Rental Center: A new game
First Place Rental has new owners, but its approach to the rental business is built on decades of successful operation.
by Clair Urbain
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| Sean Williams is the new president of First Place Rental located in Oswego, Illinois. He and his business partner, Brian Soares, vice president, developed a business plan that allowed them to purchase the business. |
Co-owners Sean Williams, president, and Brian Soares, vice president of First Place Rental in Oswego, Illinois, are not new to the rental game, but ownership is most definitely a new game for both.
“The former owners, Scott and Lisa Munsterman, started First Place Rental in 2001,” says Williams. Scott already had extensive rental experience working in his father’s rental business, Wheaton Rental, that had eight locations in Illinois. When his father, Arnie, sold the business to Rental Max, Scott struck out on his own shortly thereafter, brokering used equipment for rental houses.
“From 1998 to 2000, before opening First Place Rental, Scott developed a website and worked with rental companies to resell their equipment. He found that while he enjoyed coming up with the prices, he found that many rental houses didn’t like selling their own equipment. It was a good niche for him. It was one of his favorite things to do, even after he got into the rental business,” Williams says.
In 2001, Scott stopped in to visit with the owner of Danny’s One Stop in Oswego to inquire if he had any equipment that Scott could sell. The owner replied, “No, but if you know of anybody that wants to buy a business, let me know.”
“That night, Scott went home and told Lisa they were going to buy a rental store,” Williams recounts.
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| Brian Soares, co-owner and vice president at First Place Rental, has been with the company since 2012. Like Williams, he worked up through the ranks. |
The store was renamed First Place Rental and at the beginning, it was a party and equipment rental store. Williams started working for the Munstermans while in college studying actuarial science. “I helped with party deliveries and such and didn’t know anything about the business but slowly, over time, I worked my way up to driver and then to counter sales.”
He continued to work there, taking on accounting duties after he became a full-time employee. “But I came to a point that I realized there was not anything else to go into at the time with the company. Then, the store manager of the Sandwich, Illinois, location quit and the Munstermans offered me the position and I took it. After about a year, I sat down with Scott and asked him if there was any way I can be in his shoes some time down the line.” That was in 2016.
In 2015, Scott decided to get out of the party rental business and strictly went with tool and equipment rental.
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| Equipment size in the fleet is increasing. In the past, 8,000-pound excavators were the largest units in the fleet; customer demand for larger units led to the purchase of 20,000-pound models. Contractors increasingly want to rent compact track loaders over skid steers. |
Parallel interests
It turns out, another employee, Brian Soares, had a similar conversation with the Munstermans. Soares was an electrician by trade until the Great Recession hit in 2008 and came to work for First Place Rental in 2012 as a yard guy. He quickly moved up the ranks to become assistant manager of the Oswego store.
“He was having the same conversations I was having with Scott. Brian and I talked about it and realized that we were in the same boat; Scott took us under his wing so we could learn more about the ins and outs of the rental business. In 2019, we started conversations on signing a contract so we could become partial owners by the end of the year.” The new game was in play.
Deadly turn of events
In September of 2019, Scott suffered a massive heart attack while at the store and lingered for almost a month before passing away. It was a devastating blow to Lisa as well as to Sean and Brian. A new game plan had to be devised.
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| The First Place Rental crew fabricated this hitch organizer to make hitch changes fast and easy. Tie-downs and other transport supplies are stored inside the job box. |
Lisa became 100 percent owner of the business. “She was involved with the business and worked alongside Scott but being in the rental business was not her. She was involved in the business because it was Scott’s dream,” Williams says.
She remained president through all of 2020. “Brian and I had planned on a five-year process to become majority owners, but with Scott’s death, we had to come up with a strategy to take over right away.
“It was kind of a blur at the end of 2019 and after Scott had passed away, we made the decision to close the Sandwich location. It was only 15 miles away and it seemed that rentals would slowly make their way back to this location and would get re-rented for jobs closer to Chicago,” Williams recalls.
