Loc-Equip surges forward with youthful energy and huge success

Picture it. It’s 2022. In a nice neighbourhood in Laval, Quebec, on the lawn of the house of Costa Makris, are two trailers. Costa has a son, Johnny, who is 19 years old at the time. The trailers, as you may have guessed, are for rent. Indeed, they swiftly disappear for summer-long rental. So begins the incredible story of Loc-Equip – a business which, like its name (‘Equipment Rental’ in English), is no-nonsense and laser-focussed.  

“I’d been working at a tire shop six days a week, 11 hours a day,” Johnny explains. “They had a side gig renting trailers. They’d bought out a guy, and they wanted to grow the business because it was lucrative. They wanted a full-time person to take it over, and I stepped up.”

Johnny pointed out that he was a proven hard worker, responsible and intelligent, working through lunch almost every day. He also offered to contribute quite a bit of investment money. “I talked to them a few times, made my case, but nothing was being decided,” he explains. “I decided I needed to give them a deadline, and at that deadline, they refused me. So, I decided to go out on my own.”

Trailer time 

Johnny knew trailers were in demand, and because he also knew how to maintain and repair them, he started there. Costa had agreed to embark on this journey with him, and together they soon purchased a dump trailer and a flatbed. By the end of the first day, they were out for rent for the whole summer. Shortly after, the same customer asked for three more trailers, which Johnny and Costa quickly secured. 

“We ended the year with six trailers,” says Johnny. “It was a little much for the lawn and driveway of my father’s house.”

Early in the second year, 2023, they bought a small excavator and later that year, another.  The business had been going as ‘Johnny’s Rentals,’ but also that year, when Johnny and Costa went to a trade show in Toronto, they discussed on the way back switching to a more professional name. Loc-Equip would do the trick.

That second year, they found a property as well. It was a big lot, with a house and a greenhouse, zoned agricultural-commercial. They rented it, setting up an office in a 20-foot shipping container and using another container for their maintenance tools and supplies. Not long after, they moved to a commercial property for rent, but that agreement ended last year. They wanted to stay in the same area and luckily found a suitable site where they are still situated now.

 “It’s a really great location, a main artery, and I don’t want to go to the outskirts because I may lose clients,” Johnny explains. “But this lot is too expensive for us to buy right now, so we’re renting. It’s got a boarded-up house and shed, and we moved our office and maintenance containers there. Our customers love it. We are like them – we aren’t about the show; we are about getting it done.” 

Those customers are almost all small contractors, mainly doing residential paving stone and cement jobs. They don’t want to buy a trailer or excavator, Johnny explains, because they don’t want the hassle of repairs, maintenance, flat tires, or storage. 

“They just want that part of things to be easy, and I make it easy,” he says. “All calls go to me, or customers text me directly. They know they can call or text me anytime, on a Sunday at dinner, say, when they suddenly realize they will need an excavator tomorrow morning. They know if they call me, it will be ready. They can sleep well. Once they come to us, they don’t go to anyone else because we are so responsive.” Johnny also has among the lowest prices, and all the equipment is new or almost new. As he considers new equipment to be standard now in the rental business, expected by customers at any rental shop.

But not all customers have integrity. Johnny has had trailers stolen, and ‘customers’ also used fake ID. “You have to pay attention and keep your eyes open,” he says. “My dad taught me that. He taught me to watch and to have good judgment. You don’t just give people the benefit of the doubt right away.”   

 Speaking of Costa, he’s taking it a little easier this year. “Last year, it was still just the two of us, and we really were running around like chickens without heads,” Johnny says. “We had 20 trailers, now we have about 30, and 22 excavators, compactors, smaller pieces, loaders, towable lifts, and we were doing all the customer calls, orders, pressure washing, maintenance. I also have a mobile tire change business for the fall and spring.” Changing to snow tires is mandatory in Quebec.

Johnny Makris, his two employees and father Costa.

Growing the team and fleet 

This year, Johnny took a big step and hired not one, but two employees, a cousin and a mechanic. They are loving it, says Johnny, learning a lot and working hard, with Loc-Equip open seven days a week in the summer. “My father has helped me so much, and he was semi-retired, so I don’t want to force him anymore to be the only other person,” says Johnny. “I’ve learned to delegate, but it was a big change for m,e and I’m still adjusting. I knew I’d need to hire people, and they are fantastic, but it was still a really big step.”

And while each summer, everyone is going flat out to make sure rentals go smoothly, winter comes with heavy maintenance on all items – and decisions on what to sell. Loc-Equip sells some trailers and other equipment every year, with special attention for the heavy-use items. 

“The dump trailer with mini excavator combination is our bread and butter, and they take a beating,” Johnny explains. “They show their age pretty quickly, so I sell them after two or three years. Many of the buyers also become my renters, which is very good. I buy in bulk and get a discount that way, so I can sell for close to what I paid. The galvanized ones don’t rust and really hold their value.” 

Another part of Johnny’s approach to equipment and service is to have good relationships with competitors. They work together sometimes, sub-renting from each other, and that includes his former employers. “I was a newcomer who wasn’t really welcome to some people, but I have good relationships with everyone,” says Johnny. “We give a discount to each other and help each other out. I tell people that if I don’t have it here, I’ll get it for them for less than they would rent from someone else, and that makes my service unbeatable. They know they can call me, and I look after them.”

In fact, Loc-Equip sub-rents a whole category, aerial equipment, from its competitors as the need arises. Johnny sees the aerial rental market as heavily saturated, but he’ll move into it if the subrentals increase. He is also moving a little into bigger excavators and smaller tools like plumbing fish and small rotary hammer drills, subgraders, and so on that are needed for tree removal. This year, he’s already purchased a 5.5-ton excavator, a 10-ton triple axle dumper and another mini skidsteer, bringing the total piece count to about 95.

By the end of Johnny’s first day as Loc-Equip, his trailers were all for rent for the whole summer.

A foundation of respect

If there were one word to sum up Loc-Equip, it would be respect. Johnny respects his two employees, treating them like family, and he’s also family-oriented with clients. “I always answer the phone and I’m there for them every day of the week,” he says. “They love me, and I love them. I like that they know when they call me, everything is going to be OK. I still have a lot of customers who used to come to my father’s place, and it’s great to still be together from the start.”

Johnny also has respect for himself. “It’s hard to deal with people who have damaged a piece of equipment and don’t want to take responsibility for that, and then I have to stand up for myself and the business,” he says. “You risk getting a bad Google review, but you respond to the review and explain what happened in detail and that shows credibility. And I have high ratings overall. You must get used to sticking to your guns when people damage things because it happens from time to time.”  

Johnny also holds great respect for his father, Costa. “It was tough at the start of this, to be honest,” he says. “We didn’t have the smoothest relationship when I was younger, and when we started this up, we were reactive with each other. But we learned to deal with that in ourselves. And it was good to learn the ropes together. He was in ventilation his whole life, so this was new to both of us, and we problem-solved together. We both excel at that. And I really appreciated the way he let me be the leader. He has a nice finesse with it, he tells people to ‘talk to Johnny’ in a way that shows respect, and that means a lot to me.” 

Treena Hein is an international award-winning writer of over two decades’ experience who contributes to knowledge sharing of those in many industrial sectors.