AI Org Benchmark: Who's Actually Building AI at United Rentals, Sunbelt, Herc, EquipmentShare, WillScot, Custom Truck, McGrath and Alta

Q: What counts as an "AI role," and why combine AI with data science?

Dedicated titles only: core AI/ML roles plus data-science titles, one talent system in practice. The headline number is the combined bench, with the core-AI vs data-science split shown in each exhibit's stacked bars.

Q: How does United Rentals ship five AI products on a seven-person bench?

By building on platforms: AWS Bedrock, Snowflake Intelligence, Anthropic's Claude, Talkdesk. The AI is real, the model is a partner's, and the owners carry product, engineering and CTO titles the method cannot see.

Q: Where does the data come from?

Public workforce data resolved to each corporate family, public job postings, the six most recent earnings-call transcripts per company, and 10-Ks, press releases and vendor case studies. All public data, pulled August 2026.

Q: Why is Sunbelt counted at 24,000 employees, and why does EquipmentShare's coverage look odd?

Sunbelt uses its consolidated 24,000 employees (about 21,800 in North America). EquipmentShare's public workforce records exceed its reported headcount, so its absolute count is flagged; its per-10,000 density is the number to read.

Q: Does a disclosed product mean verified ROI?

No. Every product claim is disclosed by the company, a partner or a vendor, not independently verified. No cohort company has disclosed dollar-denominated AI ROI.

WillScot and EquipmentShare field the densest benches. Herc, United and Sunbelt staff AI at 2.5 to 3.1 roles per 10,000 employees.

Pound for pound, EquipmentShare and WillScot lead: 13.0 and 12.8 combined roles per 10,000 employees. United Rentals has the largest technology organization (2,713 people) and the smallest AI share of it (0.3%). Cohort median 2.5. Click a company name for the named people behind its count.

Core AI Data science

Company	AI + data-science headcount¹	Employees	Per 10k employees	Share of tech org¹
EquipmentShare10 named ▾ MH Michael HansenDirector of AI and RoboticsCore AI · Los Angeles, CA Ivan RalašićMachine Learning Innovation DirectorCore AI · Zagreb, Croatia MC Marsela CarSenior ML EngineerCore AI · Zagreb, Croatia Matej CrnacSenior ML EngineerCore AI · Croatia Sarah RastkarAI/ML EngineerCore AI · United States Patrick GoldrupLead, Applied AI, Optimization & Decision SystemsCore AI · Boston, MA Amber EdmondsData ScientistData science · Kansas City, MO AC Andrew CzeropskiSenior Data ScientistData science · Durango, CO Liam PurvisSenior Data ScientistData science · New York, NY Varun MohanData Science Engineer, Financial AnalyticsData science · United States	10	7,700	13.0	1.3%
WillScot6 named ▾ RY Raj YarlagaddaVice President of Artificial Intelligence, Mobility and eCommerceCore AI · Phoenix, AZ Geoffrey JoeDirector of Mobility, eCommerce, and Artificial IntelligenceCore AI · Chandler, AZ Abhay KamathData ScientistData science · Mangaluru, India AK Alexa K.Sr Data Scientist, People AnalyticsData science · United States Mohammed Shalik ErshadData ScientistData science · Bengaluru, India Abishek Hariharan, Ph.D.Senior Manager - Advanced AnalyticsData science · Pune, India	6	4,700	12.8	1.1%
Herc Rentals²3 named ▾ RG Rony GotesdynerVice President, AI & Digital Platforms EngineeringCore AI · Bonita Springs, FL Sanjula KaulSenior Data Scientist - BIData science · Bonita Springs, FL Joseph P.Cyber Security Data ScientistData science · Rockledge, FL	3	9,600	3.1	0.3%
Sunbelt Rentals³6 named ▾ Tracy MillerSr. Data Engineer / ML EngineerCore AI · Huntersville, NC Holly Hamlett-OrmeAI DeveloperCore AI · United Kingdom Lewis WealSenior AI AnalystCore AI · Manchester, UK Christopher D.Data ScienceData science · Charlotte, NC Jason HoughData ScientistData science · Wigan, UK Elijah MoreeData Analyst, ML & AI Business IntegrationData science · United States	6	24,000	2.5	0.6%
United Rentals7 named ▾ Omkar SadekarArtificial Intelligence EngineerCore AI · New York, NY Ananya UpadhyayAI EngineerCore AI · New York, NY Harshraj SurveData Scientist - Strategy and InnovationData science · Stamford, CT Peeyush KalidindiData Scientist - Operations ExcellenceData science · Stamford, CT Prem ShahData Scientist - Strategy & InnovationData science · New York, NY AL Anton LimaData ScientistData science · Charlotte, NC Erich CurtisData Scientist, Sales OperationsData science · Houston, TX	7	28,500	2.5	0.3%
Custom Truck One Source	0	2,500	0.0	0.0%
McGrath RentCorp	0	1,306	0.0	0.0%
Alta Equipment Group	0	2,750	0.0	0.0%

