It started as a side job for Dan Rogers, Buffalo, Wyo. He was buying and then selling used equipment such as skid steers, mini excavators and tractors to area farmers and ranchers while spending his days managing a ranch for a family.
When his side job kept expanding and people were asking whether he would rent the equipment he owned, Rogers and his wife, Theresa, knew they were onto something and decided to first open Rocky Mountain Equipment Brokers in 1991 and then opened Rocky Mountain Equipment & Rental — a full-fledged rental operation in 2008.
“We had been doing all of this out of our home. When we incorporated it as a real business, we started renting buildings in town. We have now outgrown three buildings. We are in our fourth location now. We have two buildings on our site — a total of 8,000 sq. ft. — with our equipment warehouse and shop storefront in one building and our small equipment, including our lawn care equipment, in the other building,” Dan says.
Owning a rental operation was a pretty natural transition, Dan and Theresa say.
“I am mechanically inclined. I grew up in a shop. My dad was a Kubota tractor dealer back in the 1970s, so this is second nature to me. I also love equipment. Every time a truck pulls in with new equipment, it is like Christmas. I’ve always been that way. I like to operate all of this equipment,” Dan says.
“This is not a job for him. You know what they say, ‘boys and their toys,’” Theresa laughs.
All kidding aside, they have found their calling, with Dan handling the operational end and Theresa handling the office and administrative side. They still can’t believe how much their operation has grown over the years.
“We are in a very small-populated area. We have only 8,800 people in our county and only 480,000 people in our entire state, but construction is booming. We are having an influx of West Coast people moving here. It is the last frontier — the last place in the country other than Alaska where we have a low population and beautiful landscapes. We keep growing. We never thought we would have grown to where we now have 17 employees. When we first started, the closest rental stores were miles from us. One was about 70 miles away and the other was about 30 miles away. That has changed. We now have a rental store about 300 yds. from us,” Dan says.
Even with increased competition, their rental operation, which caters to contractors, farmers, ranchers and homeowners, has developed a loyal customer base.
“We have longtime customers,” Dan says. “Customer satisfaction is our No. 1 goal. We want to make sure that everyone who comes through our door is happy. If there is a problem, we want to make it right. If there is an equipment failure, we will replace it as 100 percent customer satisfaction is our goal.”
“Our customers know that if we don’t have it, Dan will get it for them,” Theresa adds.
“That has pushed us to grow. If somebody comes in and asks us for something a few times, we will just add it to our fleet,” Dan says.
Grateful for the support their business has received from the community, they are determined to give back.
“We try to give back. When we had frigid temperatures for that long stint this year, we put an ad on Facebook that said anyone who had frozen pipes could contact us and rent a heater from us for free,” Theresa
says, adding that “we offered a similar promotion with water pumps during the flood.”
They also provided two days of free training to their staff, customers and even those who have not used their services.
“We hired an outside educator. We put on a forklift and aerial lift school free of charge to our employees and customers. We even opened it up to noncustomers. We wanted to do our due diligence to educate people. We rented a room at the Hampton Inn in town, fed and trained everyone. It was quite expensive for us to do, but we thought it was necessary to enhance safety knowledge for everyone involved,” Dan says.
There have been challenges along the way. The most pressing issues of late have been the difficulty of finding qualified employees to add to their workforce and accessing new equipment in a timely fashion.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is one factor that has put strains on the equipment supply chain.
“Our biggest challenge now is equipment shortages — trying to get new skid steers and mini excavators. The wait time is six to eight months. The supply chain is challenged. We have ordered equipment and now we are waiting for it to come,” Dan says. “As a result, we won’t be selling as much of our inventory as usual. We are keeping everything in our rental fleet, even adding some used equipment.”
That is the only negative they have felt from the pandemic. Whereas those on the party and event rental side were scrambling to stay afloat, “we had our best year ever,” Dan says. “Homeowners were doing projects. We were considered essential, so we didn’t shut down.”
Looking back, neither regrets moving into rental.
“I love the business, the equipment, and I love dealing with the people — seeing their projects from start to finish. It’s great,” Dan says. “We just want to continue to listen to our customers, grow and fulfill their equipment needs. We want to continue to have satisfied customers.”
Joining the ARA was the right move for this business
Dan and Theresa Rogers, co-owners, Rocky Mountain Equipment & Rental, Buffalo, Wyo., say joining the American Rental Association (ARA) was and remains a boon to their rental business.
“We were originally working with a local insurance company and they couldn’t do an umbrella coverage for us,” Theresa says. “One of the insurance agents told us about ARA and ARA Insurance. The ability to get all our insurance in one area, to help advertise for us, to help us train employees and let us know what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong has been so beneficial.”
“I want to say ARA has been a saving grace for our business,” Dan says. “The association has helped us be successful and train our employees. We went to The ARA Show™ in Las Vegas the last time it was there. We liked seeing all the new equipment, getting new ideas and seeing things we can put in our inventory, plus the ability to talk with some of our vendors and meet them in person.”