Website builder

A rental website that takes requests by date
and counts every chair and camera.

Describe what you rent and Netiva’s AI agent builds a site with a priced catalog, requests that check what’s already out, deposits at checkout and your damage policy — in a live preview.

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Starter prompt

Build a website for a rental center that rents contractor tools and party equipment. List items by category with a photo, specs and kit contents, the quantity we own, day and week rates and turnaround days for cleaning. Customers choose out and return dates, add items with quantities, pick up at the counter or give a delivery address and accept or decline a 10% damage waiver. Refuse any line that asks for more units than are free on those dates, counting turnaround days. Add a rental terms page and a staff-only desk to quote each request with a security deposit and log returns with damage photos.

Build it in Netiva Paste the prompt into a new workspace and adjust it to your business.
Overview

Who this rental website is for

A couple wants a 20-by-40 tent, 12 round tables and 96 chairs for a Saturday in June, and a contractor wants your only trencher the same weekend. Before anyone can say yes, someone checks the whiteboard, the warehouse and the returns still waiting to be cleaned. A rental website built with Netiva does that count for you. Items come from a catalog collection with quantities and rates, requests are checked against what’s already reserved or in turnaround, and every return check records the condition, the photos and whether your damage waiver covers the repair.

Key features

What your rental website can do

  • A catalog built from your stock list

    Tents, tables, generators and saws live in one collection. Category pages and item pages are built from it, and the collection assistant turns your spec-sheet notes into plain descriptions for you to check.

    • A category page for each group — tools, tents, linens, tables and chairs
    • Specs such as tent size, seats per table and generator wattage
    • Kit contents listed so customers know what’s in the case
    • Descriptions drafted from your notes and held for review

  • Availability by date and quantity

    The request form adds up the units already promised for overlapping dates, plus any still being cleaned or checked, and refuses a line that asks for more than you have free.

    • Units free for the chosen dates shown on each item page
    • Turnaround days held after every return date
    • Full weeks billed at the week rate, leftover days at the day rate
    • Saved views for requested, quoted and out reservations

  • Quotes, deposits and the damage waiver

    Approve a request, set the security deposit and the customer gets an email with the quote and a link to pay the deposit at Netiva’s hosted one-page checkout. Refunds go through the store’s order pipeline once the gear is back.

    • A quote line for each item, for delivery and for the waiver if accepted
    • A deposit product with a variant for each amount you charge
    • Cards at checkout, with PayPal alongside Stripe from the Pro plan
    • Decline emails that name the items that aren’t free

  • Return checks on a phone

    Counter and yard staff sign in, scan an asset tag or open the reservation, count what came back and photograph anything torn, dented or missing parts before it goes back on the shelf.

    • Returned quantity per line, with shortages flagged
    • Damage reports with photos and the repair or replacement cost
    • Each report marked as covered by the waiver, the deposit or billed
    • Checked-in-by filled from the signed-in staff member
Data model

The collections behind it

Netiva keeps your records in built-in collections. Here’s a starting structure — the agent adapts it to your prompt, and you can change it any time.

Rental items

Everything you rent, with the counts and rates the catalog and request form read.

  • Name (required) Text
  • Category (required) Tools, Tents, Linens, Tables and chairs, Lighting… Text
  • Photo (required) Image
  • Specs and kit contents (required) Size, seats, wattage or fuel type, and what’s in the case Paragraph
  • Quantity owned (required) 1 for a serialized machine or camera kit Number
  • Day rate (required) Number
  • Week rate Billed per full week; leave blank to bill every day at the day rate Number
  • Turnaround days (required) Days held after a return for cleaning, drying or a service check Number

Reservations

Each rental request from first ask to close, with its dates, delivery details and deposit.

  • Customer (required) Name, company and phone Text
  • Email (required) Text
  • Out date (required) Day of counter pickup or delivery Date
  • Return date (required) Turnaround days are counted from this date Date
  • Delivery address Blank for counter pickup; add surface, gate width, stairs and power access Paragraph
  • Damage waiver (required) Accepted or declined Text
  • Security deposit Set when you quote; refunded after the return check Number
  • Status (required) Requested, quoted, confirmed, out, returned, closed or declined Text

Reservation lines

Every line on a reservation: the items asked for, delivery and the waiver, and what came back.

  • Reservation (required) Relation to Reservations
  • Charge type (required) Rental item, delivery or damage waiver Text
  • Item Blank on delivery and waiver lines Relation to Rental items
  • Quantity (required) Number
  • Line charge Week rate per full week plus the day rate for leftover days, × quantity, set at quote Number
  • Returned quantity Anything short of Quantity is flagged on the return check Number
  • Checked in at Date & time
  • Checked in by Filled in from the signed-in staff member Text

Damage reports

Anything that came back damaged or short, with photos and who pays for the repair.

  • Reservation line (required) Relation to Reservation lines
  • Issue (required) Stained, torn, dented, broken, missing parts or lost Text
  • Units affected (required) Number
  • Photos (required) Image
  • Repair or replacement cost Number
  • Covered by (required) Damage waiver, security deposit or billed to the customer Text
  • Repair status (required) Waiting, in repair, back in service or written off Text
  • Reported by (required) Filled in from the signed-in staff member Text

Required field. Types are Netiva collection field types.

Screens

Pages and screens to start with

A typical first version. Ask the agent for more, or annotate the preview to change any of them.

  • Catalog

    Items grouped by category — tools, tents, linens, tables and chairs — each with its photo, day rate and week rate.

    Public

  • Item detail

    Photo, specs, kit contents and rates for one item, with how many units are free for the dates the customer picks.

    Public

  • Reservation request

    Out and return dates, items and quantities, counter pickup or a delivery address and the damage waiver choice, checked against free units before it’s sent.

