RER 100: Top Rental Equipment Companies of 2014

2014 RANKCompany Name (Last year's rank) / Headquarters / Top Officer / Website2014 Rental Volume in Millions2014 Total Volume in MillionsTotal Number of Outlets Editorial Comments 1 UNITED RENTALS (1)

Stamford, Conn.
Michael Kneeland
www.ur.com $4,819.0 $5,685.0 888 Continues to improve operational efficiency. Raised rental rates 4.5 percent. Had the fewest number of recordable injuries in its history; ninth straight year of safety improvement. Acquisition of National Pump moved the needle in pump market. Expects softness in oil-and-gas markets to be offset by strength in other areas and being able to move assets around. National account revenue grew more than 18 percent. Power and HVAC posted 27 percent same-store growth and 61-percent increase in revenue overall. Plans 18 new specialty branches in ’15. Nearly 15-percent rental volume leap.  2 SUNBELT RENTALS (2)

Fort Mill, S.C.
Brendan Horgan
www.sunbeltrentals.com $2,317.0 $2,540.0 504 A 25.7-percent rental volume surge for Sunbelt. Active in acquisitions: acquired Rentalex in Kalamazoo, Mich.; Wilson Rental Center in Corning, N.Y.; and RER 100 listee Theros Equipment in 2014. Entered Canadian market with GWG Rentals, a 6-location company in western Canada; bought Ventura Rental Center in California, and Hebbronville Lone Star, an 8-location operation in Texas oil region. 3 HERTZ EQUIPMENT RENTAL CORP. (3)

Naples, Fla.
Larry Silber
www.hertzequip.com $1,340.0* $1,468.0* 261 Hertz seems to have weathered last year’s accounting issues that led to postponement of stating results, the ouster of company CEO Mark Frissora, and board power struggles. HERC opened branches in Great Falls, its first in Montana, and Sanford, Fla., and grew internationally. Established dedicated used equipment sales location and an extended service plan for used equipment sales. Company could be vulnerable with about 25 percent of its equipment rental revenue in oil-and-gas market, 15 percent of that generated from upstream exploration. Pursuing growth in non-residential and manufacturing sectors. (Listed revenue applies to North America only). 4 HOME DEPOT RENTALS (4)

Atlanta
Tony English
www.homedepotrents.com $553.0  n/a 1,270 Earned record revenue and profit levels with 15-percent revenue and 31-percent operating profit growth with 9-percent hike in rental transactions. Refined fleet, product and used equipment sales management practices yielded the highest ROIC in business’ 19-year history. Keen focus on attracting more customers via a substantially improved HD Tool Rental website, external and in-store marketing, and better integration with HD Pro resources. Compact Power Equipment Rental program expanded to include towable equipment delivery and scissorlift rentals in a growing number of markets across the country. 5 BLUELINE RENTAL (5)

The Woodlands, Texas
Phil Hobson
www.bluelinerental.com $515.7 $641.3 137 A 21.3-percent rental volume hike. Headquarters moved to Texas. Former RSC executive Hobson came in as CEO, brought several former RSC staffers with him. Made three key acquisitions: Area Rentals, based in Chesapeake, Va.; JustRuss Rental in Alabama and a big purchase with Trico Lift, aerial player with $46 million in rental volume in 2013, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Texas. 6 AGGREKO NORTH AMERICA (6)

Houston
Asterios Satrazemis, president, Americas;
Bruce Pool, North America managing director
www.aggreko.com $436.8 $571.9 71 Another double-digit rental volume leap for world’s leading power-generation and temperature-control rental player. Opened branches in Carlsbad, N.M.; Salt Lake City; Anchorage and Quebec City. Expanded natural gas product line offering and grew remote operations staffing and capability. Powered Super Bowl for 25th consecutive year, NCAA men’s basketball Final Four for eighth year and powered and cooled 2014 PGA championship in Louisville. Launched multi-megawatt power project division in Mexico to support customers in utilities, oil and gas and mining industries. 7 H&E EQUIPMENT SERVICES (8)

Baton Rouge, La.
John Engquist
www.he-equipment.com $404.1 $1,090.4 70 A 19.2-percent rental volume hike. Momentum in non-residential construction and industrial expansion in Louisiana and Texas helped to power H&E’s growth. Oil and gas only accounted for 13 percent of H&E’s revenue in 2014, with vast majority of equipment used in oil production rather than exploration, less sensitive to oil prices. Consolidated two Baltimore stores into larger facility. Opened crane and heavy equipment remanufacturing center in Belle Chasse, La. Opened new branch in McAllen, Texas, area. 8 AHERN RENTALS (7)

Las Vegas
Don Ahern
www.ahernrentals.com $388.1 $467.8 78 Another double-digit rental volume increase for Ahern. Recently expanded into New York and Washington, D.C., areas. Evan Ahern now president of Ahern Rentals as Don focuses more on Snorkel and Xtreme. 9 SUNSTATE EQUIPMENT CO. (13)

Phoenix
Chris Watts
www.sunstateequip.com $380.0* $400.0* 58 Estimated greater than 25-percent rental volume growth. Chris Watts, son of founder and chairman Mike Watts, takes over as CEO as long-time Sunstate executive Benno Jurgemeyer retires. Became IPAF training center. Opened four new branches. 10 NEFF RENTAL (12)

Miami
Graham Hood
www.neffcorp.com $324.1 $372.0 64 15.3-percent rental volume boost in eventful year as Neff becomes public company.  Opened branch in Baltimore. Named Westley Parks chief operating officer. Neff differs from other national companies in that its fleet is focused on earthmoving more than aerials. Expects to grow organically, growing the fleet in a measured way, wants to invest in fleet conservatively to meet customer demand, improve key metrics of rental rates and time utilization. 11 NES RENTALS (11)

Chicago
Andrew Studdert
www.nesrentals.com $320.0 $350.0 76 Double-digit rental volume increase for national multi-regional aerial-focused NES. Had record EBITDA and utilization. Reached all-time high of 76-percent utilization in third quarter of 2014, with a record weekly high of 77 percent. Growth in non-residential construction will be good for NES. Redesigned website. Studdert honored by Human Resources Management Association of Chicago as “Leader of the Year” for creating a people-centered work environment and culture of safety. 12 MAXIM CRANE RENTAL CORP. (13)

Bridgeville, Pa.