¹ Combined core-AI/ML plus data-science titles on a corporate-family basis, counted from public workforce data; observed floors of dedicated titles, not a census, as of August 2026. Per 10k = combined roles ÷ reported employees × 10,000. Share of tech org = combined roles ÷ people in IT and engineering functions in the same data.

For companies shown with a named roster (click the company name), counts come from our full workforce build (every public profile, resolved and classified), not search floors; the remaining companies are ZoomInfo search floors.

² Corporate-family basis: H&E Equipment Services, acquired June 2025, is counted inside Herc.

³ Consolidated headcount, formerly Ashtead Group; about 21,800 of the 24,000 are in North America.

WillScot is the only company that talks about its own AI. Sunbelt staffs the most machine-learning titles and says nothing.

Across 43 earnings calls, the eight companies made 14 statements about using AI themselves, 8 of them WillScot’s. United’s five products were announced in press releases and raised on a call only when an analyst asked. Talk of the AI build-out driving data-center demand is counted separately and excluded here.

← Scroll for the quiet half of the chart

Own-use mentions = sentences on the six most recent earnings calls per company (one for EquipmentShare) where the company or an analyst discusses the company using AI; sentences about the AI build-out as an end market are excluded. Quadrant lines sit at the cohort medians.

What each company actually said.

Every statement about the company’s own AI or technology on the six most recent earnings calls (one for EquipmentShare), extracted by an LLM read of the full transcripts and quoted verbatim. AI = the sentence uses AI/ML language; tech = the company describing its own systems without saying AI. Click a company in the chart above, or open one here.

Herc Rentals 1 AI · 22 tech · 6 calls ▾

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“They are now undergoing training on enhanced market and customer analytics and customer engagement tools.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“Our proprietary pricing engine also is now fully integrated with centralized controls in place to ensure consistency, protect margins and align pricing decisions with our broader business goals.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“Our logistics system called [indiscernible] is also now operational across the expanded network to improve delivery accuracy and optimize route planning at the lowest possible cost.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“As we deployed our business intelligence suite across the acquired locations, giving us real-time visibility beginning this month into combined performance metrics, customer behavior and operational KPIs.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“Finally, our industry-leading customer-facing technology, ProControl by Herc Rentals is now available to our entire customer portfolio, enabling equipment renting, tracking and asset management and control from any device anywhere.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“Specifically this quarter, we're drilling down into three key areas. First, productivity. We're using the data to benchmark performance, lagging underperforming locations for deeper review and identifying top-tier branches where we can replicate best practices to drive operational improvement across the organization.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“Finally, we continue to elevate our industry-leading ProControl by Herc Rentals technology offering with new efficiency features and controls, seamless navigation and tailored experiences all in a single app, addressing our customers' more complex and expanding needs.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“We talk about some of our pricing tools that are proprietary to Herc.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“We've negotiated all the contracts H&E had into the Herc system.”

