Byline: BOB TITA
Caterpillar Inc. aims to fortify its construction equipment rental business with help from retail giant Home Depot Inc.
Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of bulldozers, excavators and other earth-moving equipment, has begun offering rentals to contractors at a Dallas Home Depot store, where a counter staffed by Cat's Dallas dealer has been operating since November.
The pilot program is aimed at gauging whether contractors buying lumber, drywall and shingles from Home Depot, the nation's second-largest retailer, are interested in Cat's line of small construction equipment.
A favorable response in Dallas could lead the companies to roll out ...