Family-owned-and-operated Timp Rental Center, which started as a Taylor Rental franchise 43 years ago, recently broke ground on its third location in Saratoga Springs, Utah. With locations in Orem and American Fork, Utah, the company that caters to large and small contractors as well as homeowners is now primed to better handle the needs of this rapidly growing area of the state.
“Utah is one of the tops in the nation for growth as a state,” says Paul Phelon, president, who served as the American Rental Association’s (ARA) board president from 2014-2015. “Our store locations are in the area where 80 percent of the growth is happening. A lot of West Coast people are moving here because of the family values and the outdoor recreation with the mountains. This area is what is termed ‘the silicon slopes,’ a high-tech corridor, and it is just booming.”
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| Timp Rental Center's store in Orem, Utah |
But locations alone don’t mean success. That is why he and his brothers, Dan and Joe, who serve as co-owners, focus on “exceptional customer service, quality equipment and commitment to the communities we serve,” Phelon says. “We have a name that is well-established. There is a lot of word of mouth. Our good reputation, name brand and involvement in the community result from treating people right. If there is an issue, we try to take care of it, make it fair and a win-win situation for all of us. We are all here for our customers. We have a 24-hour call center. If equipment goes down after hours, we, as owners, rotate to take care of that issue. We all work on providing exceptional service and new, well-maintained equipment for our customers.”
Those tenets of how to run a business were ingrained in the Phelon brothers from their father, John, who moved the family from their farm in Massachusetts to Utah in 1973. “My father got into rental because he and my mom had all these children — nine sons and one daughter. My dad wanted to have a career where his boys could continue to work with him like they did on the farm. My dad sold the farm in 1979, allowing us to start a Taylor Rental franchise in Orem. They gave us the opportunity to go independent in 1982. That is when we became Timp Rental, named after the major mountain in our backyard, Mount Timpanogos,” Phelon says.
As with most family-owned rental operations, Phelon worked in the business throughout high school and college. When the economy went through a downturn in the 1980s, the family opened a location in Vernal, Utah, which is in the oil and gas area. That lasted for six years. “I managed that store for a summer. In the mid-1980s, business started picking up in the valley in Orem. Technology companies started moving here and the economy diversified from a blue-collar steel mill area with universities to a high-tech area that had better jobs and better wages,” Phelon said in the January 2014 issue of Rental Management.
In 1982, the company began renting trucks and supplies for local moving jobs. “We were a Penske dealer for years, but Penske didn’t want to tie up its trucks for local use. We saw a need and filled it. We also rent out to FedEx and UPS during the Christmas rush. It has diversified our services and helps us during the winter months,” Phelon says.
Making a career in rental was not a complete given. After college, he started working for Delta Airlines. “After working part time for them here, I went to New York City and worked for them full time for three years,” he says.
Taking that break from the business was beneficial. “It gave me a good background in the importance of the safety of the industry. It is important that safety is emphasized in any business,” he says.
He headed back home after Delta went through layoffs in 1994. That move ended up being a blessing. At that time his father was looking for an exit strategy. “He talked to me about whether I would be interested in coming back to the business full time. I did and was able to work with my dad for a little more than a year before he passed in October of 1995,” Phelon says.
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| Timp Rental Center's location in American Fork, Utah |
When he returned, Phelon had a renewed safety focus and strengthened the safety measures that were already in place at Timp Rental Center. After his father passed, he also balanced his new duties as president with the company’s existing expansion efforts.
He admitted in the January 2014 article in Rental Management that this was a challenging time. “We had purchased the property for the location in American Fork. Trying to run the business and expand the business were trying times,” he said. That store opened in 1997.
Luckily, Phelon was able to lean on his brothers for help, something he did then and does now, with each brother taking a different role in the company. “I am the president and oversee all the operations. I focus on the selling and purchasing of equipment and do the administration part with the banking. I am now at the Saratoga Springs store. My brother Dan runs the day-to-day operations of the Orem location and handles the accounts receivable. My brother Joe is the chief financial officer and oversees all the human resources duties. He is at the American Fork location,” Phelon says.
Throughout the years, the company has seen many changes and faced many challenges.
“Labor is always challenging. With the high-tech industry that is here, there is the challenge for people. We have always believed in giving our employees great benefits, but it is hard to compete with other high-tech industries,” he says. Helping to alleviate that situation are the nearly 70,000 students who attend the area colleges. They become part-timers during the slower season.