tech2025 Q3 · mgmt“We've got all the data. We're moving forward with our CRM and our sales efforts to engage with those customers.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“Our digital revenue grew by more than 50% last year, with hercrentals.com, giving our customers an easy way to reserve gear 24/7.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“Our acquired customer base has full access to ProControl and is already using it to order equipment, manage fleet and handle account activities.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“And when it comes to telematics, today, approximately 80% of eligible gear is equipped, providing utilization and performance metrics to help reduce downtime and drive job site efficiency, all visible within our ProControl system.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“Further, our E3OS business operating system continues maturing, helping to drive greater consistency and efficiency across the organization for our customers.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“We've been scaling the sales team to align with larger market opportunity while investing in training, leadership support and deeper adoption of our CRM systems, sales models and our broader fleet offering.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“We've got a broader breadth of fleet that we're pushing into the acquired branches. That's part of the revenue synergy. If you recall, we had roughly 6,000 more cat classes that we're pushing into that network so that our sales teams can generate revenues off of those.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“We've -- our own pricing tool that we use for our sales force, and we've assimilated that into our new sales team, and that's going to help kind of move the needle on that over time.”

tech2026 Q1 · mgmt“Advanced technology features from fleet utilization insights and equipment location tracking to our patented mobile access controls and remote operations gives customers the tools to run safer, more efficient job sites.”

tech2026 Q1 · mgmt“And our e-commerce platform continues to gain traction, delivering a seamless omnichannel experience with 24/7 self-service and personalized interactions.”

tech2026 Q1 · mgmt“E-commerce revenue reached an all-time record high in the first quarter a clear signal that our customers value the flexibility to do business with us however and whenever it works best for them.”

tech2026 Q1 · mgmt“We are advancing our industry-leading digital capability through control by Herc Rentals.”

AI2026 Q2 · mgmt“We continue to invest heavily in our proprietary ProControl platform, utilizing AI and advanced telematics to give customers the insights they need to track, measure and manage their fleet for a safer, more efficient job site.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Active external users on ProControl grew nearly 20% quarter-to-quarter as more of our combined customer base puts these tools to work.”

United Rentals 2 AI · 14 tech · 6 calls ▾

tech2025 Q1 · mgmt“When we layer on our technology offerings, we're able to provide our customers a truly unique experience.”

tech2025 Q1 · mgmt“This included not just providing additional products but also innovating together, such as feeding information directly into their own internal tracking systems.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“On the technology front, this year, we continue to enhance our advanced telematics offering, which helps customers operate even more efficiently.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“By utilizing the unique functionality of our telematics and total control software, customers can realize meaningful savings across all their fleet needs.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“With complete visibility to their rental fleet and aggregated information across multiple projects, optimizing consumption and productivity becomes a reality.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“Our capabilities also help customers reduce unauthorized equipment use and subsequent fuel consumption and overage fees.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“I'll discuss the recent win, which illustrates our strategy in the utility vertical, followed by a look into how our best-in-class telematics is helping our customers improve their own productivity.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“Through our one-stop-shop offering supported by unmatched technological capabilities, we're able to serve our customers and drive repeat business.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“Our value proposition to the customer goes beyond just equipment. We have a large and reliable fleet, enabled with technology to further customer productivity, all of which is supported by the best team in the industry.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“I would just say that we continue to talk to our customers and learn more and more, and I said this in my opening remarks, for example, about how can we be a better partner for them. And it doesn't all have to be, as we talked about, with the ancillaries. It doesn't all have to be a high-margin business, and it all doesn't have to be capital intense, which is a great part of that ancillaries as well. But if it's going to add more value to the customer, we're going to be a more consistent partner with them. And that's really how I would think about any of these value added, including anything we can do in technology investments to help them drive more safety and productivity in their business.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Our one-stop shop value proposition, coupled with our technology, service levels and an unwavering focus on safety and customer productivity continue to differentiate us in the industry.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Our differentiated business model is truly unique in our industry and is enhanced by the implementation of cutting-edge technology across the business.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“We remain focused on leveraging innovation to support our customers' productivity and to drive internal efficiency gains.”

AI2026 Q2 · analyst“I know you've talked about implementing some AI into your pricing and rate calculus. Can you talk about where we're at with that and whether that's contributing at this point to the rate progression or if that's really more still on the come?”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Certainly, there are some things that we're working that are really in pilot mode.”

AI2026 Q2 · mgmt“as we continue to enhance tools with AI and continue to update the opportunities, you could certainly think that would only be helpful down the road.”

