In construction, internal supply teams often fly under the radar. They fulfill jobsite needs, manage tools and rentals, and keep projects moving, but they’re rarely treated as a growth engine.
That’s changing.
By restructuring internal supply and rental groups into captive procurement operations, contractors are discovering new ways to drive revenue, improve procurement discipline, and reduce operational waste. And it’s not theoretical. It’s already working inside major self-perform organizations.
Turning an Internal Team Into a Strategic Business Unit
Six Sides Supply, originally created as an internal rental and supply arm of McGough Construction, is a perfect example. What started as a quiet back-office function evolved into a high-performing procurement entity, contributing directly to margin gains and project efficiency.
At first, it wasn’t built to generate profit. It existed to support. But as data started to reveal the scale of opportunity, missed chargebacks, markup stacking in the supply chain, and repetitive manual work, the leadership team saw the upside of treating it like a business.
Today, it operates as a separate unit focused on delivering speed, reliability, and cost control across McGough’s national project footprint.
Evolving from Tool Tracking to Profit-Driving Procurement
What began as a way to track tools and equipment quickly evolved into something much larger. Six Sides Supply initially adopted RentalResult to support McGough Construction’s self-perform operations, managing everything from small tools to large equipment across complex projects. With high utilization demands and multiple layers of internal logistics, they needed a system robust enough to handle it all.
Once the platform was fully implemented and adopted across teams, they realized it could do much more than just manage assets, it could support strategic growth. The team began identifying ways to streamline procurement, cut out redundancies, and build a new revenue model, all within the same system. What started as operational tracking became a foundation for expanding into full-scale procurement, distribution, and profit generation.
Rethinking Procurement Operations
So what changed?
It wasn’t just structure, it was a deliberate overhaul of how work got done:
- Manual entry and paper-based picking were eliminated with mobile apps, trimming hours of repetitive work from every shift.
- Drop shipping and regional warehouses replaced centralized distribution, cutting delivery time and giving project teams faster access to high-value equipment.
- Vendor consolidation and product standardization reduced variability, enabling smarter purchasing and clearer forecasting.
- A custom procurement-to-billing workflow eliminated duplicate entries and reduced missed chargebacks by tracking cost, billing, and profit per item, per project.
And perhaps most importantly, project teams were no longer operating in the dark. When they bypassed internal supply channels, that behavior was now visible in the data. Leadership could spot where missed margins occurred and address them directly, not with speculation, but with facts.
When project teams sourced outside the internal supply channel, the data made that clear, along with the margin that could have been captured internally. That visibility empowered executives to ask focused questions and reinforce better practices.
The Hidden Value in Cutting Out the Middle
In traditional construction supply chains, it’s common to see two or three layers of markup between the manufacturer and the jobsite. Captive procurement simplifies that flow. By owning the sourcing, handling, and distribution in-house, you eliminate those markups, often 15–20% per layer, without compromising quality or delivery.
Instead of just buying smarter, you’re building an internal profit center.
And with systems like RentalResult that support these workflows natively, the gains are even greater. When you automate procurement, billing, and intercompany transactions in one place, your supply division can scale without adding headcount, and show ROI down to the item level.
Implementation Is Just the Beginning
Most software implementations are based on the current state of your business. But what happens when your business evolves?
That’s exactly what happened at Six Sides Supply. What started as a tool and equipment management initiative expanded into fabrication, commodity sourcing, and custom procurement workflows for large-scale construction projects. With each phase of growth came new goals, and the need to reconfigure and realign how the system supported them.
A flexible system allowed them to adapt without starting over. They developed workflows tailored to procurement strategy, internal billing, and executive-level reporting.
Post-implementation evolution is real. Your business isn’t static, your system shouldn’t be either. And no other equipment management platform offers the depth of customization needed to support this kind of operational shift.
Final Takeaway
Captive procurement isn’t a trend, it’s a competitive advantage.
When structured and supported with the right operational tools, it helps contractors:
- Remove cost from the supply chain
- Gain visibility into internal buying behavior
- Free up staff by removing duplicate steps
- Drive real margin back into the business
And maybe most importantly, it shifts internal support functions into measurable business units that contribute to growth.
Thinking about reimagining your internal supply chain? Start with a simple question:
Where are you still duplicating work, and what’s it costing you?
Ready to Turn Internal Operations Into a Strategic Advantage?
Schedule a call with our team to explore how your internal supply or rental group could evolve into a growth-driving captive procurement unit—just like Six Sides Supply. We’ll walk you through the steps, show what’s possible, and help you pinpoint where hidden value may already exist in your operations.
Book a call now and start transforming your back office into a competitive edge.