 

Bryan Carlisle
www.maximcrane.com $305.0* n/a 29 Began work on Freemont Tower in San Francisco, to be one of the tallest buildings in California. Frank Bardonaro Jr., president of sales for Maxim Crane, established scholarship in the name of his father, Frank Sr., a leader and mentor to many in the crane rental business. Ideal candidate will be family member of an existing industry professional with resume in charitable activities, high grade point average, and interest in improving the lives of those in the Crane & Rigging sector. 13 FINNING (10)

Edmonton, Alberta
Gord McDougall
www.finning.ca $261.0 $3,634.0 31 Rental drops but total revenue and profitability increases for Finning. (Only Canada revenue is listed.) Mining and construction slowed, but cost reductions helped profitability. Opened new rental facility in Lloydminster, Alberta, and expanded rental centers in Dawson Creek, B.C., and Hinton, Alberta. 14 ALL FAMILY OF COMPANIES (14)

Cleveland
Michael Liptak
www.allcrane.com $260.0* n/a 34 Continues to add to growing fleet with wide-ranging purchases of cranes and telehandlers. Trucking division honored for outstanding safety record, receiving Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association zero-accidents award. 15 TNT CRANE & RIGGING (16)

Houston
Mike Appling
www.tntcrane.com $229.8 $311.0 35 An 18.9-percent rental volume increase. Pro forma total revenue was $339 million including acquired companies’ full-year volume. Likely to be hit by oil-and-gas market slowdown, which was 25 percent of TNT’s business in 2014, but should be diversified enough to prosper. In July 2014 acquired Rent-A-Crane, Oklahoma City-based company strong in energy in Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle regions, and last month purchased RMS Cranes, based in Denver and bringing TNT into Rocky Mountain region. 16 AMECO (17)

Greenville, S.C.
Tracey Cook
www.ameco.com $183.4 $628.9 21 Specialist in fleet services and operations and site services. Opened new LEED-certified international headquarters, featuring collaborative work spaces and advanced technologies. 17 RING POWER (20)

Jacksonville, Fla.
Randy Ringhaver
www.ringpower.com $175.0* n/a 23 Residential going strong again for Ring Power, crane market is improving. DOT road projects on the upswing. Increased rental rates 8 percent in 2014. Ring Power also has eight facilities outside of Florida to serve the needs of other specialized industries and customers. 18 XYLEM INC. (24)

Bridgeport, N.J.
Colin Sabol
www.godwinpumps.com $160.0 n/a 44 Manufactures and rents Godwin and Flygt pump brands. Relocated Garner, N.C., facility into larger office and shop with a large yard for storage of additional inventory of pumps, pipe and accessories. Launched interactive dewatering web platform, enables customers across construction, mining, municipal and industrial segments, to research and explore pumping options, with case studies, white papers, how-to videos and manuals. 19 BATTLEFIELD EQUIPMENT RENTALS (21)

Stoney Creek, Ontario
Randy Casson
www.battlefieldequipment.ca $151.0 n/a 38 Cat Rental Store network in Ontario, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador. Major lines include Genie, Atlas Copco, Stihl, Wacker and Honda. 20 HOLT CAT (19)

San Antonio
Dave Harris
www.holtcat.com $147.4 n/a 20 New chief operating officer Harris takes over for retiring Allyn Archer, who led much of company’s growth. Opened new facilities in Edinburg, Texas, and another in Dallas-Ft. Worth area. Completed 40,000-square-foot heavy equipment service facility in San Antonio, part of $100 million plan to upgrade facilities and open full-service locations. 21 NESCO RENTALS (-)

Fort Wayne, Ind.
Lee Jacobson
www.nescorentals.com $145.0 $186.0 44 Leading equipment and service provider for utility industry, providing aerial devices, boom trucks and cranes, diggers, pressure drills, stringing gear, repair parts, tools and accessories. Acquired utility truck equipment fleet of Foley Utility Equipment last year and was itself acquired by Energy Capital Partners in February 2014. 22 BRIGGS EQUIPMENT (22)

Dallas
Mike Winemiller
www.briggsequipment.com $144.0* n/a 42 Specializing in material-handling equipment sales and rental, mostly in south and southeast, as well as Mexico and U.K. operations. 23 GROUPE LOU-TEC (-)

Anjou, Quebec
Claude Guevin
www.loutec.com $140.0 n/a 83 Quebec-based rental company, eastern Canada’s largest. Particularly strong in aerial equipment, compaction, power generation and pumps. Opened six new locations in past year. Its radio advertisements are posted on its website. Offers training programs for aerial and material handling equipment. 24 RED-D-ARC WELDERENTALS (23)

Grimsby, Ontario
Mitch Imielinski
www.red-d-arc.com $139.0* n/a 48 With welding equipment trending towards automation, Red-D-Arc has advantages as demand grows. Sells and rents welding positioners, manipulators, turning rolls and other weld automation products. Expanded presence in U.K. with acquisition of Hember Unlimited, a five-location company. 25 EQUIPMENT DEPOT (25)