Sunbelt Rentals 0 AI · 5 tech · 6 calls ▾

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“We'll begin with our Connect 360 technology platform rollout, which we'll cover with our Q3 results.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“One of the technology advancements we made over the course of 3.0 was our dynamic pricing system, which we continue to extract benefits from, and we will do going forward.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“This transition to MLOs has been supported by our full launch of VDOS 4.0, our proprietary Vehicle Dispatch Optimization System, which has been reimagined and repowered to improve availability, utilization, efficiency and user and customer experience resulted in improved order capture through a clear path to say yes to our customers.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“Every single branch and MLO are now using this new system and beginning to realize its sturdy benefits.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“the team is making strong progress, driving value from our significant investments in logistics, telematics, maintenance execution, and we're already seeing the results.”

EquipmentShare 1 AI · 10 tech · 1 call ▾

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“T3 continues to deepen customer relationships by improving equipment visibility, reducing downtime and helping customers manage increasingly complex job sites.”

AI2026 Q2 · mgmt“T3 and the AI tools we are developing and deploying into the field are helping us operate more efficiently.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“We run our rental business on T3.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Over the last several quarters, we've rolled out new capabilities across dispatch, hauling, fuel and logistics.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“We use these tools every day, and they're improving route planning, increasing recovery rates and helping offset some of the fuel and logistics pressures that we're seeing across the broader market.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“T3 is an important driver of rental growth.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Large regional and national customers increasingly expect real-time access, fleet visibility and control across their job sites.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“We provide T3 with every rental and customers who engage with the platform spending approximately 6x more with us than customers who do not.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“Increasingly, larger customers are looking at T3 as a platform to manage more of their business, their mixed fleet, service, logistics, field operations and over time, broader ERP workflows.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“my team has worked closely with customers spending over $1 million in annual recurring SaaS revenue on T3.”

tech2026 Q2 · mgmt“As a percentage of rental revenue, SG&A has continued to decline as a percentage of rental revenue.”

Custom Truck One Source 0 statements · 6 calls ▾

No mention of the company's own AI or technology on the covered calls.

WillScot 4 AI · 3 tech · 6 calls ▾

AI2025 Q2 · mgmt“As we talked about in March, we rolled out our AI-enabled pricing engine as well as our enhanced sales HQ platform in Q2 as planned.”

tech2025 Q2 · mgmt“As we talked about in March, these are best-in-class tools to drive sales productivity, and our team is in the early stages of adopting and optimizing these.”

AI2025 Q4 · mgmt“We started with AI tools in our branches and video monitoring of movements within our branches for safety purposes.”

AI2025 Q4 · mgmt“Our pricing optimization platform is AI-based.”

AI2025 Q4 · mgmt“Internally, we have developed a sales call coaching model that is AI-enabled.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“This is a tool that can review all of our sales call transcripts. It's got a scoring rubric, whereby it can identify sales calls that could have been improved in some way.”

tech2025 Q4 · mgmt“It helps our sales coaches, diagnose very quickly, which reps need coaching on what topics and be a lot more efficient with how we spend that sales manager resources time right.”

McGrath RentCorp 1 AI · 0 tech · 6 calls ▾

AI2025 Q2 · mgmt“There's AI things that are important that we pay attention to and incorporate in the business.”

Alta Equipment Group 1 AI · 0 tech · 6 calls ▾

AI2025 Q4 · mgmt“our ERP transformation is foundational. It positions Alta for AI enablement, automation, improved data visibility, and structural cost efficiency.”

How the AI org is layered.

WillScot and Herc are the only companies with an executive title over the bench. United’s seven-person bench (five data scientists, two AI engineers) reports with no AI-titled leader above it; its products are owned by the CTO and built on AWS, Snowflake and Anthropic platforms.

Exec Director Manager IC bars · share of counted heads by level

Company	Mgr+ / IC¹	Exec+ / Mgr¹
WillScotIn-house-led; pricing and driver-monitoring vendors undisclosed	1.00	2.00
Herc RentalsUndisclosed; ProControl built with Deloitte Digital	0.50	—
EquipmentShareIn-house: T3 built by its own engineering teams	0.43	2.00
United RentalsIn-house on AWS, Snowflake and Anthropic; contact center vendor-built	0.00	—
Sunbelt RentalsIn-house in North America; Salesforce Agentforce in UK & Ireland	0.00	—
Custom Truck One SourceVendor-built (Scope) for its one disclosed use case	—	—
McGrath RentCorpNo visible AI activity	—	—
Alta Equipment GroupNo visible AI activity	—	—

Peer median · 0.43 Mgr+ per IC · Exec+ per Mgr has too few managers in the cohort to give a median

¹ Mgr+ = exec, director, manager & lead heads; Exec+ = exec and director heads. Levels classified from the counted titles; a dash means the ratio has no denominator. The line under each company is its disclosed build model, recorded as disclosed, not verified.

