Rental Center/Skyworks LLC: Building America from the ground up

Family-owned rental company grows from a single Buffalo branch into a 32-location network by focusing on customers, empowering employees and developing innovative solutions for the job site.

by Clair D. Urbain

Approximately 75 percent of Skyworks’ rentals are for aerial equipment; however, the other 25 percent covers a wide range of tools and equipment.

Ford Transit vans are used by preventive maintenance crews to complete routine maintenance on equipment in the field.

While each location is unique, they all feature well-equipped maintenance bays for equipment service and repair. This is the service bay at the new Skyworks location in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Jim Roach says the Skyworks motto of “Building America from the Ground Up” aptly embodies the company’s philosophy of working as a partner with its customers, from beginning to end.

When Jerry Reinhart opened the first Skyworks location in Buffalo, New York, in 2001, the vision was straightforward: build a rental company that puts customers first.

Twenty-five years later, that vision has grown into one of the nation’s fastest-expanding independent rental operations. Today, Skyworks operates 32 locations across multiple states, with a 33rd branch slated to open soon in the Houston area. Along the way, the company has expanded its fleet, diversified its offerings and developed new ways to support customers on some of the country’s largest construction projects.

According to Jim Roach, vehicle fleet manager for Skyworks, the company’s growth stems from a combination of customer relationships, strategic expansion and a family-oriented culture.

“Skyworks is a family-owned company,” Roach says. “It was started by one person, Jerry Reinhart back in 2001with its first store in Buffalo, New York. That’s currently our corporate headquarters.”

Today, Skyworks employs approximately 875 people, a figure that is expected to reach 900 as the next location comes online.

Family roots drive growth
The company’s origins trace back even further than 2001. Reinhart grew up around the rental industry. His father operated Access Rentals, which was sold to United Rentals in 1999. After the sale, Reinhart eventually launched Skyworks LLC and began building the business from the ground up. That foundation remains central to the company’s identity.

“As a family-owned company, our foundation has always been built on relationships, trust and putting people first,” Roach says. “What sets us apart is our commitment to meeting customers where they are, understanding their unique challenges and delivering solutions that create real value.”

The company’s growth has been significant. Over the past four years alone, Skyworks has expanded from 21 locations to 32, with another branch on the way. Roach credits that expansion to customer loyalty and the company’s willingness to follow customers into new markets.

“Our customers are number one in our business,” he said. “We thrive on our customers and they drive the business for Skyworks.”

Broad range of customers
While Skyworks built its reputation in aerial equipment, the company’s rental fleet today spans a wide range of products. The fleet includes everything from handheld tools to large aerial lifts. “We rent everything from a chop saw, a hammer drill, a lawnmower up into a 185-foot boom that goes up in the air and everything in between,” Roach says.

The company rents:

• Scissor lifts
• Boom lifts
• Telehandlers
• Skid steers
• Excavators and mini excavators
• Light towers
• Water trucks
• Dump trucks
• Pickup trucks and vans
• Chainsaws
• Woodchippers
• Stump grinders
• Lawn equipment

Aerial equipment remains the backbone of the operation. “I would say that 75 percent of our business is aerial equipment,” Roach says. “Anything that goes up in the air.” The remaining 25 percent consists of earthmoving equipment, generators, light towers and other support products. Customers range from general and specialty contractors to utility companies, industrial facilities and homeowners.

Following the work
Like many rental companies, Skyworks has benefited from several major construction trends. Data centers have become an increasingly important market segment. “It’s been a big part of our business recently, but taking care of local customers remains very important,” Roach says. The company also supports solar projects, steel mills and large industrial developments.

One notable trend has been a growing demand for transportation vehicles on large job sites. Rather than relying solely on side-by-sides or UTVs, contractors are increasingly renting pickup trucks and passenger vans to move workers around sprawling projects.

“We’ve provided vans and pickup trucks for job site-specific tasks,” Roach says. “It’s been both a win for Skyworks and our customers because they can get several people inside the cab out of the elements.” That demand has been especially strong on large data center projects, where workers may need to travel considerable distances across expansive sites.

The spoke model
One of Skyworks’ key growth strategies is what the company calls its “spoke model.” Rather than treating each branch as an isolated operation, locations work together to support customers across broader regions. It presently has six regions: New York, Pennsylvania, East Pennsylvania, Midwest, West and South.

Roach describes Columbus, Ohio, as an example. “Within a few hours of Columbus are Cincinnati, Knoxville, Nashville and Indianapolis. By connecting those locations, Skyworks can share fleet resources and respond quickly to customer needs,” he says. “What we’re doing is we’re trying to have a spoke model for all of our stores where we can share our equipment to help our customers with their needs within a two-to three-hour radius,” Roach says. That strategy has helped guide the company’s westward expansion into Indiana, Missouri and Texas. It also enables Skyworks to follow customers into new markets.

“When we develop relationships with our customers, we also become partners with them,” Roach says. “If they get a job out in Texas in the middle of nowhere, we try to find an area where we can open a branch and service our customers.”

Some locations are acquired through purchases, while others are built from scratch. “Many of them are just startups from the ground up,” he adds.