Houston
Giel Claes
www.eqdepot.com $138.0* n/a 45 Strong in industrial forklifts and other material-handling equipment, as well as aerial and earthmoving machines. Big in Texas, Chicago area, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. 26 CLEVELAND BROTHERS EQUIPMENT CO. (20)

Cranberry Township, Pa.
Jay Cleveland Jr.; Tom Kirchhoff
www.clevelandbrothers.com $137.0 n/a 21 Pipeline construction strong in 2014 and should continue well in 2015, with a pickup in commercial, residential and highway construction. Well-pad construction likely to drop slightly. Respected co-owner Tom Kirchhoff Jr. died of ALS. 27 WARREN CAT (-)

Jim Nelson; Tommy Reynolds
Midland, Texas
www.warrencat.com $122.0 n/a 17 Rental volume increased 19.6 percent. Made significant investment to grow rental fleet. Built several new facilities and upgraded others. Posted record rental revenue and utilization. 28 OHIO CAT (27)

Broadview Heights, Ohio
Ken Taylor
www.ohiocat.com $115.2 n/a 10 A 20-percent rental volume hike. Oil and gas has been key segment, slowing slightly with low oil prices, but expecting it to pick up. Increasing residential, industrial and heavy highway segments of business. Opened new branch in Canton, Ohio. 29 KIRBY-SMITH MACHINERY (28)

Oklahoma City
Ed Kirby
www.kirby-smith.com $93.0 n/a 10 17.8-percent rental volume climb. Oil-and-gas markets were strong for three quarters, but slow at start of 2015. Able to reallocate assets to other branches to pursue other segments such as housing and infrastructure, which are going strong. Was recognized as best oilfield rental company in Permian Basin region in Texas. Publishes one of the industry’s finest newsletter/magazines, the Kirby-Smith Connection. 30 WAGNER RENTS (29)

Denver
Bruce Wagner
www.wagnerequipment.com $89.4* n/a 22 Another strong increase for Wagner. Opened new Yuma, Colo., store in June 2014 and started rentals out of Carlsbad, N.M., store in February 2014. 31 AMQUIP CRANE CORP. (30)

Trevose, Pa.
Al Bove
www.amquip.com $78.0* $160.0* 13 Acquired by Clearlake Capital Group, a private investment firm. Has more than 6,600 customers nationally, owns about 500 cranes. Delivered “White Lightning,” country singer George Jones’ 1954 Chevy pickup to upper floor of the George Jones Museum in Nashville, Tenn. 32 LOUISIANA RENTS (37)

Reserve, La.
Jay Dinger
www.louisianamachinery.com $76.0 n/a 9 32-percent rental volume surge for Louisiana Cat dealer. Major expansions in industrial, liquid natural gas, and oil and gas brought demand for rent-to-rent and rent-to-purchase options. Completed new location in St. Rose, La. Has become more proactive about telematics, diagnostics and customer service, trouble-shooting and preventive steps to stop equipment failure. 33 TITAN MACHINERY (36)

West Fargo, N.D.
David Meyer
www.titanmachinery.com $72.5* $1,900.0 96 Titan’s overall business, primarily agricultural dealerships, took a strong hit in 2014, with overall revenue sliding more than 30 percent because of “headwinds in the agriculture industry.” Working on its cost structure and reducing inventory. Still, its equipment rental segment grew about 7 percent. 34 SIMS CRANE & EQUIPMENT CO. (43)

Tampa, Fla.
Dean Sims
www.simscrane.com $72.0 $61.5 11 A big comeback year for Sims with a 42.6-percent rental volume increase as Florida rental market roars back on the heels of a good improvement in 2013 as well. Offers 3-D job planning, online training videos, rigging services, barricade rentals, boomlifts and forklifts as well as cranes with trained operators. 35 MUSTANG RENTAL SERVICES (37)

Houston
Brad Tucker
www.mustangcat.com $71.7 n/a 8 A 24-percent rental volume hike. Planning to open a new branch in 2015 with other expansion areas under consideration. 36 MacALLISTER MACHINERY (33)

Indianapolis
Chris MacAllister
www.macallister.com $68.0* n/a 26 Investing $44.5 million in new corporate headquarters, a 300,000-square-foot complex, tripling the size of current facility and creating 70 new jobs. 37 STEPHENSON'S RENTAL SERVICES (34)

Mississauga, Ontario
Guy Manuel
www.stephensons.ca $67.6 $86.0 22 Double-digit rental volume hike for Toronto area rental company, long-time leading player in general rentals in southern Ontario. Announced long-term partnership with Lowe’s Canada allowing Stephenson’s to open branches within various Lowe’s locations in Canada, the first of which was opened in late 2014. Also opened 85,000-square-foot facility in Greater Toronto Area to be home to aerial and heat divisions. 38 WORLDWIDE RENTAL SERVICES (38)

Aurora, Colo.
Mike Rooney
www.worldwidemachinery.com $67.1 n/a 10 Oil prices in west Texas and North Dakota not beneficial to Worldwide, doing a lot of business in those segments. Looking to expand into more markets, considering southern California. Started new division Worldwide Financial, putting together financing packages. Growing international component of the business, especially in Latin America. 39 FABICK RENTS (35)

Fenton, Mo.
Doug Fabick
www.fabickcat.com $67.0* n/a 14 Fabick will merge with Milwaukee-based Fabco Equipment with Doug Fabick and his cousin Jeré Fabick, CEO of Fabco, to serve as co-dealer principals. Deal expected to close end of June. The combined dealership will have 37 locations and cover parts of six states. Fabick Cat founded in 1917. 40 BLANCHARD RENTAL SERVICES (30)

