Looking for profitable rental business ideas? There are lots of different ways to generate recurring income in the rental business industry. In many cases, rental businesses can be very sustainable because they balance manageable start-up costs with high profit margins. Plus, many rental business ideas can actually be great side hustles, so you can keep your day job, too.
When you hear “rental business ideas,” you probably think of being a landlord for a slew of apartments, dealing with long-term leases an tedious lease agreements. And yes, that’s one type of rental business. But there are so many more ideas. You can make a rental business that meets short-term needs like construction equipment, tables and chairs for weddings, small appliances, bicycles, baby furniture, and much more.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through a wide variety of our favorite rental business ideas. Before long, you’ll have the perfect way to enter the rental industry yourself.
If you’re ready to find the best rental business ideas, look no further. In this list, we’ve assembled over 35 unique rental business ideas. Whether you want a small side hustle or a full business, you’ll find a great idea to try out with your own business.
Do you have a spare room in your house? You could start your own rental business by simply renting that room out. For example, if you live in an in-demand vacation spot, you could be a short-term vacation rental business for solo travelers or couples. Or if you’d rather not have strangers coming in and out of your house constantly, you could shift your house rental business idea a bit and offer a long-term rental to a local college student or young professional looking for a quiet but affordable living space.
This rental business idea also works well for larger settings, such as mother-in-law suites or guest houses. No matter how much space you have, you can make money renting it out. Just be sure to provide comfortable and clean accommodations and basics like reliable WiFi.
Start a rental business, but with a twist: instead of being the person renting out physical space, help people find apartments, homes, or office spaces to rent. To make this business work, you need intimate knowledge of your local area to know the best spots in town, nearby amenities, and more. You’ll also benefit if you can build relationships with landlords and real estate agents who want help finding ideal tenants.
You can earn income by helping these landlords, earning a commission when the tenant signs the lease. You can also have small add-on services like lawn sign rentals to advertise available space.
Not interested in apartment rentals? You can create a different niche for this business idea, such as brokering for houses, beach houses, key chalets, office space, manufacturing warehouses, and garage shop space.
Here are some resources to help you get started in the residential real estate rental business:
Do you have extra land around your home that you could rent for campsites? Start a profitable campground on your land. Alternatively, if you don’t want to have tents or RVs in and out of your property, perhaps you have an area you could rent to a tiny home owner who could park their home on your land and pay you a monthly fee.
Do you own a parcel of vacant land? There are a variety of ways you can make money renting it out. For example, you could let campers and hikers explore your property (especially if it’s quiet and remote). If your land is in an appropriate zone, you could also rent the land out to hunters or even law enforcement teams who need a safe place to hunt or run drills.
Got some vacant land? Here are other ways you can use it:
If you own property near a shopping center or office complex, you could rent part of it for a business location. Alternatively, if you have an office building with an extra room, you could utilize that to make money by renting it to an individual worker — a solopreneur or remote worker in a coworking situation.
Alternatively, you could rent your conference room for other organizations’ meetings. This can be especially helpful for small business owners who tend to work outside or remotely but occasionally need a place to meet up in person with their teams.
An RV rental business is best for entrepreneurs who can handle a hefty initial investment when they start their own business. That’s because RVs aren’t cheap to purchase and maintain. That said, you can generate income by renting out your RV fleet (or your own RV when you aren’t using it) to vacationers who want to go camping in comfort.
If you live near an airport or at an in-demand vacation spot, car rentals can be a lucrative business opportunity. You could do this as a full-scale business with a fleet of cars. Alternatively, you could start small by renting out your personal vehicle or spare car on sites like Turo.
Find more automobile business ideas here.
Yes, even animals can be rented. Do you have ponies that could be rented for children’s birthday parties? Are you a bird lover who can rent out your beloved white doves to be released at weddings? Or do you have well-trained dogs that do fun and entertaining tricks? Even exotic animals like alpacas can be popular at parties and community events. These are just a few of the creative ways that you could rent out your animals.
Many businesses and individuals have large items they need to store such as antique cars, boats, RVs, materials, and store inventory. Make money by renting out space for large-item storage.
In addition to exterior storage in garages and warehouses, you could also offer interior storage in your basement or home. Climate-controlled storage demands higher fees because people can store delicate items such as art, collectibles, fine furniture, and musical instruments.
You can start this business on a small or large scale depending on the space you have. For example, if you have a full warehouse space, you could make a few renovations and create a storage rental business, complete with secure lockers with different square footage allowances.
