It's a story that has been played out hundreds of times in just about every rental market in the United States and Canada. The owner of a well-run independent rental center sells his business to a consolidator and becomes a regional or branch manager for the big company.

While the names, faces and places change, the story line stays the same. Every once in awhile, however, man bites dog.

Such is the case with Tom Nickell. Last year, the 45-year-old rental veteran left his post as the Atlanta-area manager for the Rental 1 chain to start an independent rental business in suburban Newnan, Ga., about 30 miles southwest of metro Atlanta. Many would view it as a step down, but, in Nickell's estimation, it makes perfect sense.

"I became dissatisfied with the corporate side of this business, especially the way they are handling this consolidation," Nickell explains, as two cold hamburgers sit uneaten on his desk, victims of yet another delayed lunch by a busy entrepreneur.

By focusing on increasing market share with lower rates on big-ticket equipment, the consolidators miss the point, he says. In October 1998, Nickell Equipment Rental & Sales opened for business in a remodeled nursery, ready to take advantage of some of the opportunities the big boys are missing.

"When I call on jobsites, a lot of times I do it as a secondary supplier," says Nickell. "I come right out and tell the customers, 'I am here in case Hertz or Prime or RSC can't supply you. I am right down the street and I can get it to you fast.' It is amazing how much business you can get just by stopping by a jobsite.

"Consolidation has changed the business. Independents used to be able to sit back and have a pretty good business just by taking care of the customers that came to them. You have to go out and get the customer now."

The concept of taking the big companies' leftovers is often termed bottom-feeding. Nickell calls it relationship-building, and it is theessence, he says, of the rental business.

The idea is to prove to the customer that Nickell and his three-man staff are a knowledgeable equipment source and a valuable resource for any contractor that cares to pick up the phone. Once that type of relationship is established, the business will follow.

"The consolidators have a hard time maintaining those kind of relationships," Nickell says. "Several years ago [at Rental 1], a customer came right out and told me, 'Every time I go into one of your stores, there is a different manager than the time before.' A lot of people out there prefer to do business with the same face each day."

Nickell assembled a basic package of light construction equipment and hand tools to go after small and mid-size contractor and homeowner business. Nickell has a few small industrial accounts, although no piece in the inventory is big enough to require a commercial driver's license to be delivered, saving the overhead of a tractor-trailer, insurance and a driver.

"The big companies deal in big equipment and have to have the big trucks and specially licensed drivers. Those kind of expenses hardly make it worth their time to take a concrete saw down to a jobsite," Nickell says.

"Most of the big companies have done a good job handling larger equipment, but they are already struggling trying to deal with smaller equipment. Very soon, I think, they will start streamlining back to renting only the bigger stuff."

As a small company, Nickell feels he has an advantage serving contractors in the short-term market. "I don't know if there is any other business where so many things could fall through the cracks, from calling and placing the order to getting it input correctly into the computer, to testing the equipment before it goes out, to giving the right directions to the driver, to physically delivering the equipment," he says. "With big companies trying to get equipment to three or four places on the same truck, it doesn't take but one thing to go wrong and their whole schedule is behind."

Don't misunderstand Nickell's enthusiasm for naivete. He is cognizant that the $600,000 in business he is hoping for in the company's first 12 months won't even register on the consolidators' radar screens. And he doesn't argue that loyal customers are hard-pressed to ignore some of the discounted rates offered by better-capitalized big players with more iron to move.

Nickell knows that to compete with the late-model inventory offered by consolidators, independents are going to have to turn over equipment more often than in the past. To do so, he uses technology, available at comparatively cheap prices versus years ago. Nickell Equipment is a fully computerized operation, which allows for easy, reliable monitoring of equipment usage and return on investment.

Another technological advantage is direct-connection cellular phones/radios, which allow Nickell to spend almost half his day visiting jobsites rather than chained to his desk.

"Fifteen years ago, when I was managing my father-in-law's rental store, I was uncomfortable leaving the store because if something came up, I felt as if I was missing an opportunity," he says. "Now, I can be connected instantaneously. If someone has a question, I can answer it right away."

By putting the customer first - not shareholders, bankers or other interests - Nickell believes his business and others like his can succeed in today's competitive market. It is the same customer-friendly business philosophy his in-laws, Wayne and Sue Stringer, used while growing the family's Jacksonville, Fla., rental center in the early 1980s.

"We have a can-do philosophy," Tom Nickell says. "If a customer calls with an unusual request, it becomes a challenge for us. That's the way my people approach it."

