Rental Center: All Seasons Rent-All, Aurora, Colorado All Seasons redefines rental
All Seasons Rent-All has evolved into an equipment-only rental center serving the greater Denver metro area. The evolution continues.
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Scott Goodwin became a fully factory-trained Stihl mechanic in 2006. |
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Small engine repair and maintenance takes up a good portion of the mechanics’ time. They have several contracts for annual maintenance with local firms. |
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| All Seasons Rent-All staff includes Jim Deak?, Tyrus Cobb?, John Boyer, Jim Deak, Myron Veal?, Scott Goodwin, Sammi Suleiman and Lindsay Harding. Not pictured: Amy Erickson, ??, Others? |
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While All Seasons Rent-All no longer rents costumes, a gorilla statue named Havana Banana greets those passing by on the busy South Havana Street in Aurora. |
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| Today’s equipment fleet features smaller aerial and scissor lifts, small excavators and skid steers, compact track loaders and various demolition tools and concrete equipment. |
by Clair Urbain
Little did Scott Goodwin know that when he went local roller skating at Skate City back in the late ’80s, that it would set his life’s path in motion. That’s where he met his future wife, Holly, for the first time.
Fast forward to 1993, when he and Holly went to dinner with her family. The conversation at the dinner table turned to Holly’s father’s frustration with finding summer help for the family’s party and equipment rental business in Aurora, Colorado.
“Holly piped in that I could work for him,” recalls Goodwin. He was between his freshman and sophomore year in high school. “I wasn’t looking for a job. I didn’t even know what a Phillips screwdriver was, but Holly thought if she was working that summer caring for three children, I should be working, too.”
He graduated from high school in 1996 and enrolled at Metro State College of Denver, which is now Metro State University, majoring in Finance with an emphasis in small business consulting.
Before graduating in 2000, he accepted an internship at the Department of Finance and Accounting Services with the Department of Defense. “My job was to develop spreadsheets to track billable man-hours that could be charged back to various departments. It wasn’t anything glamorous,” he recalls, but he became extremely proficient in Excel and all things spreadsheets.
Goodwin planned on going into some aspect of finance after graduation but wasn’t sure of his next move. That’s when his father-in-law asked if he and his wife would be interested in joining All Seasons Rent-All, a growing party and equipment rental operation based in Aurora, Colorado. “Larry had his eye on retirement, so we and Holly’s sister, Brandy, and her husband David, joined the business.”
The business was a mix of party and light construction equipment rentals serving the greater Denver area. From wedding arches to tablecloths to light equipment, they rented most anything.
In 2002, Goodwin saw potential in further developing the sales and service aspect of the business as a Stihl equipment dealer, so he attended Stihl service schools locally and then in Virginia Beach in 2006 to become a fully factory-trained Stihl mechanic.
“I was really green coming into this business at the age of 15. I had no experience with anything mechanical. From 1993 to 2006, I went from being reall
y green in the repair shop to knowing how to weld, fabricate and fix small engines. I’ve always liked the blue-collar end of work, but I also like the white-collar world of finance as well,” he says.
At the same time, the family had big plans of opening a party rentals-only store in another location in the Denver metro area. “We had acquired some land but then the Great Recession hit in 2008. That changed everything,” Goodwin says.
His father-in-law came out of retirement and it didn’t take too long to realize that two of the four heir-apparents to the business had to find other employment.
“My wife and our brother-in-law ended up leaving the business; I was exploring opportunities to get on one of the local fire departments. In 2012, my father-in-law was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given only two months to two years to live. He then decided, with my finance background, that I would be the president of the company so he could concentrate on the time he had left.”
New chapter
After his father-in-law’s diagnosis, Brandy pursued a career in real estate and he took the reins of the business. Meanwhile, his father-in-law underwent aggressive chemotherapy and after nearly 200 treatments and six years later, he has been declared cancer-free, Goodwin says.
In 2010, Goodwin began pushing the pencil to figure if new equipment would give the business a post-recession shot in the arm. In the end, he signed on to get 10 additional skid steer loaders to augment the aging fleet that up to that point was smaller types of tools and equipment plus the standard fare found in most party rental operations. That acquisition helped the firm exceed $1 million in revenue in 2010. “Back then, the cost of money was attractive and I found the return penciled out to be a very good investments, so we purchased quite a few pieces of equipment during that time,” he says.
