Member profile: Reitter and son step up with Steves Rental
By Brock Huffstutler
Print

Member profile: Reitter and son step up with Steves Rental

After nearly 40 years of involvement in the equipment and event rental industry spanning a broad range of roles, Steve Reitter is finally striking out on his own — with a little help from the next generation — as an independent rental owner.

On March 1, 2022, Reitter and his son, Stephen, opened Steves Rental in Millis, Mass., as co-owners.

“Stephen is the service manager. I'm running the front and he's running the back. Our phone number is 508-2STEVES,” Steve says.

“Opening a store is wicked exciting,” Stephen says. “We have all new equipment, which is a huge plus. We’re also fortunate to have good relationships with our neighbor rental stores.”

Steves Rental serves as a general rental center, with offerings ranging from skid steers, boom lifts and excavators to carpet cleaners, chain saws, wood chippers, yard and garden equipment, and tables and chairs. “All the mainstays,” Steve says. “Our market is Millis and our surrounding towns, and our niche is the one-to-three-day rentals.”

As he launches Steves Rental during a moment in the industry in which equipment and parts are hard to come by, Steve is quick to acknowledge the important role independent sales representatives have played in his own startup and across the industry at large.

“There are an awful lot of great sales reps out there helping us to make effective decisions to give us the equipment we need on a timely basis,” he says. “I do appreciate them. They're taking a hit on their income by servicing people while not selling them anything, because there's nothing to sell.”

Steve’s new journey is the culmination of the rental experience he has collected since joining the staff of a Taylor Rental location during a hiatus from college in 1983.

“I decided to take a year off from college and went out to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation [South Dakota]. I was out there for almost a year and when I came back, it wasn't time to start school yet, so I decided to find a job. I ended up at a Taylor Rental as a utility person. I continued to do that while I was going to college,” Steve says.

When he graduated with a degree in economics with a concentration in business and finance, Steve was planning to go into the financial planning field. His career preparations involved conversations with Taylor Rental managers to gain business insights, but those discussions instead started him on the path to rental as a long-term career move.

“One of the Taylor Rental managers told me that another location was looking for a manager. I said, ‘A lead is a lead.’ So, I talked to them the next day and had a job offer. I started running a Taylor Rental in Worcester and it was one of the owner’s two stores. Two years later, I was running both of his stores,” Steve says.

Steve’s career in rental continued to evolve in the ensuing decades through segment-focus shifts and with other employers. In the meantime, he became a recognized leader in the industry through his involvement in American Rental Association (ARA) roles at both the state and national levels. “I value ARA, and now that rental is going to be Stephen’s career, he's got to learn what he needs to learn and know who he needs to know. ARA is the best way to do all of that,” Steve says.

Over the years, Steve has served on the ARA of Massachusetts board of directors in a variety of roles, including a term as president. He also has served on the ARA national board as Region One director, and has represented rental operators in Massachusetts in Washington, D.C., as part of ARA’s National Legislative Caucus. In recognition of his service, Steve has received the ARA Region One Person of the Year Award and the Meritorious Service Award.

Establishing his own rental business had been in Steve’s mind for years, but he never found a property that was the perfect fit for his vision. Just as he was about to pull up stakes and relocate to Utah to run a new location a rental friend was opening, one last spin around the hometown yielded a revelation.

“I had done rental so long for other people, I felt like I should do it for myself. I looked for over 10 years for a place of my own. Then, I was going to take over a friend of mine’s third location in Utah. The day I was going to give him a final ‘Yes,’ I went out and drove around one more time and came upon the perfect building. It's ideal. If I could write my ideal demographics, they would not have been as perfect as this location,” Steve says, adding that he is doubly grateful for coming across the property because “Utah is pretty to visit, but I could not live there. I didn't realize how much of a New Englander I am until I spent 10 days out there.”

The Reitters are now ready to leverage their combined experience and expertise to make Steves Rental a hit, and they’re confident they have the right ingredients.

“First, it's a rental desert here,” Steve says. “The nearest competitor is six miles away and here, six miles is a 15 or so minute drive, so that's a big advantage right there. The fact that we're all new, yet we have experience, and the fact that all our equipment will be brand new — I think that's going to be a big help. My background and experience will be a big plus, and Stephen has worked for me for the last four years at my former company. I didn't know how he was going to work out as an employee at first, but I was really impressed with him. If I could clone him, I would.”

“Getting things up and running has been a bit of a challenge because we needed to get a special permit, and there weren't enough members present at the meeting for a quorum. That set us back a month, and then there have been supply chain issues. But I think we've done a great job getting in the equipment needed to open and we know more will be here in the coming months,” Stephen says.

Brock Huffstutler

Brock HuffstutlerBrock Huffstutler

Brock Huffstutler is the regional news editor for Rental Management. He writes and edits articles for ARA’s In Your Region quarterly regional newsletters, Rental Management, Rental Pulse and other special projects. Outside of work, he enjoys biking and spending time at the few remaining vintage record stores in the region.

Other articles by Brock Huffstutler
Contact author

Contact author

x

Don’t miss the latest news from the equipment and event rental industry. Click here to subscribe to In Your Region. Also, be sure to sign up for a free subscription to Rental Pulse and Rental Management magazine.

 


An official publication of the American Rental Association.
Produced by Rental Management. Copyright © 2022 Rental Management all rights reserved