Wedding equipment can be an ideal rental business idea because there’s always demand for items like tables, chairs, tents, and even dining ware like tablecloths, silverware, plates, and glasses. You can invest in the equipment once and make money from it over and over again. Granted, your startup costs will be substantial (most weddings exceed 100 guests), but you can manageably recoup your costs. Just be sure to protect yourself by including replacement terms in your rental agreements.
This rental business idea can also pair well with a wedding planning service if you’d like to augment your income.
Party Business Resources
A party supply rental business can be one of the more lucrative rental business ideas because celebrations always need equipment. And sometimes, they need more than just tables and chairs.
There are lots of ways you could customize a party rental business. For example, you could be a bounce house rental business and provide bounce houses or inflatable slides for children’s birthday parties. You could rent out photo booths, sound system equipment, and other party decorations for corporate conferences, weddings, and other special events.
If you want to supplement your income, consider offering (or subcontracting) services like entertainers, balloon arches, DJs, and musicians.
Learn how to start a photo booth business.
Theater companies are always looking for costumes to rent for their different productions. Also, people want to rent costumes for Halloween or masquerade balls to impress their friends. You can build your clothing inventory at thrift stores to keep costs manageable, supplementing with more expensive costume items as the need arises.
If you love the theater scene, you could offer a lineup of theatrical props and stage sets for rent. Your clients could be local theatre groups, schools, cosplayers, and even Halloween trick-or-treaters who need a specific prop to perfect their costume.
As an added plus, you can run this business alongside a costume rental business to supplement your income.
Popcorn machines are in demand at special events, festivals, and concerts where families gather. You can rent just the equipment. Alternatively, to make extra income, you could also sell popcorn-making supplies like bags or cartons, kernels, butter and other flavorings, and more. If you want even more income, you could charge extra to come and help make the popcorn yourself.
Porta-potties aren’t glamorous, but they are a reliable business idea. They’re needed at a lot of settings: outdoor rock concerts and music festivals, endurance races, construction sites, and much more. You could build a reliable business simply renting portable toilets to these events, including dropping them off, maintaining them (for longer rentals), and picking them up when the event closes.
Like porta-potties, dumpster rental businesses aren’t glamorous, but they are essential! You could offer quality rental services by providing a variety of different dumpster sizes to construction companies, homeowners who are remodeling their space, junk removal companies, and more. Trash is an evergreen business sector; there will always be waste to get rid of.
Aspiring photographers often rent expensive equipment for particular projects, making a camera rental business a lucrative opportunity. For example, specialized lenses, time-lapse photography equipment, drones for aerial photography, and other camera accessories can all be in-demand rental items.
More photography business ideas here:
Another in-demand equipment rental niche is sound recording equipment. Your customers would include music bands, singers, actors, podcasters, and audiobook authors. Video production companies could also be good clients.
If you want to grow this business, you could expand into extra services like sound editing or selling audio files to stock houses. You could also expand and become a full AV equipment rental business by adding screens and projectors to your rental service offerings.
Bikes are trending for both entertainment and commuting needs. Almost all large cities now have rental bike stations for commuters to travel around both inexpensively and in an environmentally friendly way.
Capitalize on this trend by setting up your own bike rental business. You can set up rental bike stations all across your small town, especially near public transportation depots and tourist attractions. You can also add bike tour services for visitors or bike training sessions for new or returning cyclists.
If you’d like to expand this business idea, you could also offer novelty rentals like Segway rentals, mopeds, and other unique forms of transportation. For example, a scooter rental business could be a fun twist on fast transportation in the city. Or if you want to be really green, make your company an e-bike rental business instead.
✔ Start a bicycle rental business with these resources:
Baby equipment rentals can be a lifesaver for parents who need specialized equipment like strollers, high chairs, and car seats. Many parents, especially those who only want one kid or who have age gaps between their kids, might not want to buy all of this baby equipment.
Your baby equipment rental business could help meet that need. You’d research the top brands of different baby equipment, stock them, and rent them out to new parents. They save from not having to pay the full sticker price, and you benefit from recurring income from your initial investment. Plus, these rental services can help boost sustainability, too.
Learn more about business ideas geared towards babies and kids.
All construction projects require a great variety of machines and tools to complete the job well. Many smaller contractors do not have the budget to buy all of the necessary machinery nor do they have an ongoing need for such specialized types of equipment. This is your opportunity to rent out specialized tools for high profits due to monthly rather than daily rental fees.