In March 2020, when the pandemic hit, Lisa, Brian and Sean all wondered what was going to happen. “In spite of all that, we knew we had to come up with a plan to transfer ownership.”
By the end of 2020, Lisa signed an owner-financed deal with Sean and Brian to sell the business to them. “She knows it’s in good hands. I’ve been here since 2009 and Brian has been here since 2012 and we’ve all traveled together for business, so we know each other pretty well,” Williams adds.
Building a culture
Establishing a company culture that builds on the business’ past success while becoming a foundation for the future is something that Brian and Sean have taken very seriously. They participate in Peer Executive Groups with other like-minded entrepreneurs to develop a footprint for employees to follow. A driving force in that process is a business development book, Traction, written by Gino Wickman. They have used the guidance of this book to develop their core values, which are:
Get it out of the hole. “It’s really all about problem-solving skills. How do fix you something that’s broke? How do you help a customer do their job? Do we have options that are better for them for the job they are trying to do?” Williams says.
We’re in this together. “This is about teamwork. We’re all here for long days and we see each other more than we see our families at home.”
Teach a man to fish. “We’re all about mentoring and guiding; not just in the rental field but in life in general. We want to help employees grow; we want them to be better than when they first joined the company.”
Treat it like you own it. “Whether they are using equipment or tools, check and use it like it’s your own. We want them to make sure it’s in good working order.”
Changing customer tastes
While First Place Rental has been a Honda power equipment dealer since it opened its doors in 2001, it is only a fraction of the business today. “We are one of Honda’s premier dealers, and that gets us access to equipment and parts as we need them. The small engine-powered equipment we rent have Honda engines, and our mechanic is factory-trained in Honda engine maintenance and repair.”
Williams and Soares are finding that construction and landscape contractors are 65 percent of the business and these contractors are looking for larger equipment than in the past. Most of their construction rental customers have between 20 and 30 employees.
These small- to medium-sized contractors have been even more important in the business mix because they can’t buy the equipment they need or are running out of time to complete projects on time. “They can’t buy equipment for the job, or in some cases, get replacement parts to make repairs, so they are renting it. Some of them have job delays because building materials aren’t available. So much if it is supply chain-related,” Williams says. “We placed an order for a few more track loaders and an excavator in March, and the first unit will be arriving at the end of October. We don’t even know when the other units will be delivered.”
Increasingly, models in the rental fleet are getting larger, more powerful and flexible. “In the past, our excavators were in the 8,000-pound range, but now we have a 20,000-pound excavator in the fleet. We’ve also added a T870 compact track loader, Bobcat’s largest model to our fleet because contractors were requesting it. Contractors prefer the compact track loaders. We only have a few Bobcat S570 skid steers that homeowners seem to prefer over compact track loaders. DIYers also like the mini track loaders,” he says.
Increasingly, aerial units are coming into the fleet. “We used to carry only tow-behinds, but recently acquired a Genie Z45 boom lift. We’ve also had lots of interest in the Niftylift SP34 that is a hybrid diesel-electric four-wheel drive unit.”
The fleet turns over between three and six years. Trades are based on several factors, including hours, utilization and wear and tear. “Over the winter months, we go over each piece of equipment and touch up paint and make sure it’s ready for the next season. Renters comment that equipment from us is usually newer and in better shape than what they rent from other places. It’s a point of difference for us,” Williams says.
Sean Williams is the new president of First Place Rental located in Oswego, Illinois. He and his business partner, Brian Soares, vice president, developed a business plan that allowed them to purchase the business.
First Place Rental is also a premier dealer of Honda power equipment. Its fleet of small engine-powered equipment is powered by Honda engines and its service technician is certified in Honda engine repair.
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This article originally appeared in the November-December 2021 issue of Pro Contractor Rentals magazine. ©2021 Urbain Communications LLC. All rights reserved.
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