It's the perfect marriage: a construction company and a rental company. Laverdiere Construction, a successful and well-known company in Macomb, Ill., had an established name, a steady revenue stream and the existing inventory needed to open its subsidiary, Commercial Rental. Owner Jack Laverdiere did all the right things - talked to people already in the rental business, joined the A.R.A., built a well-considered, separate building in a good location and hired a good manager.

It's the classic story that goes back to the beginning of the U.S. rental industry: the rental business began when people asked to borrow excess equipment. Finally the owner decided to go into a full-fledged rental operation and make it a business instead of a favor. "We had people wanting to rent equipment our construction company owned," says Laverdiere. "We weren't really officially set up for rental but did quite a bit of it."

Actually, for a startup, this captive-business arrangement makes a lot of sense: it's good to have that cushion of guaranteed business volume from the construction company, it allows the addition of inventory that might be hard to justify otherwise, both in kind and volume, and puts some strong legs under the company's growth.

"Then we heard another rental company in Macomb was closing," Laverdiere says. "We thought it was a good opportunity to open a rental store and add additional items that could be rented to the public. A lot of what we bought was based on supply and demand - what people asked if they could rent from us."

Seven months after startup, Jack Pieper was hired to manage Commercial Rental. Pieper had been an estimator for a local lumber company and worked for a construction company before that. He wanted to manage and have more responsibility and more control over what was going on. Commercial Rental was perfect.

"Trying to keep up with everything all the time - the pressure," is what excites Pieper. He enjoys the independence and diversity that being in the rental business affords him. "Jack [Laverdiere] pretty much lets me make the decisions. I really like the independence," Pieper says. "I get mom and dad wanting to do something in their backyard to big contractors building a multi-million-dollar business," he says. "I like the diversity of it."

He has been there only nine months and runs the rental business with help from Kevin Hughes, Commercial's full-time mechanic.

Perhaps the most important requirement for getting started in the rental business is capital. "That's probably the biggest obstacle," Pieper says.

But Laverdiere already had made that initial investment because of the construction company. "It works well, having the construction company," says Laverdiere. "I don't think we could begin to afford to do it if we didn't have the construction company to justify a lot of the initial purchases."

Laverdiere Construction mainly is involved in commercial and industrial construction - particularly concrete work, which represents half of the business. It has special crews to serve this market.

Because of the concrete business Laverdiere was doing, Commercial was able to offer all types of concrete equipment to its customers. And Commercial rents a good share of its concrete equipment back to its parent company.

Commercial has tampers, plate compactors, vibratory ride-on rollers, concrete wall vibrators, concrete saws, concrete forms, steel forms for paving, concrete buggies, mixers, power screeds and other concrete equipment.

"Because we have [many types of equipment] available, a lot of the residential [contractors] don't own any. They rely on us - they rent," Laverdiere says.

Commercial's market mix is 85 to 90 percent contractors and 10 to 15 percent homeowners, but that may grow as the rental option gains awareness in Macomb. Commercial Rental is located on U.S. 136, the major east-west highway through town, which is being widened to four lanes.

The presence of Western Illinois University, with 16,000 students, gives Macomb a much bigger commercial infrastructure than you would normally find in a town of 20,000: more restaurants, service businesses and retail outlets, and particularly apartment buildings and services for temporary residents.

"There are a lot of construction projects around here," says Pieper. "There are always subcontractors who come in and need a backhoe or whatever. It's easier to get it here than bring it with them."

Commercial has delivered equipment as far as Quincy, Ill., about 85 miles away. Most deliveries are within a 40-mile radius of Macomb.

The construction company accounts for about 60 percent of the rental company's volume; it started off at 100 percent when the rental operation began in November 1998, but the percentage has continued to decline as external business volume has increased.

Commercial also provides retail sales items including industrial sealants, screws and caulk.

"Retail sales volume amounts to only about 10 percent of revenues, mainly convenience items associated with tool rentals," says Pieper. "Most sales are to homeowners, because the contractors have those items themselves."

To promote the rental side of the business, especially to new markets outside of the construction industry, Pieper uses the Yellow Pages as well as running an ad in the local newspaper.

"I run a special item every month - seasonal items," he says.

Commercial Rental plans to have a booth at a local home and lifestyle show in the spring. Pieper will give away gift certificates for free rentals and expects to see them used on lawn and garden equipment.