Case Study · Marketplace · iOS & Android

A marketplace for construction equipment

A mobile app where members rent idle heavy equipment from fellow contractors.

Yard Club lets contractors track, order, and respond to rental requests right from their phones. Silicon Prime built the iOS and Android apps — and Yard Club was later acquired by Caterpillar.

iOS & Android Peer-to-peer rentals Acquired by Caterpillar
Yard Club
Near you 12 available
Available

CAT 320 Excavator

Owned by Reyes Grading

$850/day

Skid Steer

Wheel Loader

Request rental

$120M+

In equipment transactions

2,500

Construction pros

Caterpillar

Acquired · 2017

The Client

Idle equipment, put to work.

Yard Club is a destination where members can conveniently and safely rent idle equipment from fellow contractors — designed to benefit equipment owners and renters alike.

Members track, order, and respond to rental requests directly from their mobile phones — turning parked machines into income and putting the right gear on every job site.

The Challenge

Renting heavy equipment had to feel effortless.

Yard Club — later acquired by Caterpillar — needed a user-friendly app that let its customers easily rent the construction equipment that wasn't in use.

Owners needed a simple way to list machines and respond to requests; renters needed to find the right gear nearby and book it in a few taps. The experience had to be effortless on both sides of the marketplace.

12 machines nearby

Available to rent today

View

Both sides win

Owners earn on idle gear Renters find gear nearby Book in a few taps

The bar

User-friendly enough for a busy job site.

The Process

A Squad that built exactly what the client wanted.

Working from the UI/UX design Yard Club provided and an API to build against, our Squad team developed a one-of-a-kind app that makes renting construction equipment simple — and kept the feedback loop tight.

01

Built to client's spec

We developed the front end from Yard Club's UI/UX design and API — true to exactly what they wanted.

02

iOS & Android apps

A one-of-a-kind app for both platforms that makes listing and renting equipment simple.

03

Daily builds

Fresh builds every day gave the client something real to react to — never a black box.

04

Fast turnaround

Feedback addressed and bugs often fixed by the next business day.

Ship daily, listen closely — and fix it by tomorrow.

Rental requests

CAT 320 Excavator

Mar 14–18 · 4 days

$3,400

Requested by D. Whitfield · ★ 4.9

Accept Decline

Your listings

Skid Steer Rented
Wheel Loader Available

Track, order & respond — from your phone

Owners manage listings and approve requests; renters book and track gear, all in one app.

Track Order Respond

Daily builds, next-day fixes

A build to react to every day — feedback turned around fast, bugs often fixed by the next business day.

Acquired by Caterpillar

"A marketplace strong enough to catch the eye of the world's largest equipment maker."

The Impact

A marketplace that scaled across a continent.

By 2016, Yard Club had helped 2,500 construction professionals manage over $120 million in equipment transactions across the United States and Canada. On the back of that success, Caterpillar acquired Yard Club.

$120M+

In transactions

Equipment rented through the marketplace by 2016.

2,500

Construction pros

Owners and renters active on the platform.

2

Countries served

Across the United States and Canada.

Caterpillar

Acquired Yard Club

The world's largest equipment maker bought it in.

In their words

Silicon Prime did a great job developing the front end of our iPhone and Android apps. We provided them with design specs and an API to build both apps. We were given daily builds to provide feedback on, and bugs were often fixed by the next business day. Overall, we are very happy with the service and quality of the work Silicon Prime has done for us.

Jessica Gillis

Lead Product Development, Yard Club

Up Next

More of the work.

Sports & Fitness · iOS, Android & Web

The most advanced strength & conditioning software

Bridge Athletic — training platforms trusted by pro teams and elite coaches.

Read more →

Fintech · iOS & Android

A prize-linked savings & investment app

Grand — making saving money feel like winning, one dollar at a time.

Read more →

Have a product to build?

Let's build your next product.

From a Stanford lab to apps used the world over — we've shipped marketplaces, fintech, and social products since 2011, some all the way to acquisition. Tell us what you're building.