The business continues to grow. “It took us better than a decade after that to reach $2 million and we are close to making $3 million in the next few years. The rental market in Denver is cyclical. We did well with equipment during COVID, but our party rentals fell off dramatically. That was the first time I analyzed how much revenue vs. expenses we were getting from party rental, and it turned out our party revenue was only nine percent of our total revenue, but 40 percent of our effort. That was when we decided to get out of the party rental business. We still have some tables, chairs and stages, but have gotten rid of linens, concession equipment, dishes and glassware. No more bounce houses, no more canopies. We thought party rental was part of our DNA, but after that exercise, we looked forward to making the big move away from party rental,” he says.
All Seasons’ customer base is slowly changing from homeowners and weekend warriors to smaller contractors and subcontractors. “DIY-ers are still an important part of our business, but we are attracting more contractors by word of mouth and through Blue Book Construction advertising,” he says.
Today’s equipment fleet features smaller aerial and scissor lifts, small excavators and skid steers, compact track loaders and various demolition tools and concrete equipment. The rental lot is less than an acre in size and at night, all equipment that’s not out on rent is rounded up and compactly stored behind locked and barricaded gates.
He uses DPL trackers to monitor equipment location. “We’ve had some issues with equipment theft, but thieves have a difficult time getting any equipment off our lot because it’s packed into a small area with no driveway or aisle for easy access. Every morning, we must unpack the lot so we can move things around,” he says.
The 12 employees in the firm are made up of three service persons, three inside sales/counter people, three full-time yard persons who also deliver equipment and the balance being seasonal help.
“We limit our equipment size to models that can be pulled with a one-ton truck on a trailer and don’t require a CDL. We simply don’t have room in the yard for larger equipment, and long term, we’d like to expand our yard area and offer larger equipment models,” he says.
Expansion plans are constantly on his mind. But having lived through enough downturns, he thinks expansion plans at this time are a bit premature. “In talking with our customers, there is too much uncertainty in their minds. They are worried about the coming election and how it will affect the economy. While the Denver market has been remarkable, we are seeing a downturn in 2024 to the tune of about seven percent decrease over 2023. Everyone is worried about a downturn and how the Fed is trying to orchestrate a soft landing. I think we have a solid foundation in the United States and especially in the Denver area, but everyone just needs a few more signs of stability to get their level of confidence back,” he says.
One of his biggest challenges is keeping up with the going rate for labor in the burgeoning Denver area. “Our labor costs went up 44 percent since 2020 while our revenue only increased 12 percent in that time. That puts pressure on margins,” he adds.
To counteract that margin pressure, he continues to search for ways to increase efficiencies in the operation. In July 2024, he’s minimized overtime, which in years past didn’t occur until the end of the year. “We’re also holding off on equipment purchases that we had on order for more than a year. Manufacturers have told me that we’re not the only ones stopping delivery on ordered equipment. It’s one way to minimize expenses until things settle down,” he says.
He’s also looked to other equipment brands. In the past, he has preferred to stick with Genie for aerial equipment and Bobcat for small excavation equipment. “We are really brand loyal, but when you’re looking at equipment orders that have no ETA, and in the last year, even the same was true for replacement parts, we had to start looking at alternatives to the brands we know and trust,” he says.
Bright outlook
Based on the past, the future looks bright with Goodwin at the helm of All Seasons Rent-All. “When my father-in-law started this business in the ’70s, he rented everything from costumes to party goods to construction equipment. He used to display a gorilla costume in front of the store to catch attention. It really became the rental center’s mascot,” he says. While All Seasons Rent-All no longer rents costumes, a gorilla statue named Havana Banana greets those passing by on the busy South Havana Street in Aurora. “It’s a key part of our logo and people find it very memorable,” Goodwin says.
This article originally appeared in the September-October 2204 issue of Pro Contractor Rentals magazine. 2024 Urbain Communications LLC. All rights reserved.
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