Rental Center: Eye on the future
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Randy Hauder (right) and his two sons, Seth (left) and Dwon (not pictured) own and operate Bloomfield Rent-All in Bloomfield, Iowa. Randy’ wife Lisa is co-owner and handles the bookkeeping. |
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Daryl Kendrick (left), is the main counter person; and Randy fills in when Seth is out on calls |
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Lead mechanic Les Boeckner and long-time employee Jim Smith tackle equipment repairs. |
Bloomfield Rent-All owner Randy Hauder finds that sticking to the basics of good customer service builds business. Here’s how he plans to stay on track.
Bloomfield Rent-All’s slogan — Helping you get the job done! — reflects its mission: To provide locals and contractors access to equipment they might not otherwise own, on a short-term, pay-as-needed basis. Within 40 miles of the Missouri border, Bloomfield Rent-All serves the tool and equipment rental needs of homeowners, DIYers and contractors primarily in the Davis County, Iowa, area. Named for the town in which it is located, Bloomfield Rent-All is owned by Hauder and his wife, Lisa.
The tool and equipment rental center opened in 2006 in a small storefront just off the town square in this community of about 2,500. The rental center’s current location, only a few blocks from the original store, was once a Ford auto dealership.
Hauder moved into the building in 2010. It sits on a nearly 1.5-acre parcel with a total of 8,762 square feet of space. The rental center uses about two-thirds of the building for its showroom and bays and rents 1,600 square feet to an outdoor power equipment dealer, Curt’s Yard’n Garden. Another 1,500 square feet is leased to Davis County Schools for its bus wash bay. A separate 3,200-square-foot warehouse on the grounds offers additional equipment storage.
In addition to Randy and Lisa, their two sons, Seth and Dwon, work in the business. “Seth works the front counter with employee Daryl Kendrick, and Dwon handles deliveries and pickups. Les Boeckner is our main mechanic, and then we have two part-time employees — Myron Danley, who is a senior in high school and studying to become an electrician and HVAC technician, and Jim Smith, who retired last year but was bored in retirement, so he’s come back to work part time in the shop,” Hauder says.
The equipment inventory is varied, ranging from small to mid-sized skid loaders, excavators, boom lifts, telehandlers, scissor lifts, post-hole diggers and stump grinders, as well as construction tools and equipment such as concrete tools, floor sanders and drywall lifts. Bloomfield Rent-All also sells concrete supplies.
The company also rents trailers, appliance dollies, sewer snakes, tillers, overseeders, heaters, dehumidifiers and fans. Party and entertainment items round out its offering but make up only a small part of total business.
“Our rental fleet is worth about $2 million across roughly 550 pieces of equipment,” Hauder says. “Aerial platforms make up 25 percent of our rentals, skid steers and attachments are about 20 percent, mini excavators make up 13 percent and surprisingly, trailers rounded out the top five most-rented pieces at eight percent.”
However, the list of the top return-on-investment (ROI) items looks different. “Paint sprayers have the best ROI at 212 percent, and drain cleaners offer 144 percent. Plate compactors come in at 109 percent, post-hole diggers at 80 percent, jackhammers at 79 percent and generators at 69 percent,” he says.
One item that’s had disappointing acceptance is the post pounder he purchased in 2025. “We had several requests for one, but since we got it, it hasn’t been rented much. It’s new equipment customers aren’t familiar with. Most don’t know we have it. We need to build awareness,” he says.
The company doesn’t just rent equipment; it also offers delivery and repair services and manages operator certifications for heavy equipment when needed. “We have a large Amish community here, and they rent a lot of equipment,” Hauder says. “They often travel 100 miles to a job site, so they’ll rent equipment from us. This is a very agricultural area, and these crews often work on farm buildings or other sites that don’t yet have electrical service. They rent a generator, or if they need to sand a floor, they rent a sander and generator from us for that job.”
Attachments play an important role. “About half of the skid steers are rented with an attachment,” he says. “Sometimes customers will call for a certain attachment, and if we don’t have it or it’s not available, they’re not going to rent the skid steer. Post-hole diggers and brush cutters are popular attachments.”
Looking to the future
While business growth has been fairly flat over the life of the business, Hauder says the company has seen consistent increases overall. “We’ve been seeing about two percent growth year to year, except in 2021 and 2022, when we saw a 20 percent increase in sales,” he says. He believes that was partly due to equipment scarcity coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We had to really watch when we sold equipment. We couldn’t just go back and look at what we paid — we had to look closely at what it cost to replace it. Prices went up so much you could almost sell equipment for what you paid for it. The challenge was figuring out how long it would take to get a replacement. I didn’t want to sell it if I couldn’t replace it. It’s better now. I recently ordered some Skyjack scissor lifts, and they said they could ship them within a week. But prices are staying high,” he says.
Equipment selection is becoming more important to customers. “It’s going to take more diligence on our part to make sure the right machine goes out with the right attachment. There’s a big opportunity to rent more attachments as customers learn what they can do. It’ll take more customer education going forward to make sure we get them the right tool for the job,” he says.
Hauder says the secret to success in the rental business is no secret at all — it comes down to doing the basics well and doing them consistently. “Whenever we’ve ignored that, it’s come back to bite us. We give consideration to customers when issues arise that are beyond their control, and we accommodate them. Sure, we could choose to charge full rate, but we want customers who feel taken care of, not taken advantage of.”
Long term, Hauder envisions his sons taking over the business. “Seth recently asked me what we can do to grow the business. I think there’s room for growth, even in this rural area. Our biggest opportunity is to listen to what our customers want and deliver it. If we keep a consistently positive focus on our employees, cash flow and business stability, we’ll be successful,” he says.
This article appeared in the January-February 2026 issue of Pro Contractor Rentals magazine. ©2026 Urbain Communications LLC. All rights reserved.
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