“Customers would call our father or our grandfather, our phone number was always listed or they'd have our notepads and calendars and our home phone number was always on it.”

Eventually the Stecklein brothers convinced their father that it was necessary to develop a phone-answering system that went beyond his house, so that customers could be taken care of by any employee, not just the immediate family. The company offers 24-hour service and the off-hours system is always taken care of by a Washington Air employee, not a call center. But the Stecklein family attitude of answering the phone at home never went away and always remained part of the spirit with which Washington Air approaches customers.

“The difference between us and some of the other companies is when you call the number, it's a Washington Air employee that answers the phone, it's not a call center,” says Bowling. “There's a rotation of people who are going to take that call and they have a team of drivers, mechanics and managers that are going to execute whatever it is that needs to be done.”

Family continuity has provided stability in other areas such as banking. “We're only on our third bank today,” says Steve. “We've been in business 77 years and we've only dealt with three banks.”

A dealer's hand

Washington Air Compressor serves as a dealer for most of the lines it rents, a capability enhanced by its strong service department. When Schramm didn't keep up with its competition and the Steckleins began looking at different air compressors, it eventually established a relationship with Ingersoll Rand that lasted decades. Today Washington Air is a dealer for several dozen lines including Bull Dog Power Products, Dri-Eaz, General Equipment, Edco, Genie, Dynapac, Honda, Kent Demolition Equipment, Mi-T-M pressure washers, Stone, Takeuchi, Vulcan, Wacker and Tsurumi. With the new Gehl line, Washington Air Compressor is selling and renting a large volume of Gehl forklifts and skid-steer loaders.

Bowling, who joined Washington Air after stints with Sunbelt Rentals and a Bobcat dealership, has seen the pure rental side of the business as well as the dealership side and is confident Washington Air has the right stuff to do both.

“We're a true dealer,” says Bowling. “We stock parts, we stock consumables and we have the ability to do the repairs. We're warranty dealers from top to bottom, we're not just a product seller. When we make a relationship with a manufacturer, we don't want to get into a situation where we put our customer's fate into the hands of somebody else. We're going to support the product and we can go to the customer and say ‘it's on us.’ ”

“We expect the manufacturer to understand that we are going to do the best job we can for them in our market,” adds Steve. “We relay that commitment to our customers. To us, that's the right chain and we don't want any broken links.”

Still, ultimately, it is rental that drives the Washington Air Compressor growth to which the Steckleins are deeply committed, with plans to deepen the company's penetration into the Washington area as well as expanding to points beyond. While not wishing to elaborate on the details, Steve says the company has an expansion plan to expand the company's services as well as geographic reach.

The company's management, meanwhile, is searching for ways to take customer service to a higher level. Bowling points out that people in the rental industry typically say that good service is being on time, providing equipment that works and resolving problems and breakdowns in a reasonable time. “But that's what we're supposed to do,” he says. “We need to go beyond that. If a machine fails, we need to ask, ‘Why did it fail?’ Are we doing something wrong?”

The answer might not be answered immediately but Washington Air Compressor Rental Co. gives every indication of being a company not only looking to get bigger, but to perform at a higher level. Another key is the lack of ego in the company, with the focus of all activity being the customer. “That's who we all really work for,” Bowling says. “They don't work for me or anybody specific in management, because we're not spending money, we're not renting equipment. We all just work for the customer.”