Six of eight have disclosed AI in use. United Rentals is the only one publishing performance numbers of its own.

Everything below is what the company (or its vendor) has said publicly; nothing here is independently verified, and no cohort company has disclosed dollar-denominated AI ROI. McGrath RentCorp and Alta Equipment Group have disclosed nothing.

6 disclosed use cases0 AI patentsAWS · Snowflake · Anthropic · Talkdesk

Manual Assist AI: gen-AI diagnostics and OEM manuals for technicians, built on Amazon Bedrock (Dec 2025)
Business Intelligence Agent: natural-language agent on Snowflake, rolled out across 1,600+ branches (Feb 2026)
Equipment Agent: conversational equipment finder on unitedrentals.com, then in the ChatGPT app store (Mar and May 2026)
Smart Suggestions: machine-learning equipment recommendations in the digital platform (Aug 2025)
Internal employee chatbot: built on Anthropic’s Claude, disclosed by the CTO (Feb 2026)
Talkdesk AI contact center: routing, agent copilot and call scoring, vendor-built (2025)

4,000+ monthly users of Manual Assist AI, a 27% cut in time to order, a 70% improvement in finding the right equipment: all company-disclosed, none verified, none dollar-denominated.

5 disclosed use cases0 AI patents

Forsight AI jobsite cameras: PPE detection, danger-zone alerts, natural-language video search (May 2026)
T3 AI dash cams: in-cab driver coaching (2026)
AI photo analysis: auto-populates asset records in T3 (Jun 2026)
AI-powered asset search: in T3 (Apr 2026)
T3 Asset Insight: asset detail view with an AI service assistant (Dec 2025)

The only number attached is a partner’s (Leif: 35% fewer claims for contractors using T3 cameras), not EquipmentShare’s.

4 disclosed use cases0 AI patentsSalesforce (UK&I) · Alteryx · Databricks

VDOS 4.0: machine-learning dispatch for deliveries, collections and driver scheduling (FY2026 10-K)
Service 360: AI-guided prescriptive repair workflows for technicians (FY2026 10-K)
Salesforce Agentforce: autonomous agents for employees and customers in UK & Ireland (Jul 2025)
Finance automation: on Alteryx and Databricks, next step AI invoice reading (vendor case study, 2026)

VDOS 4.0 live in 30 of the top 50 North American markets at April 2026 is a rollout footprint, not a performance number.

2 disclosed use cases0 AI patents

ProControl: “utilizing AI and advanced telematics” for fleet insights, per the president on the Q2 call (Jul 2026)
AI-enabled safe-driving program: for company vehicles, vendor unnamed, per the citizenship report (Aug 2026)

ProControl user growth of nearly 20% quarter-over-quarter is a platform metric, not an AI metric. No AI performance number disclosed.

2 disclosed use cases0 AI patents

AI-enabled pricing engine: rolled out in Q2 2025; “AI-driven” at the March 2025 investor day (Jul 2025)
AI driver-performance monitoring: alongside DriveCam, per the proxy statement (Apr 2024)

No public performance or ROI numbers disclosed.

1 disclosed use case0 AI patentsScope Computer Vision

Stringing-line inspection: computer-vision rope inspection built by Scope, US and Canada (Nov 2023)

15 million feet of rope inspected is the vendor’s figure.

Sunbelt Rentals is hiring AI or data talent. The other 6 show nothing open.

Open AI- and data-titled roles on public job boards, August 2026.

Core AI Data science

Company		Open AI + data-science roles¹
Sunbelt Rentals		1
EquipmentShare		0
United Rentals		0
WillScot		0
Herc Rentals		0
Custom Truck One Source		0
McGrath RentCorp		0
Alta Equipment Group²		n/a

¹ Public job postings pulled August 2026, matched to the posting company and screened to dedicated AI and data-science titles; postings from other companies that the job board back-fills into a search are excluded.