West Columbia, S.C.
Joe Blanchard
www.blanchardmachinery.com $65.0* n/a 7 Cat Rental Store and heavy rents businesses were up double digits year over year, with improved time and financial utilization. But power rental business was down keeping total rental volume fairly flat. 41 PETERSON TRACTOR (39)

San Leandro, Calif.
Chris Smith
www.petersoncat.com $64.0* n/a 18 Covering northern California, Oregon and southwest Washington. 42 PUCKETT RENTS (42)

Richland, Miss.
Hastings Puckett
www.puckettrents.com $60.0* n/a 5 Mississippi Caterpillar dealer with strong rental program. 43 WESTERNONE RENTALS & SALES (44)

Vancouver, B.C.
Robert King
www.weq.ca $59.3 $373.9 22 A 19.6-percent rental volume hike for diversified western Canadian company working in general rental, aerial, construction heat, modular space and other areas. The infrastructure division, including equipment rental grew 18.3 percent, fueled by deployment of a larger fleet of aerial equipment. Acquired Enerbuilt Technologies, an Alberta-based company that rents flameless heaters and provides services to oil-and-gas market in Northern Alberta. 44 IMPERIAL CRANE SERVICES (56)

Bridgeview, Ill.
B.J. Bohne
www.imperialcrane.com $58.0 n/a 4 Imperial Crane recently signed a deal with Payton Power Equipment for $10.5 million in crane equipment ranging from 65-ton to 350-ton all-terrain cranes. Nicely redesigned website. 45 HEWITT RENTALS (41)

St. Laurent, Quebec
Jim Hewitt
www.locationhewitt.ca $55.4 n/a 27 Infrastructure and road demand hurt by political issues. Some projects are moving forward in Quebec, with highway interchanges and new bridges being launched in Montreal. Low oil prices could be beneficial especially with lower Canadian dollar; exports from Quebec manufacturing could benefit economy. 46 WAJAX CORP. (46)

Mississauga, Ontario
Mark Foote
www.wajax.com $53.5 $1,451.3 60 A 16-percent rental volume increase for Canadian distributor. 2015 likely to be challenging as ongoing weakness in oil and other commodity prices will negatively affect customers in mining, oil and gas and oil sands markets, which represented 28 percent of 2014 total revenue. The 52 percent of Wajax revenue derived from Western Canada will come under pressure in 2015, but company is diversified enough to prosper long term. 47 NORTH CENTRAL RENTAL & LEASING, a subsidiary of Butler Machinery Co. (36)

Fargo, N.D.
Dan Butler
www.butler-machinery.com $51.2 n/a 18 North Dakota-based division of Butler Machiner posted rental volume decline in 2014. Grew agriculture business with purchase of Henkens Equipment in Chadron, Neb., along with new Agco whole goods and parts. 48 ADMAR SUPPLY CO. (49)

Rochester, N.Y.
Joel DiMarco
www.admarsupply.com $51.1 $80.8 8 A 17.4-percent rental volume leap for perennial upstate New York rental leader with an increasing presence in Pennsylvania with branches in Erie and Wilkes-Barre. Acquired Knickerbocker Equipment in Erie. Hired municipal and industrial equipment sales rep for western New York. 49 ART'S RENTAL EQUIPMENT (53)

Newport, Ky.
Ken Arlinghaus
www.artsrental.com $50.2 $59.1 14 Grew rental volume 24.6 percent. Opened new Lexington branch, new territory for Art’s. Company serves Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana with stores in greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, northern Kentucky, Louisville, Lexington and southeast Indiana. 50 LOCATION D'OUTILS SIMPLEX (40)

Montreal
Andre Veronneau
www.simplex.ca $50.0 $60.0 35 Volume dropped in soft Quebec market. Mostly in aerial and material-handling equipment. Offers video instruction on website. 51 MABEY INC. (-)

Eldridge, Md.
Nicholas Yancich www.mabey.com $50.0 $53.0 10 Strong in excavation shoring, structural shoring, renting and erecting temporary bridges and roads, trench boxes and trench shields, and more. Provides project planning, engineering and field support. 52 ESSEX CRANE RENTAL (45)

Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Nick Matthews
www.essexcrane.com $49.7 $103.4 19 Rental and total volume increased as crane market recovering with non-residential construction picking up steam. Company retained RBC Capital to evaluate strategic alternatives. Fourth quarter was strongest of 2014, with hydraulic crawler crane utilization jumping from 56.7 percent in Q413 to 74.8 percent, while city and other tower crane utilization jumped from 32.6 to 52.3 percent. 53 FOLEY EQUIPMENT CO. (50)

Wichita, Kan.
Ann Konecny
www.foleyeq.com $48.5* n/a 15 Named as one of five winners in Wichita Business Journal’s annual Best in Business awards program. Total revenues are five times what they were a decade ago, the award said. 54 HOLT OF CALIFORNIA (62)

Pleasant Grove, Calif.
John Johnson
www.holtca.com $48.0* n/a 9 Strong comeback year for northern California Cat dealer. Multi-family housing and infrastructure work coming back in the region. 55 STAR RENTALS (51)

Seattle
Bob Kendall
www.starrentals.com $47.5 $68.0 18 Double-digit rental volume growth for Star. Opening new corporate office and implementing a new POS system from Point-of-Rental. Beginning a business relationship with JLG for the first time. Expects continued double-digit expansion in 2015 as residential construction is bringing non-residential growth along. Industrial growth, governmental and institutional has been good as well. Lower oil prices reducing operating costs. 55 SKYWORKS (57)

Buffalo, N.Y.
Jerry R. Reinhart
www.skyworksllc.com $47.5 $66.5 11 A 28-percent rental volume boost for aerial specialist Skyworks. Profits has increased. Able to secure a large line of credit to continue growth. Albany store will move to larger location, and building a new headquarters facility in Buffalo. Looking to open a new branch in southeastern U.S. 57 DELTA RIGGING & TOOLS (55)

