Since its founding in 2005, Louisiana-based Bottom Line Equipment has been driven by its mission “to build better communities by raising the standards of quality and safety for all” and core values that center around a “Make it Happen” attitude.
“It is why we do what we do,” says Kurt Degueyter, owner and founder. “That was our calling when we first opened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit. We wanted to help our state and neighbors recover. The bigger we get in terms of our team, fleet size and number of service centers only increases our capacity to respond. It is about helping communities get back on their feet.”
That mission, or purpose, as Degueyter notes, is fueled around six core values:
“Make it Happen: Exhibits a can-do attitude, reliable, tackles problems head on, problem-solver, results-driven attitude.
“Do the Right Thing: Exhibits honesty and integrity, always doing what’s best in any situation, no matter the cost.
“Work Hard, Smart, Safe: Safety-conscious, using the resources we have in our toolbox to drive efficiencies. We are a service business, so long hours and weekend work schedules are part of our routine.
“We Care: About our team members, our customers and our vendors.
“Be the Best: One team, one fleet, one standard, sharing a vision with multiple service centers. We are never satisfied with the status quo. The walls in our service centers are filled with plaques and trophies where the company has been recognized for our achievements.
“Own It: Developing a mindset of personal accountability, owning your actions, taking Initiative and no excuses.”
“Those core values are shared by our team. Our team members see them in us and they hold that same value. That is the common bond. That is what attracted us to our team members and them to us,” Degueyter says.
It all started 16 years ago. After working for years at his father’s Louisiana equipment dealership, which had branched out into rental, Degueyter wanted to determine his own destiny.
However, he wasn’t sure what direction he wanted to take. He took some time off and then started Bottom Line Equipment “as a little LLC. I created a website and started brokering equipment and buying and selling used equipment. It was a way to feed my family, put money in the bank and decide what way I wanted to go,” he says.
Then Hurricane Katrina hit. That changed everything.
“It hit just a little more than 30 days after I formed the company. It’s funny. It didn’t even rain in Lafayette the day that Katrina was devastating the Gulf Coast,” he says.
Seeing the devastation and recognizing the massive need for equipment to clean up the debris, Degueyter knew he had to help.
“I took out a home equity line, tapped out our 401k, grabbed every little bit of capital I could get my hands on and started buying specialty attachments that I knew were highly utilized in natural disaster cleanups. Three days after Katrina, I went to New Orleans, looking for a location to set up this startup. I ended up in an old Shell station in St. Rose, La., which had been closed prior to Katrina that was right in the center of equipment row. There were a dozen or more established equipment and rental companies on that street within a few blocks of each other. Within 30 days of Katrina, we moved in,” he says.
Beginning a startup in a very competitive field, knowing that he was undercapitalized, was a bold move. It was the first of many such moves Degueyter took — all centered on anticipating the next need in the market and being determined to address it.
“What we have done a really good job at since the beginning is adapt to the market and build our fleet to cater to the type of demand that was coming. When we saw the next wave of work that was coming, we added to our fleet and adapted to that need,” he says.
After the initial focus on debris-removal equipment, Degueyter expanded to demolition tools and attachments — anything to do with the demolition recovery efforts.
Degueyter was in the thick of the Corps of Engineers’ rebuilding of the levee systems in Louisiana between 2008-2010. “That was the largest civil works project in the history of the United States,” he says, adding that his company “grew substantially overnight.”
In 2010, Degueyter was thrilled that his company was doing so well, but he realized his customer base was too concentrated. Most were working on federally funded Corps of Engineers projects.
“Our concern was if there would be a change or delay in funding. We had built up to 300 or 400 machines by that time. We wanted to diversify our customer base, but we didn’t have capital to do that,” he says.
The solution was to focus on another segment of the industry that needed the same type of equipment. The energy segment was the perfect transition, specifically pipelines for oil and gas.
“We expanded geographically because of energy infrastructure contractors. The pipeline might start in Louisiana but end in Houston,” Degueyter says. “We supported these customers throughout the course of a project. In early 2012, we were delivering equipment to a pipeline project in the Lake Charles, La., market. Local people in the rental industry started noticing the quality of our equipment and contacted me to see whether we thought of opening a store in that market. That is how we opened our store in Sulphur, La., in May 2012.”
The next opportunity was in the industrial market — inside chemical plants and oil and gas refineries. All of the products being shipped via the pipelines almost always ended up in an industrial plant.
That effort resulted in a lot of work in Texas, so he opened a service center in Baytown during January 2013.
In 2014, while still working in the gas station in St. Rose, he broke ground on the same location, building a state-of-the-art facility and then tore down the old gas station when the new facility was complete.
So it went. In 2016, Degueyter opened a service center in Baton Rouge, La. In 2017, the Beaumont, Texas, operation opened. In 2019, the Corpus Christi, Texas, operation began.
In 2020, after outgrowing all the other administrative office locations, he opened a service center/administrative office in Broussard, La., just outside of his hometown of Lafayette.
Even with seven locations, Degueyter says he is not ready to stop growing. “We have a vision. We want to double the company again in the next five years,” he says.
Degueyter attributes the growth to his team of 180 people, which includes his wife, daughter and son-in-law. “The business is what it is because of our team. At every new location, it started with the people who could grow the business and help us enter the market. This business is all about our people,” he says.
He also makes a habit of turning over his fleet every 42 months. “With average fleet age of 26 months, we can ensure we are offering the newest equipment possible,” Degueyter says. The combination of having the right people, the newest equipment tailored specifically to the job needs and the ability to look ahead and adapt to whatever comes their way has been a winning strategy for Degueyter and his team.
“We have a vision of where we want to go and a path forward, but there are always unknowns. We remain flexible and have the ability to call audibles like in football when the quarterback sees something and calls for a change in the planned play. We call audibles when necessary, which allows us to continue to adapt, learn and move forward in the best way to take care of our people, their families and the communities we serve,” he says.