    Public

  • Rental terms

    Security deposits, what the damage waiver covers and excludes, late returns, cleaning charges and cancellations, in plain language.

    Public

  • Reservations desk

    New requests to quote or decline, deposits not yet paid and tomorrow’s pickups and deliveries, for signed-in staff.

    Your team

  • Return check

    Reservations due back today with a returned count for each line, damage photos and costs; turnaround starts when the check is saved.

    Your team
How it works

From prompt to a live rental website

  1. Describe what you rent

    Tell Netiva your categories, whether you deliver, how long each kind of item needs for cleaning and how you bill a week. The agent drafts the item, reservation and damage collections and the public catalog.

  2. Load items and quantities

    Enter each item, how many you own and its rates in the spreadsheet-like grid, upload photos and paste spec-sheet notes for the collection assistant to turn into descriptions you check.

  3. Try to overbook in the preview

    Ask for 130 chairs when you own 120, or a tent that’s still drying from last weekend, and watch the form refuse it. Annotate the preview to change wording or rules.

  4. Publish before event season

    Publish in one click, connect your domain on the Starter plan or higher and set up the deposit product. Every change is checkpointed, so a rate edit that goes wrong is easy to roll back.

Why Netiva

Netiva vs a traditional build

Building a rental website with Netiva compared with a traditional build
Criterion With Netiva Traditional build
Checking stock for a date Requests count units reserved or in turnaround for those dates before they reach you Someone reads the whiteboard and walks the warehouse to count what’s already promised
Damage disputes Return checks with photos, the repair cost and whether the waiver or deposit covers it Condition noted from memory at the counter, with no photos to show the customer
Getting started Describe what you need in chat and watch it take shape in a live preview Hire developers, or stitch together templates, plugins and a hosting plan
Content and data Built-in collections with nine field types, bound straight to your pages Set up and connect a separate database or CMS
Making changes Ask the agent; every change is checkpointed and reversible File a ticket, wait for a sprint, redeploy
Hosting and domain Global hosting and automatic SSL; connect a custom domain from the Starter plan Buy hosting, then install and renew SSL certificates yourself
Code ownership Clean production code you own and can export Locked into a template, plugin or agency setup
Examples

Ways teams use it

  • A party rental company with two box trucks

    Nearly every reservation is delivered and set up. The request form collects the surface, gate width and stairs, and the desk lists tomorrow’s deliveries so the crew knows which tents, tables and linens to load.

  • A camera and lighting rental house

    Each body, lens and light kit is its own item with a quantity of one. Friday-to-Monday rentals are billed as one day, and scratched glass gets a damage report with photos before the deposit is refunded.

  • A compact equipment rental yard

    Mini excavators and skid steers go out on a trailer. With hour meter fields added to each rental line, staff record readings at delivery and return, and the desk flags machines that are due for service.

Good to know

Before you build

  • Rental agreements still need signing

    Netiva doesn’t collect e-signatures. Keep signing your rental agreement at the counter or on delivery, or ask the agent to connect an e-signature provider’s REST API, with your API key stored securely.

  • Phone and walk-in rentals count too

    The site doesn’t sync with rental management software on its own. Enter phone and counter rentals as reservations so the free counts stay right, or connect your software if it offers a REST API.

  • Locate utilities before staking a tent

    A standard tent stake is about 40 inches long. In the US, contact 811 a few business days before a tent install so utilities can mark buried lines, check your state’s notice rules and keep the ticket number with the site notes.

  • Have your waiver wording reviewed

    A damage waiver is a fee-based promise not to charge for certain damage, not an insurance policy. Ask your insurer or attorney to review what it excludes, and your tax adviser whether sales tax applies to waiver and delivery fees.

FAQ

Questions about building a rental website

Can customers see how many tables or tents are free on their date?

Yes. Each item page can show the units free for the dates a customer picks. The app subtracts units on quoted, confirmed and out reservations with overlapping dates, plus units still in turnaround, from the quantity you own. New requests don’t hold stock, so two customers can both ask for the last tent until you quote one of them, and the request form refuses a line asking for more than is free.

How does the site handle cleaning and repair time between rentals?

Every item has a turnaround days field, such as one day for linens that need washing or two for a tent that has to dry. Those days count as reserved after the return date, so the item isn’t offered again until it’s ready. Units in an open damage report stay off the free count until their repair status says they’re back in service.

Can I take a security deposit online and refund it after the return?

Yes, through Netiva’s store. Ask the agent for a deposit product with a variant for each amount you charge, and link the right one from the quote email. Customers pay at the hosted one-page checkout, and you refund the deposit from the store’s order pipeline after the return check. If your policy depends on card authorization holds instead, keep handling those with your current payment processor.

What should a damage waiver on an equipment rental website explain?

State the fee, for example a percentage of rental charges, and what it covers, such as accidental damage during normal use. List the exclusions you apply, like loss, theft or misuse, and how they affect the security deposit. The rental terms page and the request form show the same wording, and each damage report records whether the waiver, the deposit or an invoice covered the cost.

Can one rental website handle serialized camera gear and bulk party items?

Yes. Bulk items such as chairs or linens are one record with the quantity you own. Serialized gear works best as one record per camera body, lens or machine with a quantity of one, and you can ask the agent to add a serial number field. Both kinds use the same availability count, request form and return check.

Which Netiva plan does a rental website with online deposits need?

You can build and test the whole site on the free plan in the live preview. Connecting your own domain needs the Starter plan or higher, and PayPal alongside Stripe at checkout comes with Pro. Compare the current plans on Netiva’s pricing page before you open deposits to customers. The code is yours, and you can export it at any time.

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Drafted with AI assistance from Netiva’s product pages and reviewed by the Netiva team. Example data models, screens and prompts are illustrative starting points, not customer projects.

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