Pearland, Texas
Harold King
www.deltarigging.com $46..0* $180.0* 14 Acquired in early 2014 by Bishop Lifting Products. One of the largest providers of wire rope, lifting and rigging products in the U.S., as well as testing, inspection and field services. Did well in 2014 but offshore side of the business could be vulnerable in 2015 if oil prices stay low. Petrochemical and refinery work should continue to prosper. 58 MILTON CATERPILLAR (52)

Milford, Mass.
Steve Macridis
www.miltoncat.com $45.0* n/a 13 Cat Rental program has formed alliances with other rental companies in New England to rent Caterpillar machines. 59 HAWTHORNE RENT-IT SERVICE (58)

San Marcos, Calif.
Mike Carcioppolo
www.hawthornecat.com $43.7* n/a 12 An 18.7-percent rental volume increase for longest-running Caterpillar rental program, as southern California construction market improves. Offering Component Plus Extended Service Coverage for on-highway truck engines for San Diego customers. 60 SMS RENTS (54)

Mississauga, Ontario
Marcel Langlois
www.smsrents.com $42.4 $52.0 16 Operating in Ontario and Quebec; opening new branch in Kingston, Ontario. 61 LIFTING GEAR HIRE CORP. (64)

Bridgeview, Ill.
Tony Fiscelli
www.lgh-usa.com $41.9 $51.1 20 Blasted through in 2014 with a 28.5-percent rental volume increase. Rental of hoisting, jacking, rigging, pulling, material handling and safety equipment. Opened 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Carlstadt, N.J.  Launched new product demonstration video on the LGH YouTube page, focusing on troubleshooting electric chain hoists. Opened California branch. 62 BOTTOM LINE EQUIPMENT (-)

St. Rose, La.
Kurt Degueyter
www.bottomlineequipment.com $41.4 $51.5 3 Founded in 2005. Degueyter previously headed another RER 100 company CLM Equipment. Second full year with service center in Baytown, Texas. Doing a lot in energy infrastructure/pipeline/industrial markets. Bottom Line expects growth in ’15, with pipeline and industrial projects such as LNG export facilities on the horizon. Large selection of excavators, dozers, loaders, backhoes, compaction equipment, and more plus attachments such as metal shears, concrete shears, hydraulic hammers, grapples and thumbs. Featured in New Orleans City Business magazine as No. 1 fastest-growing company. 63 YANCEY BROTHERS (59)

Austell, Ga.
Trey Googe
www.yanceybros.com $41.0* n/a 9 Marketing slogan is “We Built Georgia” and its customers certainly have. For more than 100 years they’ve done it well – why stop now? 64 ACME LIFT CO. (60)

Mesa, Ariz.
Woody Weld
www.acmelift.com $37.7 $49.3 1 Put together $109 million financing package to grow the company. Added 142 new units to fleet: 112 AWPs between 150 and 185 feet, and 30 large telehandlers between 12,000 and 15,000 pounds, Genie and JLG. Started 2014 slow but recovered and finished strong. Fleet positioned well, focusing on 135-, 150- and 180-foot models; has strong order books and inquiries. More disciplined in walking away from bad deals. Added eight positions in ’14 including COO Mike Crouch, and Molly Frank, director of strategic accounts. Read more about Acme: http://rermag.com/aerial-equipment/re-rentals-wild-bunch 65 GREGORY POOLE EQUIPMENT CO. (60)

Raleigh, N.C.
Gregory Poole III
www.gregorypoole.com $36.8 $452.2 16 Founded in 1951, providing sales, rental, parts and service for construction, agriculture, forestry, lift systems, marine power, on-highway transportation, compressed air and electric power generation equipment in the eastern parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. 66 PATTEN INDUSTRIES (68)

Elmhurst, Ill.
Garrett Patten
www.pattenindustries.com $36.0* n/a 5 Up around 20 percent, doing strong business in Chicago area. In addition to earthmoving inventory, Patten is a major power-generation player with generators, transfer switches, electrical switchgears, engines and more. 67 HUGG & HALL EQUIPMENT (65)

Little Rock, Ark.
John Hugg/Robert Hall
www.hugghall.com $35.7 $175.0 12 A 12.6-percent rental volume jump for Arkansas/Oklahoma forklift-rental specialist. Main product lines include Taylor, Toyota, Bobcat, Volvo, Crown, Genie, JLG, Skytrak, Skyjack. Strong in Volvo equipment including compactors, Bobcat mini-excavators and skid-steer loaders, Genie scissorlifts, JLG AWPs and telehandlers.  New $6 million South Arkansas/North Louisiana headquarters. Developing its rental model in all of Oklahoma. 68 HONNEN EQUIPMENT CO. (69)

Commerce City, Colo.
Mark Honnen
www.honnen.com $35.0 n/a 10 A 16-percent rental volume leap for Colorado’s Honnen, strong in Deere, Wirtgen and Manitowoc equipment. New 30,000-square-foot Salt Lake City facility has 22 full-service bays, indoor wash bay and parts warehouse that accommodates more than 10,000 unique parts. Acquired contract for Deere Commercial Worksite Products for Grand Junction, Colo.; Caspar and Gillette, Wyo.; and Idaho Falls. 69 SOUTHEASTERN EQUIPMENT (69)

Cambridge, Ohio
William Baker
www.southeasternequip.com $34.0 $139.0 21 Double-digit increases in rental and total revenues. Successfully opened Southeastern Rents branch in Cambridge. Rental extremely strong with large items, i.e., excavators, dozers, variable-reach machines. 69 HIGH REACH CO. (-)

