L.E. Schwartz & Son · Roofing & Precision Manufacturing · Asset Management
Keep rented assets in their place.
How L.E. Schwartz — a commercial, residential, and industrial roofing contractor — saves roughly $250,000 a year by managing its rentals with YARDZ.
Regardless of the industry, many companies struggle to maintain tight control of their owned and rented assets — and L.E. Schwartz knew that struggle well.
Joe Hanson, Vice President of Construction Operations for L.E. Schwartz & Son — a company engaged in commercial, residential, and industrial roofing, roof maintenance, and precision manufacturing — kept an eye out for remedies, but wasn’t sure whether process improvement or technology was the answer.
Paying for equipment long after the job ends.
“We had a rented dump truck that stayed on a job site for months after the job was done,” Hanson recalled. “The rental company was certainly in no hurry to get it back, as we were paying for it the entire time.”
It was just one example. The company had been renting a much higher volume of equipment since 2018, tracked through spreadsheets and vendor portals — with no accurate financial history behind each asset.
- 01Rented equipment left idle on job sites
- 02Rental volume climbing since 2018
- 03Spreadsheets & portals for tracking
- 04No accurate financial history per asset
“L.E. Schwartz wanted to see what YARDZ was capable of, so we set up a demo. Within a couple hours of the demo, they had already signed up — purchasing 10 user licenses.” Jason Perez — CEO, YARDZ
The introduction came through Beacon Roofing Supply, L.E. Schwartz’s largest material distributor. Because YARDZ was first of its kind to market with its rental intelligence, the team hadn’t known a product like it existed. They signed in 2020 and fully implemented in 2021 — and saw dividends almost immediately. An analysis of one regular vendor turned up rate discrepancies worth a $20,000 credit right out of the gate.
From one click to full financial control.
“Right after the implementation, we conducted an analysis on one of our regular vendors. Based on some discrepancies in the equipment rates, we received a $20,000 credit. We were off to a great start.”
Joe Hanson, Vice President of Construction OperationsFirst-of-its-kind aggregation
Rental intelligence that was first to market — analyzing rates and surfacing discrepancies competitors couldn’t see.
first to marketOne-click vendor integration
Project managers moved from simple quoting to integrating vendor data directly — field rentals appear in YARDZ within 24 hours, with no manual entry.
24-hour syncInvoice matching
A dedicated super user matches every invoice by equipment and contract number to the right project, capturing total rental spend per job.
per-projectLocation & status
Project managers pinpoint the location and status of every rental item across active job sites.
full visibilityNotifications & call-offs
Automated alerts keep all relevant personnel current on equipment status — eliminating the cost of overdue rentals.
overdue cost ↓Owned assets, too
L.E. Schwartz currently uses YARDZ for rented assets and expects to bring its substantial owned fleet onto the platform soon.
Roughly $250,000 saved — every year.
Rental cost as a percentage of sales fell from 4.64% (2018–2020) to 3.51% (2021–2024) — even as average rental volume rose 10.5%. That’s a 24.4% decrease in cost-to-sales since the YARDZ implementation.
From big data to usable data.
YARDZ built rental intelligence into the platform using logic and regression analysis to convert bad data into good. On the rental side, analyzing SEC’s Net Rate Variance identified $140,000 in rate overages over three years.
Integration with SEC’s BI tool and telematics/GPS provider associates corporate data down to the lowest variable — turning big data into usable data that drives behavior change at the source, across regions, divisions, projects, and people.
“YARDZ worked hard to incorporate our specific way of doing business. We were able to maintain tight control with the core program right away.”
Richie Gasaway, Vice President of Fleet & Services“I was able to say to YARDZ, ‘This is my vision, this is what I’m looking for.’ And they took my vision and made it a reality.”
Bruce Schwerin, former Fleet Manager, SECMargins, labor, and peace of mind.
Those savings bolster gross margins at a time when many roofing companies sit at historic lows — construction gross margins average around 5.5%, per Deloitte Insights. YARDZ drives savings three ways: smarter vendor selection, accurate rates with full financial history per asset, and the assurance that equipment is never forgotten on a job site.
It has also optimized labor. With fewer people tied up acquiring and tracking assets, L.E. Schwartz redirected staff toward actual project completion.
“If you can’t get the bodies to meet the labor demand, you free up the people you already have to focus on the highest-priority work. With YARDZ we do that — and save hard dollars on the rentals.”
Joe Hanson, Vice President of Construction Operations“It’s a safe bet that our project managers sleep better at night knowing exactly where their equipment is.”
L.E. Schwartz & SonMomentum, built one feature at a time.
L.E. Schwartz had managed rentals with spreadsheets for years, so the transition was gradual by design. They started at the simplest level, saw the platform could do more, and kept exploring.
Introduced & signed
Beacon Roofing Supply made the introduction; L.E. Schwartz signed within hours of the demo, buying 10 user licenses.
Full implementation
Full rollout delivered an immediate $20,000 vendor credit from a rate-discrepancy analysis.
One-click adoption
Project managers moved to a one-click process; field rentals now appear automatically within 24 hours, no manual entry.
Super user & owned assets
A YARDZ super user tracks the financials behind every asset — with the owned-equipment fleet coming onto the platform soon.
“Those that operate in the most efficient way are the ones that will dominate their space. YARDZ ties in well with our overall operational plan.”
Joe Hanson · VP of Construction Operations · L.E. Schwartz & Son