The posting: Sunbelt Rentals: Sr. Data Scientist (Fort Mill, SC, posted 2026-08-20).

² Not measurable: the job board indexes no postings for Alta Equipment Group, filtered or unfiltered.

How these numbers are built.

Measure the bench

Combined AI + data-science headcount from public workforce data, resolved to each corporate family before counting: dedicated core-AI/ML and data-science titles only, the same way for all eight companies.

Read the flow and the narrative

Open roles from public job postings screened to dedicated AI and data-science titles, and every AI mention on the six most recent earnings calls, split into the company using AI versus AI as an end market, read against the measured bench.

Count only what we can see

Counts are floors of dedicated AI- and data-titled roles, not a census. Disclosed products, partners and performance claims are recorded as disclosed, never as verified. The same outside-in discipline as our G&A benchmarks.

What this example can, and can’t, tell you.

Free: this example

Eight named companies, measured with one identical method
The combined AI + data-science bench, with the core-AI split and density per 10,000 employees
Open roles and earnings-call narrative read against the measured bench, not taken at face value
Disclosed use cases and partners per company, labeled as disclosed, not verified

The full diagnostic: what we deliberately withhold

The named-profile roster behind every count, with level and location
Your company and your chosen peer set, measured identically
Hiring flow and narrative tracked quarterly as a trend, not a snapshot
Full disclosed-use-case and partner detail per peer
A walkthrough read-out call

Questions & answers

FAQs

What counts as an “AI role,” and why combine AI with data science?+

We count dedicated titles only: core AI/ML roles (machine-learning engineers, MLOps, applied-AI leads, AI executives) plus data-science titles. In practice the two benches are one talent system, staffed and managed together, so the headline number is the combined bench, with the core-AI vs data-science split shown in each exhibit’s stacked bars.

How does United Rentals ship five AI products on a seven-person bench?+

By building on platforms rather than models. Manual Assist AI runs on Amazon Bedrock, the Business Intelligence Agent on Snowflake Intelligence, the internal chatbot on Anthropic’s Claude, and the contact center on Talkdesk. That is the pattern across this cohort: the AI is real, the model is someone else’s, and the people who own it carry product, engineering and CTO titles the method cannot see. Headcount measures owned capability, not deployed capability.

Why are these counts a floor, not a census?+

Only people whose job title says AI or data science are counted. Capability that sits under other titles is invisible to this method: United Rentals has 76 people with “digital” in their title and Herc a telematics organization, none of which count here. Coverage of the public workforce data also varies: it reaches under a third of McGrath’s and Alta’s employees, so their zeros are weaker evidence than United’s six. The paid diagnostic resolves counts to a named-profile roster.

Where does the data come from?+

Public workforce data for the bench, resolved to each corporate family before counting (H&E Equipment Services is counted inside Herc, which acquired it in June 2025). Public job postings for openings, earnings-call transcripts for narrative (the six most recent calls per company, one for EquipmentShare, public since January 2026), and 10-Ks, press releases and vendor case studies for disclosed products. All public data, pulled August 2026; no surveys, no interviews.

Why is Sunbelt counted at 24,000 employees, and why does EquipmentShare’s coverage look odd?+

Sunbelt Rentals Holdings (formerly Ashtead Group, NYSE-listed since March 2026) reports 24,000 employees consolidated, of which about 21,800 are in North America; we use the consolidated figure because its AI and data titles are not split by region. EquipmentShare’s public workforce records exceed its reported 7,700 employees, which flags them as an outlier: its per-10,000 density is the number to read, its absolute count is less reliable.

Does a disclosed product mean verified ROI?+

No. Every product claim here is disclosed by the company, a partner or a vendor, not independently verified. United Rentals discloses usage and time-saved metrics, Sunbelt a rollout footprint, EquipmentShare a partner’s insurance-claims figure, Custom Truck a vendor’s inspection volume. No company in this cohort has disclosed a dollar-denominated AI return.

Equipment rental ships real AI with almost no AI org behind it, and says nothing about it on earnings calls.

Executive summary.