Rental Store Caters to Demolition Contractors

Edward Skala and Steve Dowling

Working with demolition contractors might discourage some rental stores because of the grueling work and long hours their customers put on equipment. Steve Dowling and Edward Skala of Blue Island Equipment Rental have just the opposite attitude.

The rental store owners have two locations on the south side of Chicago, one location in Homer Glen, and a second in Alsip, which works mostly with demolition and concrete contractors.

"We do a lot of long-term rentals with demolition contractors in the Chicago area," says Dowling. "They start a high-rise demolition project, put the Bobcat skid-steer loaders on the top, and we don't get them back until they reach ground level. They'll do whatever it takes to bring the building down."

Dowling and Skala have a long history in the rental business. Both got started in the industry when they were just 14 years old, and have had their own store for more than 13 years. During that time the owners have always purchased Bobcat equipment. Dowling says they started with Bobcat and have stuck with them because they offer the strongest product on the market today.

"The Bobcat loader arms hold up the best of all that we've seen," Dowling says. "We've talked to demolition contractors over the years who say other brands of loaders have a lot of loader arm issues.

"The demolition contractors run the Bobcat loaders with hydraulic breaker attachments as long as 9 to 10 hours a day," Dowling says. "Sometimes the breakers stay on the loader for up to eight months straight."

The rental store owners say they are pleased with how well Bobcat equipment has performed and believe they are dependable and reliable machines for their customers. Not only that, but Dowling and Skala say their Bobcat dealer, Atlas Bobcat, is very good about providing parts. Dowling says his store can quickly get everything they need from the dealership's parts department, and in the rental business that is a very important element of being successful.

"Nobody wants to hear that it will take a week or two to get a part before they can use their machine again," Dowling says. "When it breaks, they want it fixed now."

In addition to carrying a wide variety of skid-steer loaders, Blue Island Equipment Rental also carries Bobcat compact excavators, compact track loaders, mini track loaders and many attachments. "We don't send a machine to a demolition jobsite without an industrial grapple bucket," Dowling says. His demolition customers also use hydraulic breakers, pallet fork attachments and sweepers, which he says become more popular as towns request that adjacent streets remain clean during construction projects.

Zero house swing pays off for plumbers

Dowling says the majority of his compact excavator business is from area plumbers who use the machines for underground construction projects such as digging down to reach sewer lines. He says his store purchased a 430 Zero House Swing compact excavator after learning about its benefits versus a conventional compact excavator. "We don't have problems with customers hitting the back of the machine against another object with the 430," Skala says. "They're great for our customers working in a tight spot."