Sanford, Fla.
Lance Renzalli
www.hr2fl.com $34.0 $42.0 4 An aerial specialist, handling mostly JLG and Genie AWPs and telehandlers. Completing new 40,000-square-feet facility at Sanford headquarters. In business since 1971, has branches in Sanford, Tampa, Jacksonville and Deerfield Beach. Acquired Genisys Software. 71 COWIN EQUIPMENT CO. (67)

Birmingham, Ala.
James Cowin
www.cowin.com $33.3 $100.0+ 7 Strong growth in 2014, looking at expansion opportunities in 2015. Dealer for Volvo, Case, Grove, Kobelco and others, won two major dealership awards from Volvo. Former senior VP of sales Dennis McPoland died of cancer.  72 THOMPSON PUMP (72)

Port Orange, Fla.
Chris Thompson
www.thompsonpump.com $30.4 n/a 21 For pump manufacturer Thompson surprisingly strong rental year – almost 19-percent volume jump – as well as total well north of 20 percent, which was challenging from production standpoint as company transitioned into Tier 4. Sells and rents a full line of portable dewatering pumps as well as bypass systems, wellpoint systems and a complete line of pumping accessories. Seeing more construction activity, fueled by private investment. Back in growth and expansion mode, investing in product R&D, adding new personnel, software, vehicles and rental fleet. 73 STRONGCO EQUIPMENT (66)

Mississauga, Ontario
Robert Dryburgh
www.strongco.com $30.4 $498.3 30 Small rental volume decline but increase in total revenue, especially product support in challenging Canadian economic environment. Current low oil prices, devaluation of Canadian dollar, softness in Quebec has led Strongco to cost reductions. Recent upgrades in branch network and sales organization will help improve Strongco’s market presence. 74 RENTAL ONE (74)

Fort Worth, Texas
Mike O'Neal
www.rentalonestore.com $30.0* $34.0* 8 Opened eighth branch (San Antonio) early in ’14. Grew rental 25 percent. Texas marketplace likely to be impacted by continuing softness in oil prices. Recent expansion into Central Texas is growth opportunity. 75 4-WAY EQUIPMENT RENTALS (90)

Edmonton, Alberta
Wayne Wadley
www.4-way.com $29.5 $46.8 6 Large increase reflects 4-Way’s growth along with two companies acquired by parent company Canadian Equipment Rental Fund. Acquired Empire Tool, which rents equipment used in directional drilling applications as well as Winalta, an oilfield accommodations rental business. Added 60-foot MEC scissorlifts to its lines. 76 4 RIVERS EQUIPMENT (79)

Colorado Springs, Colo.
Keith Olson
www.4riversequipment.com $29.2 n/a 14 Enjoyed a 38-percent rental volume hike in first full year under 4 Rivers name with the additional branches added during the 2013 acquisition of New Mexico Deere dealerships. Now 14 locations in Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas and Wyoming offering Deere construction, commercial worksite products and ag lines. 77 B&G EQUIPMENT & SUPPLY (80)

Birmingham, Ala.
Marty Hardin
www.bgequipmentsupply.com $27.8 $35.2 6 Nearly 32 percent rental volume upswing for diversified rental and supply company. 78 TEMP-AIR (73)

Burnsville, Minn.
Jim Korn
www.temp-air.com $27.1 n/a 14 Solid growth for HVAC rental specialist. Introduced new Temp-Cool portable cooling systems product line consisting of 1.5- to 6-ton mobile air conditioners. Supplied temporary industrial air-cooled air conditioners at the FIFA World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. 79 LEPPO GROUP (88)

Tallmadge, Ohio
William Glenn Leppo
www.leppos.com $25.7 n/a 7 53-percent rental volume growth driven equally by construction and energy sector growth but projecting 5 to 15 percent in 2015. Shale energy provided boost but should slow in ’15. 80 BERRY COMPANIES (83)

Wichita, Kan.
Walter Berry
www.berrycompaniesinc.com $25.5 $315.0 31 Big 26-percent growth in rental volume. Growth spread throughout Bobcat, forklift and heavy equipment segments. Added store in Bryan/College Station, Texas, and will add a second Dallas store later this year. After five strong years Berry expects growth to taper a bit in some markets. 81 ILLINOIS TRUCK & EQUIPMENT (85)

Morris, Ill.
Rolf Helland
www.iltruck.com $25.3 $52.4 1 Another big rental volume jump, about 31 percent. Rental rates held steady and utilization was high, attributed to tailored rental fleet and an enlarged, aggressive sales force and additional internal rental coordinators. Has more than 175 hydraulic excavators and many specialty attachments, along with custom-built application-specific equipment. Major expansion projects include increasing yard and office space, increasing fleet size. 82 AERIAL ACCESS EQUIPMENT (71)

Baton Rouge, La.
Gene Torrence
www.aae-la.com $25.2 $32.5 6 Hired industry veteran Bruce Dressel as interim part-time CEO to work on fleet upgrades. Doing a lot with JLG and Genie on rebuild programs, sending older machines for remanufacturing, bringing them back with strong warranties. Physical utilization was down over the winter, but a lot of work that had been pushed back because of bad weather and permitting is coming up.  83 STOWERS MACHINERY (82)

Knoxville, Tenn.
Wes Stowers
www.stowerscat.com $24.6 n/a 6 Return to growth along with increased construction in East Tennessee rental market, with a 17.7-percent rental volume spike. Expecting slow and steady growth in 2015. Travis Smith promoted to general sales manager.  84 ECCO EQUIPMENT CORP. (73)