"Several years ago [at Rental 1], a customer came right out and told me, 'Every time I go into one of your stores, there is a different manager than the time before.' A lot of people out there prefer to do business with the same face each day."

Jim Bruner was in danger of breaking a promise and losing a customer. In business for only a year, he had guaranteed a nearby client that he could deliver any tool within 20 minutes.

On this particular day, his delivery truck was way across town when he received a call for an electric jackhammer from Ryland Homes, one of Cincinnati's largest home-building firms. Bruner could have put the jackhammer into his car and just driven it over, but his help was out sick and he was all alone at the counter with customers in the store.

So Bruner called a taxi. When the driver arrived, he told Bruner there would be a $3 delivery charge in addition to the fare. Bruner gave the driver an extra $10 and told him to make sure he got it there on time. He did, and the contractor spread the story all over town.

"I got more mileage out of that $10 bill than any advertising I ever did," Bruner says. The word-of-mouth helped establish Bruner's reputation as a reliable operator who keeps his word and delivers the goods when he says he will.

In business since 1991 in a small location in a shopping center, with only 2,000 square feet inside and 2,000 square feet outside, word-of-mouth and contacts have been key components to Bruner's ability to grow his small rental company.

Jim Bruner joined Cincy Tool Rentals, then owned by his father, George, in 1981, after having owned a restaurant for 15 years. During those years in the restaurant business, Bruner learned about the food industry and developed contacts with caterers and other professionals in that field. During his years at Cincy Tool, he differed with his father and his brothers Bob and Don, who now run that business, because he was interested in providing party and catering services along with tool rentals. Eventually, he made the decision to go into business for himself.

Although he rents generators, pumps, jackhammers, pressure washers and other general tool items, Bruner's All American Rental Center now specializes in big tent rentals for corporate events. Bruner provides tenting for functions such as pre-game parties at Cincinnati Bengals and University of Cincinnati football games as well as events at Xavier, Miami and Northern Kentucky universities.

Bruner also rents tents for events for a number of corporate clients, including Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati's largest employer. Bruner, who worked for that company as a salesman in the paper division for five years after college, got the account almost by accident.

"They called for something obscure and we had it," Bruner says. "I said to the person on the phone, 'I'll give you a good price because I'm an ex-P&G guy.' About two days later, I get a call from somebody in a different office and the guy says, 'Are you Jim, the Procter & Gamble guy? We want to start doing business with you as a preferred vendor.' We started doing 30-by-60-foot tents about every other week."

Bruner also used his status as a University of Cincinnati grad to develop his tent business with his alma mater. A regular contributor to alumni fund drives, Bruner told a telephone marketer that he would no longer contribute to the drives because he was shut out on the bidding for tenting at football games. The word got around and soon Bruner was offered a chance to bid and got the contract.

Although its tool inventory is limited by lack of space, All-American supplies a half-dozen of the area's largest homebuilders as well as corporate clients, and has a strong homeowner clientele as well. In addition to renting heaters - during the snowstorms last month, All American had more than 120 heaters out at a time - Bruner sells large quantities of propane, for heaters in the winters and barbecues in the summer. A solid cash business that generates about 15 percent of the company's gross, propane refills also bring walk-in clientele into the store.

Starting his business with about $50,000 of capital from the sale of his restaurant, Bruner got a break when U-Haul, divesting itself of involvement in tool and equipment rentals, held a massive tool auction in Canton, Ohio, several hours away. Bruner bought "$80,000 worth of tools for about $2,000," he recalls.

He also owes his beginning to a couple of vendors, MTA Distributors and M.J. Miller & Associates, who gave him lines of credit. "The combination of finding the right people who were going to give me those credit lines and that sale [set me up in business]."

One of his biggest problems is his small location. "I've lost a lot of rentals because I don't have the space for the equipment," Bruner says. A primary goal is to find a new location on a main street that would give him more street visibility and several times the space he has. Additional square footage would also give him a chance to supplement his business with storage containers.

But becoming a lot bigger is not a Bruner goal.

"There will always be a market for businesses of this size," says Bruner. "Ideally, you get your best return on investment if you're between a half- million and $750,000 and that's where I want to stay, within that market."

Newnan, Ga. Owner: Tom Nickell.

Founded: 1998.

Locations: One.

Employees: Four.

Annual revenue: Projected at $600,000.

Customer breakdown: Mostly light contractor and homeowner equipment.