go into here.
Part of this was based on things I noticed about home ownership in Europe, that is to say people who live in houses instead of apartments and their needs. Thus relatively affluent people and communities.