Santa Ana, Calif.
David Schmid
www.eccoequipment.com $24.0 n/a 15 Heavy earthmoving, compaction and watering equipment specialist improved profitability companywide while upgrading fleet. Expecting 7 to 10 percent improvement in 2015. Oil-and-gas market might slow Ecco down in Canada and North Dakota, but customer base is diverse in both regions and lower fuel costs are a benefit. 84 SPIDER, DIV. OF SAFEWORKS (81)

Tukwila, Wash.
Scott Farrell
www.spiderstaging.com $24.0 n/a 24 Another solid increase for suspended scaffolding, swing stage and fall-protection specialist. Created special platform to enable work on Oakland Bay Bridge, and provided complete solution for installation of spacers at wind farm.  Evergreen Pacific Partners, the state of Washington’s largest private equity fund, acquired SafeWorks from Wynnchurch Capital. 86 CLAIREMONT EQUIPMENT (78)

San Diego
Jerry Zagami
www.clairemontequipment.com $23.8 n/a 6 This long-time Komatsu dealer is back on the growth track. Improved rental rates. Also strong in JLG, Dynapac, Yanmar and Komatsu forklift equipment. 87 ANDERSON EQUIPMENT CO. (76)

Bridgeville, Pa.
Judy Anderson
www.andersonequip.com $23.3 n/a 20 Anderson Equipment celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. Hoping to top last year’s record sales as strong demand for construction and forestry equipment should more than offset softening demand in the energy sector. Demand from natural gas market strong. Anderson recently moved into new facility in Gorham, Maine (Portland area), and renovated its Olean, N.Y., facility. Plans a major expansion in Manchester, N.H., and will replace Endicott, N.Y., branch with a new building in Binghamton, N.Y. 88 F&M MAFCO (87)

Cincinnati
Daniel McKenna
www.fmmafco.com $22.7 $90.8 7 A 34.3-percent rental volume leap for welding, lifting and rigging, specialized and repair tool rental company. Bill McKenna named chief operating officer. Growth facilitated by a number of large tool-package rental opportunities. Working to broaden customer base to find new revenue opportunities. 89 CISCO EQUIPMENT (77)

Odessa, Texas
Scott Sibert
www.cisco-equipment.com $22.2 $63.8 4 Top product lines include Hyundai, New Holland, Linkbelt and Mahindra. Cisco Sakhalin, a sister company to Cisco Equipment has secured a 4-year contract with Exxon and is currently providing 300 pieces of large equipment to a project on Sakhalin Island in Russia. Heavily involved in oil-and-gas industry, making current market somewhat challenging, but appears to be diverse enough. 90 DIAMOND RENTAL (84)

Salt Lake City
Mark Clawson
www.diamondrental.com $21.5 $23.0 13 Double-digit volume growth in Rocky Mountain region. Optimistic about 2015. Invested a lot in assets in 2014 to capitalize on growth. Also worked on internal infrastructure, believing that employee training, customer service and upgraded facilities are important. 91 ABLE EQUIPMENT RENTAL (86)

Deer Park, N.Y.
Steven Laganas
www.ableequipment.com $21.4 $29.5 3 Grew rental volume 22.3 percent. Became Kubota dealer. Larger fleet includes many Tier 4 machines. Company planning more expansion in 2015. Many mega projects, soaring mixed-use tower construction and infrastructure replacement and real estate repurposing have all brought business to Able. Trends likely to continue in 2015 and as real estate plays pick up in areas rippling out from dense Northeast cities, rental needs likely to rise in suburban and even rural zones. Opened branch in Philadelphia market, increased fleet, upgraded rental software, doubled mobile repair group and increased size of territory. 92 COOPER EQUIPMENT RENTALS (106)

Toronto
Darryl Cooper
www.cooperequipment.ca $19.5 $25.1 4 Acquired Albion Rentals in December, new branch opening in Burlington, Ontario. Nearly doubling revenue with a full year of revenue for late-2013 acquisition City Rentals and completed acquisition of Albion Rentals in Dec. 2014. Some infrastructure projects going on and a rebound of Ontario manufacturing sector partly as a result of weaker Canadian dollar. 93 ROLAND MACHINERY (92)

Springfield, Ill.
Matt Roland
www.rolandmachinery.com $19.4 $200.0+ 15 A 37-percent rental volume leap for Midwestern dealer with branches in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin representing Komatsu and Wirtgen products, as well as Doosan and others. Built new building in Cape Girardeau, Mo. 94 PDQ RENTALS (91)

Santa Fe Springs, Calif.
Dennis Turner
www.pdqrentals.com $17.3 $23.1 2 Double-digit volume hike for veteran L.A.-area rental company. 95 AMES TAPING TOOLS (94)

Fred Daniels III
Stone Mountain, Ga.
www.amestools.com $16.1 n/a 63 Celebrated 75-year anniversary in 2014 by paying off existing debt facilities. Opened four new stores with plans to open four additional stores in 2015. Started national account program, and introduced new bazooka taper. Growth strongly related to housing starts, with strong multi-family growth in 2014, while single family fairly flat. Commercial also did well. Expecting similar growth in 2015, with single family beginning to come back. Double-digit volume growth. 96 CLOVERDALE EQUIPMENT CO. (92)

Oak Park, Mich.
Todd Moilanen
www.cloverdaleequipment.com $15.5 $28.2 3 Good year for Cloverdale with strong business at all three of its locations, with expectations that 2015 will be even stronger. Secured additional capital to expand rental fleet and continue growth. Aerial lifts, telehandlers, forklifts, hydraulic cranes and portable air compressors are top products. 97 JPS EQUIPMENT RENTAL LLC (-)