You could start small as a tool rental business, catering to handymen and contractors and even homeowners doing a remodeling project. You could take it further and be a power tool rental business, lending out bandsaws, industrial planers, jackhammers, and other power tools for a daily, weekly, or monthly lease.
Or, if you want to be truly full-service, you could expand into a heavy equipment rental business, renting out vehicles like backhoes, graders, bulldozers, and more to local construction companies.
Construction equipment rental businesses can have high or manageable startup costs depending on the type of rental equipment you offer to your clients.
If you live near the water, boats could be one of your best small rental business ideas (or it could be a large business, depending on how you scale it). For example, you could run a kayak rental business at the local lakefront, offering canoe and kayak rentals to local water enthusiasts. If you live by a larger body of water (and don’t mind extra startup costs), you could rent bigger boats, jet skis, and equipment for tubing and water skiing.
If you live in a snowy area, skip the boats and offer ski and snowboard rentals instead. You can offer a variety of skis and snowboards, including child and adult sizes, training skis, and more. Supplement your income with other essential ski equipment rentals, ski instruction, or even guided cross-country or downhill tours.
Homeowners, gardening enthusiasts, and landscape entrepreneurs are all looking for landscaping equipment to rent. Popular items include lawnmowers, edgers, thatchers, grass seeders, and rototillers. Expand your business by also renting snow removal equipment such as snow blowers and plows during the winter.
✔ Useful resources for starting a landscaping business:
This relatively new business model is growing rapidly due to high market demand. While large companies and public institutions such as hospitals have their own backup generators, most small businesses don’t have generators to keep them operating during power outages. Also, most of these companies are not technically oriented and don’t want the expense and hassle of setting up generators.
Another source of customers are residences, especially those with elderly and or sick people; they need generators so essential medical equipment still functions during power outages.
Event organizers also want access to generators to keep their parties going when they host events in secluded outdoor locations.
This age-old business continues to be a strong commercial option for your new business. People want to rent clothing that is expensive, especially when they only plan to wear it once. These types of garments include evening attire, gowns and dresses, tuxedos, costumes for masquerade parties or drama productions, and vintage clothing for reenactment events.
There are plenty of other rental business ideas in the clothing sector, too. Here are just a few niches for clothing rentals:
Offshoots of this business can include custom-designed clothing creation, alterations, and refashioning of clients’ existing garments.
✔ Learn How to Be Successful in The Clothing Industry
✔ Want more fashion business ideas? Check out these 50 best fashion business ideas.
As America’s population ages, a medical supply rental business can provide essential equipment to help heal and improve lives. Due to the larger number of retired and elderly individuals, the greatest opportunities are in the southeast and western regions of the United States.
You can rent directly to consumers or to commercial entities like hospitals, nursing care facilities, physicians, and other healthcare companies.
You can rent office furniture to either big or small businesses. Your offerings could include conference room tables, chairs, desks, filing cabinets, and more. Many companies find it easier to rent furniture than having to purchase it outright.
Homeowners also want to rent furniture for out-of-town guests or to stage their house when it is on the market. Another growing market is the short term rentals such as Airbnb for rental furnishings. Often, home builders and housing developers rent entire homes’ worth of furniture for their model homes to show prospective buyers.
Be creative and offer portable hot tubs, outdoor fire pits, and waterbeds as part of your unique and interesting furniture rental line inventory.
With the ever-rising price of sports equipment and the shifting desires of both children and adults, this business can be a gold mine.
Rent your customers ice skates, rollerblades, snowboards, skis, hockey equipment, surfboards, kayaks, and canoes for school, leisure, or travel. Fitness enthusiasts may also want to rent exercise machines such as treadmills on a monthly basis. Adding camping equipment to your inventory can further expand your company.
Golf equipment rentals can also be lucrative, especially if your local market has several golf courses nearby. Golf is an expensive sport, and many people don’t play often enough to warrant owning their own set of clubs.
Camping requires a lot of equipment that many people do not own. Rent out tents, sleeping bags, and camp cooking gear. This business idea is a good fit for someone who knows a lot about camping but doesn’t want to invest as much as they would for RV rentals; this is more of a small equipment rental business that can still be rewarding.
Fishermen require a lot of specialty items. Additionally, particular regions and waterways require different rods and reels that fishermen may not own. For example, you could offer specialized equipment for deep-sea fishing if you live near the coast. You can even expand this business by offering guided fishing tours if you know the best fishing spots in town.