Being a company that focuses on new equipment, Phelon and his team have fully embraced new technology. “Technology has helped with the maintenance and history of the equipment. It also has helped when you have GPS and telematics. It becomes a preventive maintenance issue as compared with after the fact — and having to go back and do something major. GPS has also helped us locate equipment when people don’t want to bring it back,” he says.
Phelon is now “introducing more battery-operated equipment to our customers. You don’t need a power cord or generator with this equipment. I also don’t have to deal with customers putting in the wrong gas mixture and I end up taking out the engine. I don’t have to worry about the dust issue, either, because it doesn’t have a filtration problem with the engine. It is quiet so it is better for me and for them,” he says.
Yet there are challenges with the move to battery-powered equipment. “With the electric batteries, how are you going to charge them on the job site? I can’t see it going 100 percent, particularly with large equipment, for quite a while,” he says.
His stores, like others, have been impacted by the supply chain issues. “Because we were growing during COVID and building the fleet for the third store, we were able to prepare that way and increased the fleet. In 2021, the supply chain and inflation hit us. It is hard to plan ahead because you don’t know where you will be two years from now. We were building up our fleet for the last three years. It helped, but now I still need to build but you are out so far. You like to sell your equipment and rotate it, but now you are holding onto equipment longer because you can’t replace it. I am still placing orders for two to three years ahead,” he says.
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| Timp Rental Center's newest location in Saratoga Springs, Utah |
Even with the challenges, Phelon can’t see himself in any other business. “What I like about the industry is similar to what my dad liked about it. I get to work with my family. We have the third generation in the operation, with nine family members, including owners, working here. And you have so many different things every day that are happening. Rental is not an assembly line type of job that is monotonous. You have all this different equipment, you get to learn how to operate it and show people how to use it. It just offers you a whole array of jobs and opportunities that allow you to learn different things,” Phelon says.
The whole experience offers a lot of satisfaction, he notes. “We have people who have rented from us for 40 years; many knew my dad. They trust us to be professional and have good equipment. I had someone who came to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for our Saratoga Springs store. She has been renting from Timp Rental for many years and recalled an interaction with our employees. She said our employees are friendly and well-trained on the equipment, gave her other resources when we didn’t have what she wanted and gave her training on the equipment she rented. Those interactions made Timp Rental a great experience for her. That is great to hear,” he says.
Phelon says he and his brothers are committed to having friendly, engaged employees who offer the equipment and training customers want and need. “We strive to keep that personal touch,” he says.
Becoming involved in ARA opened doors for Timp Rental Center
Growing up in his family’s rental business, Paul Phelon, president, Timp Rental Center, now with locations in Orem, American Fork and Saratoga Springs, Utah, always connected the American Rental Association (ARA) with The ARA Show™.
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| Paul Phelon in the yard |
“My father had taken me to one or two of the conventions. To us, ARA was the yearly ARA conventions — where we went to buy our equipment. After my dad passed away, I became more involved in the business and was looking at how to not reinvent the wheel. I was able to find that through Rental Management magazine. I would read the safety articles and look at the equipment in the magazine,” he says.
He gained more exposure to the association when his brother Joe served on the then-active ARA of Utah and he attended a local meeting. After the industry consolidation happened and the ARA of Utah went inactive, Phelon wanted to find a way to get involved again.
“I always liked the networking and the education. In the early 2000s, I went to an education seminar in Seattle. It was on how to build your business to prepare it for the best possible exit strategy. I wanted to know I was growing the business to make it the best for us and for selling it down the road,” he says.
While at the seminar, he met Kathy Schwartz, who was ARA’s chief financial officer. She later called him and asked if he would like to serve on ARA’s General Tool Shared Interest Group (SIG).
From there, his involvement grew, later serving as chair of the SIG to eventually serving as ARA board president from 2014-2015.
As president, he traveled to different rental operations, met other rental owners and picked up ideas.
“I didn’t carry mud buggies until I was on the ARA board and toured Roger Vajgrt’s store [owner of Home Rental Center & Sales Co. in Marshalltown, Iowa, who served as ARA president from 2016-2017],” he says. “I had never seen those before. Roger was showing me his fleet. I now have 12 of them. They have been really good for us.”
Phelon is proud of his service to ARA and grateful to how ARA has helped him and his operation.
“When I was on the ARA board, I remember that we all worked together as a team. My focus always was on the education. I felt that education was power. The more we can learn about how to run our businesses more safely and efficiently were important to me,” he says. That focus hasn’t changed. “We continue to use the services of ARA, especially those of RentalU.”