Monroe, La.
Paul Bullock
www.jpsequips.com $15.4 $20.8 2 A Volvo Rents franchise from 2003 through 2010, winning numerous top franchise awards, sold rental assets to Volvo in 2010 and went back into rental business as an independent in 2013. Had incredible growth in 2014 with strong rental fleet, good employees and service. Strong industrial customer base as well as construction and natural gas drilling and distribution. Diversifying to lessen impact of low oil and natural gas prices. 98 CHAMPION RENTALS (100)

Houston
James Horsley
www.champrentals.com $15.3 $19.6 3 A 32-percent rental volume boost for veteran of Houston’s rental wars. Had strong growth in 2014. Horsley’s three children growing with the company. Placing increased emphasis on improving off-rent return and maintenance turnaround time to do more with less. Oil price decline could affect business if it continues into second half. Developing employee training is an important goal for Champion. Strong in AWP, earthmoving, forklifts, air compressors and generators. 98 NOBLE IRON (-)

Houston
Nabil Kassam
www.nobleiron.com $15.3 $21.1 2 Returns to the RER 100 with strong growth year. Represents LiuGong in its Houston and southern California locations, offers JLG and Genie aerial machines. Owns rental software company Texada. Got a $6 million equity investment in 2014. 100 HERC-U-LIFT (97)

Maple Plains, Minn.
Tom Showalter
www.herculift.com $15.0 n/a 9 A 19-percent rental volume hike for Minnesota aerial rental specialist and dealer. Top suppliers include Mitubishi, Hyundai, Skyjack, Genie, JLG and Trackmobile. 101 COASTLINE EQUIPMENT (101)

Long Beach, Calif.
Del Hosler
www.coastlineequipment.com $13.9 n/a 6 Didn’t make the 100? All Coastline did was grow rental revenue 21.9 percent in improved Southern California economy. 102 NELSON EQUIPMENT LTD. (109)

Baytown, Texas
Albert Nelson III
www.nelsonconstructioneq.com $13.4 n/a 1 A 45.6-percent rental volume spike for Nelson, fueled by more than $10 million in inventory, primarily excavators, long-reach excavators, dozers, wheel loaders, motor graders and loader backhoes. Had a few large petrochemical-related jobs starting in immediate area that will go on for a while, so should be good year ahead despite oil slump. 103 ILLINI HI-REACH (99)

Lemont, Ill.
Larry Workman
www.hi-reach.com $12.9 $15.0+ 3 Nice increase for Chicago-area aerial specialist. Expanded fleet in 2014 and will continue in 2015, raising rates and adding industry-experienced staff. Investing $13.6 million to construct and equip a 31,000-square-foot new headquarters in Crown Point, Ind., which Illini expects to open mid-year. Illini has huge northern Indiana customer base and new fully equipped full-service headquarters will be more accessible. 104 LALONDE EQUIPMENT RENTALS (103)

Signal Hill, Calif.
Janelle Reusch
www.rjlalonde.com $11.0 n/a 3 Big earthmoving heavy equipment rental specialist coming up to 50 years in business. Main focus is infrastructure, including freeways, bridges, airports and underground utilities. Lower cost of fuel has positive impact on operated rental division. Increase in rental rates not keeping pace with increases in new equipment purchase prices. Keeping pace with annual growth of 8 to 12 percent. 105 BIRCH EQUIPMENT RENTALS & SALES (98)

Sarah Rothenbuhler
Bellingham, Wash.
www.birchequipment.com $12.0 n/a 5 Has five branches plus additional onsite rental facilities. Specializes in earthmoving, material handling, aerial, air, power, lighting and finishing equipment.. 106 ALL ACCESS RENTALS (104)

Spring Valley, Calif.
Kevin Aylesworth/Jeffrey Johnson
www.allaccessrentals.com $11.8 n/a 3 Hired Todd Moir, formerly with United Rentals, to run new sales division called Expert Iron Sales, to sell new Wacker Neuson skid-steer loader line and New Holland construction line after company acquired San Diego NH dealership. Plans to expand with more locations to increase utilization. Has branches in San Diego and Riverside counties. 107 TIME SAVERS (105)

Carol Stream, Ill.
Larry Kozlicki
www.timesaverslifts.com $11.5* n/a 1 A good year for Chicago-area aerial rental specialist. 108 ACCES LOCATION D'EQUIPEMENT (107)

Ste-Julie, Quebec, Canada
Harold Dube
www.acceslocation.com $10.3 n/a 1 A good year for aerial specialist Acces in difficult Quebec economy. 109 LUBY EQUIPMENT SERVICES (110)

Fenton, Mo.
Robert Luby
www.lubyequipment.com $10.0 $46.8 9 Named Diamond Dealer by Case Construction as part of 2014 Partnership Program, recognizing it as high-performing dealership. Has improved product support services with 24-hour parts deliveries, onsite technician availability, service vehicles and provision of training. Acquired H Edwards Equipment, also a Case dealer, expanding its territory. Also represents Allied, Doosan, Dynapac, Takeuchi and more. 110 A TOOL SHED (108)

Santa Cruz, Calif.
Robert Pedersen
www.atoolshed.com $9.9 n/a 7 Celebrating 70 years in business. Opened seventh location in Salinas around press time. Worked on new stadium projects in Santa Clara (49ers) and San Jose (Earthquakes). Commercial growth has dominated in central California market area, with tech companies continuing to build new and add onto existing campuses. Ongoing drought in California could slow down state’s growth.

*Denotes RER estimate based on regional economic conditions, industry sources and interviews by members of the RER staff. Other revenue figures are based on actual reported revenue for North American operations. Location data is as of publication to the best of the knowledge of the RER staff. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions sometimes occur. All figures are in U.S. dollars, except for Canada-based companies, which are reported in Canadian dollars.