Equipment Pricing & Rental Rates

The Pricing tab on the Equipment Detail page controls how much you charge for renting this item. NexusRMS supports two pricing strategies, multiple rate types, multi-day factor groups for competitive discounting, and automatic depreciation tracking. Pricing configured here flows directly into quotes, invoices, and financial reports.

Pricing strategies

Each equipment item uses one of two pricing strategies:

Fixed Rate

With the Fixed Rate strategy, you manually set each rental rate (daily, weekly, monthly). This gives you complete control over pricing for every time period. Use this when your rates do not follow a predictable formula or when different items in the same category have significantly different price points.

Percentage of Replacement Value

With the Percentage strategy, rental rates are automatically calculated as a percentage of the item's replacement value. You set a percentage for each rate type (e.g., daily = 2%, weekly = 8%, monthly = 20%) and the system calculates the actual amount. When you update the replacement value, all rates recalculate automatically. This is useful for maintaining consistent pricing ratios across your entire inventory.

Rate types

NexusRMS supports the following rate types. You can configure any combination — not all rate types are required:

• Hourly Rate — Charged per hour of rental. Best for short-term hires or items rented by the hour (e.g., specialist tools, high-value cameras).
• Daily Rate — The base rate for a single day of rental. This is the most commonly used rate and is required for factor group calculations.
• Weekly Rate — A discounted rate applied to rentals of 7 days or more. Typically set at 3–5x the daily rate rather than 7x.
• Monthly Rate — A further discounted rate for rentals of 28 days or more. Typically set at 10–15x the daily rate rather than 28x.

Factor groups

Factor groups define how multi-day pricing is calculated for rentals that do not fit neatly into daily, weekly, or monthly periods. A factor group is a table of multipliers applied to the daily rate based on the number of rental days.

For example, a typical factor group might look like this:

• 1 day = 1.0x daily rate
• 2 days = 1.8x daily rate
• 3 days = 2.5x daily rate
• 4 days = 3.0x daily rate
• 5 days = 3.5x daily rate
• 6 days = 3.8x daily rate
• 7+ days = weekly rate

Factor groups are created and managed in Configuration > Project Settings > Factor Groups. On the equipment Pricing tab, you assign a factor group to the item using the dropdown selector. If no factor group is assigned, the system calculates multi-day pricing as a simple multiple of the daily rate (e.g., 3 days = 3x daily rate).

Minimum rental period

The Minimum Rental Period setting prevents bookings shorter than a specified duration. Options include 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 1 week, and custom values. When a user attempts to add this item to a project with a shorter duration, the system displays a warning and suggests adjusting the dates. This is useful for items with high setup and teardown costs that are not economical for short hires.

Purchase information

The purchase information section records the financial history of the item:

• Purchase Date — When the item was originally bought
• Purchase Price — The original cost paid for the item
• Replacement Value — The current market cost to replace the item. This value is used for insurance calculations, the Percentage pricing strategy, and asset valuation reports.

Depreciation

Below the purchase information, the depreciation section shows the item's current book value based on the depreciation method configured in Equipment Settings:

• Straight Line — The item loses an equal amount of value each year. Book value decreases linearly from the purchase price to zero (or a residual value) over the useful life period.
• Declining Balance — The item loses a fixed percentage of its remaining value each year. Book value decreases rapidly in the early years and more slowly in later years, reflecting how technology equipment typically depreciates in practice.

The depreciation display shows the original purchase price, accumulated depreciation to date, current book value, and a visual chart of value over time. These figures are used in the Analytics module for asset valuation reports and in financial exports for accounting purposes.

How pricing appears on quotes and invoices

When you add equipment to a project, NexusRMS uses the configured rates and factor group to calculate the line item total automatically. The quote and invoice line items display the rate type used (daily, weekly, monthly, or factor), the quantity, the number of rental days, and the calculated total. If the pricing strategy is Percentage of Replacement Value, the actual monetary rate is shown — clients never see the percentage formula.

Client-specific pricing

NexusRMS supports client-specific pricing overrides. If a client has negotiated special rates, you can set custom pricing for any equipment item at the client level. Client-specific pricing is configured in the client's profile under the Pricing tab. When that client is assigned to a project, their custom rates are used instead of the standard equipment rates. See the Client Management articles for full details.

Tips

• Set replacement value accurately — This figure drives insurance valuations, depreciation calculations, and percentage-based pricing. Review it annually to reflect current market prices.
• Use factor groups to offer competitive multi-day rates — Clients expect a discount for longer rentals. Factor groups let you offer attractive multi-day pricing without manually calculating each quote.
• Review pricing quarterly — Market conditions change. Schedule a quarterly review of your most-rented items to ensure your rates remain competitive and profitable.
• Use the Percentage strategy for large inventories — If you have hundreds of items, maintaining individual fixed rates is time-consuming. The Percentage strategy keeps pricing consistent and easy to update in bulk by adjusting replacement values.
• Check depreciation before year-end — Ensure depreciation settings are correct before generating annual financial reports. Consult your accountant about which depreciation method to use.

Next steps

Continue to the next article to learn about serial numbers and tracking, including the difference between bulk and serialized tracking, auto-generation, QR codes, RFID, and managing individual units.