When children want to learn to play a musical instrument, most parents do not want to buy an expensive instrument that may go unused quickly. Instead, they would prefer to rent a violin, flute, or guitar from your company. Expand your business by also offering instrument rent-to-purchase programs, music lessons, and special concerts.
You could expand your services later by offering repair services for musical instruments. You do not necessarily need to know how to repair instruments yourself; you could subcontract this business to a professional instrument repair shop.
In today’s digitally powered world, computer rentals are hot. Small businesses need additional equipment for conferences and large business meetings, and individuals and students need loaner equipment when their computers are broken.
Also, some people want to try out computer equipment before they buy, or maybe a student just needs a laptop for their semester. Remember that mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones are also a lucrative business opportunity in this rental market.
Homeowners like to decorate for the holidays, but there are lots of holidays to decorate for. Some homeowners might prefer to rent home decor. This means home decor can actually be a very versatile rental business idea.
Holiday lights are an excellent example of this. Not only can you charge customers for the rental lights themselves, but you could also charge for the labor of putting the lights up. You could charge another fee to take them down after New Years.
You can also expand this rental business into year-round decorations thanks to other holidays and seasons, such as Halloween, July 4th, and even Thanksgiving. Patriotic decor could work (and make money for you) all summer long.
Backyard weddings, block parties, school fundraisers, and corporate picnics are all perfect venues for outdoor games — and not every host wants to purchase equipment they’ll only use once. Starting a rental business that offers oversized yard games like giant Jenga, cornhole, ring toss, lawn chess, or even inflatable movie screens can be a low-cost, high-demand venture.
You can market your rentals to families, schools, event planners, and parks departments. This idea works especially well in suburban or rural areas with lots of space for outdoor events, and you can upsell packages for weekend rentals or special themes.
Deep-cleaning projects often require heavy-duty tools most households don’t own — which makes cleaning equipment rental a convenient and profitable business. You could offer carpet shampooers, pressure washers, wet/dry vacuums, steam cleaners, floor buffers, or even gutter cleaning systems.
This idea is especially helpful in suburban neighborhoods, where homeowners take on periodic home maintenance but prefer not to buy equipment outright. To expand your reach, consider offering how-to guides, video tutorials, or even delivery and pickup for larger machines.
As homeschooling grows and school budgets tighten, there’s rising demand for short-term access to educational tools and hands-on learning kits. An educational equipment rental business could offer items like microscopes, lab kits, science fair display boards, math manipulatives, or even interactive whiteboards and document cameras.
You could serve families, schools, tutors, and after-school programs that want to enrich lessons without committing to a full purchase. To increase value, offer themed bundles by subject or grade level and include usage guides or lesson plan ideas.
A trailer rental business can be a smart and scalable way to generate income, especially in areas with active construction, farming, or moving activity. You can start small by renting out a few utility or cargo trailers and expand to include specialty options like enclosed trailers, car haulers, or even dump trailers. Customers might include contractors, landscapers, event planners, or individuals moving large equipment or furniture.
Maintenance and insurance will be some of your most critical overhead costs, but remember that trailers are durable assets that can generate steady revenue with relatively low ongoing costs. This business can also be paired with related services like towing assistance, hitch hookup, or delivery.
Yes, a rental business can be highly profitable, especially when you choose a profitable rental business idea with manageable upfront investment. Unlike businesses that rely on one-time sales, rental businesses generate recurring income from the same equipment or property. As long as you maintain your inventory well and price your services competitively, your initial costs can be recovered fairly quickly. Profit margins are often strong, particularly in high-demand niches like party equipment, tools, and vacation properties.
The best rental business for passive income depends on your resources and the business models you choose, but storage rentals, vending machines, and short-term property rentals (like Airbnb) tend to require less day-to-day effort once set up. These businesses can often be automated or managed with minimal involvement, especially if you use booking platforms or hire part-time help for upkeep. Just keep in mind that “passive” income still requires some initial legwork — setup, marketing, and maintenance — to get running smoothly.
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Disclaimer: The content on this page is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
Written by Team ZenBusiness
ZenBusiness has helped people start, run, and grow over 800,000 dream companies. The editorial team at ZenBusiness has over 20 years of collective small business publishing experience and is composed of business formation experts who are dedicated to empowering and educating entrepreneurs about owning a company.
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