Skyworks streamlines equipment transport in its spoke model by employing district drivers, who are longer haul truckers that move equipment between branches in the district. The rental staff at the branches work with each other to coordinate equipment shipment to get needed equipment to the right location.

Customer service as a competitive advantage
In a market filled with large national competitors, Skyworks believes local decision-making and entrepreneurship from its managers gives it an edge. Roach points to branch-level empowerment as one of the company’s biggest differentiators. “Every store has a branch manager, and the branch managers are empowered to run their store,” he says. Rather than requiring multiple layers of corporate approval, managers can make decisions quickly to solve customer problems. “That is the key to our success over our national competitors.”

The company also emphasizes responsiveness. “Number one is on-time deliveries,” he says, “It’s very important for our customers to have the things that they need.”

Beyond equipment delivery, Skyworks invests in customer relationships through training, job site visits and ongoing communication. “We listen to their needs,” Roach says. “We don’t tell them what they need. We advise them what they need based on the cope of their work.” The company also provides operator training and safety instruction when customers need assistance.

“If there’s a situation where there’s somebody new on the job, we send out a tech to facilitate the new person on how to operate the machine and to safely use our equipment,” he says.

Building a stronger service network
As the company has grown, so has the complexity of supporting equipment across multiple states. To address that challenge, Skyworks has invested heavily in field service operations. Typical branches employ eight to 14 technicians, including road mechanics who spend much of their time supporting customers in the field.

Roach is particularly proud of the company’s service truck fleet. Built on Ford F-550 chassis, the trucks feature compressors, generators, tool storage and extensive parts inventories. “They all have a compressor and generator that’s built right into the truck,” Roach says.

The company has also expanded its preventive maintenance program using specially equipped Ford Transit vans. “We’ve rolled those Transit vans out in the past three years,” Roach says. “The Transit vans have been phenomenal for us.” Preventive maintenance technicians use the vans to perform inspections, oil changes and safety checks throughout the fleet in the field.

Investing in people
Skyworks’ family-oriented philosophy extends beyond customers to employees. The company actively recruits new talent while focusing on long-term retention. “We have employees who have been with us since day one still today,” Roach says. The company hires from a variety of backgrounds, including high school graduates, experienced industry professionals and college interns. One intern began working part-time while attending college and later transferred to another Skyworks location after graduating.

Roach sees younger employees as an important part of the company’s future. “We believe that our success will lie in the younger generation who are very smart, very well-rounded, computer-oriented and take a boots-on-the-ground approach,” he says.

Many locations reinforce the family culture through weekly employee cookouts and other team-building activities. “We strive on the family-oriented business when you come to work,” Roach says.

Looking ahead
As Skyworks continues expanding geographically and diversifying its fleet, the company’s mission remains unchanged. Roach points to the company’s slogan as a reflection of its broader purpose. “Building America From the Ground Up,” he says. “For Skyworks, that means supporting projects from initial site preparation through completion while helping customers solve problems along the way.”

With new locations opening, continued investment in equipment and a growing customer base, the company appears positioned for continued growth. “Our customer-centric approach combined with deep commitment to our employees and communities has been the cornerstone of our success and will continue to guide us for generations to come,” Roach says.

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Custom Jerr-Dan rolloffs
help Skyworks move more equipment

Jim Roach worked with experts at Jerr-Dan to develop a custom roll-off truck that can carry a JLG 660 boom lift or six 19-foot scissor lifts. Under-bed storage lockers make tie downs easily accessible and bed lighting makes loading and unloading safer. Peterbilt also assisted in developing the truck specs to match to right unit with the custom bed.

When Skyworks needed a better way to transport larger aerial equipment, the company didn’t settle for an off-the-shelf solution. Instead, it partnered with Jerr-Dan and Peterbilt to create a custom rollback truck designed specifically for rental applications.

According to Jim Roach, Skyworks’ previous rollback trucks used for aerial lift deliveries featured 28-foot beds. The company wanted additional length and width to transport larger machines more efficiently.

“I went to Jerr-Dann engineers and said, ‘Can I pick your guys’ brain? I need to get this a little bit longer and I need to get as much width as I can,’” Roach says. Jerr-Dan assembled a team of engineers, builders and managers who worked directly with Skyworks to design the truck.

The result is a custom rollback featuring:

• A 30-foot bed
• Full legal width at 101.5 inches
• Larger underbed storage compartments
• Additional safety lighting
• Custom safety striping
• Illuminated Skyworks branding

The extra space has significantly increased hauling capacity. “I can get a JLG 660 boom lift on the back of the rollback and whereas before we couldn’t,” Roach says. The design also allows drivers to transport more scissor lifts on a single trip, improving delivery efficiency on large projects such as data centers. “It’s become more versatile with the partnership with Jerr-Dan,” Roach says. Peterbilt played a key role in developing the chassis specifications needed to support the larger bed and increased storage requirements.

The first custom rolloff units entered service in late 2024, and Skyworks has already added more than 10 units to its fleet with more to come.

“It’s been fantastic and I’m very proud of it,” Roach says. “Our drivers love them.”

This article originally appeared int he July-August 2026 issue of Pro Contractor Rentals magazine. ©2026 Urbain Communications LLC. All rights reserved.

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