Tray Rents It

My name is Tracy Harrelson and along with my wife we own Tray Rents It, LLC in Pace, Florida.  We are an equipment rental store specializing in medium to small equipment.  We rent equipment, sell concrete and construction tools and supplies along with landscaping supplies and earth products.  We started the business in September 2022 with funds from a personal  loan of 200,000 and good credit scores.  We have grown exponentially in a short time with sales of $454,00 in 2023 and it looks like we will supersede $600,000 in 2024.  Due to the debt we incurred to obtain the equipment we have not seen a realized a profit yet.  80% of sales are from rentals and 20% from retail sales, of which, 15% is concrete and construction and 5% earth products.  

We are looking to find an Angel investor to invest 300,000 to 500,000 that will provide funds for us to pay debt and provide funds to add to our fleet inventory.   We have been taking a conservative approach to growth until we paid debt down; however, our demand for equipment has brought us to a point that we need more inventory and it is not sustainable to continue adding more debt at the current interest rates and to be honest we have exasperated our credit.  Our monthly sales are surpassing 54,000 a month and without a doubt that could be 75,000 within a year if we had means to add to our fleet and more inventory on the retail side.   If we clear equipment debt, our overhead with payroll would be no more than 30,000 a month.    We would have a profit monthly which would allow us to add to our fleet and inventory with cash.  Our 5 year goal was to be operating on a cash basis.  Below will explain why we believe this is the right thing to do, even if it means sacraficing some ownership.

I have 30 years professional experience as either an owner or operations manager.   10 of those years were in the rental industry as an operations manager for a large independent.  I am a Type A personality and an extreme out of the box thinker.  I do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.  I love what I do and I have decided its time to move forward with our goals and dreams.  My wife, Richelle Harrelson is a senior VP in a medical center.  She has many years experience on a corporate level in all aspects of a medium size business with sales of 100,000,000.  She is truly the perfect ying to my yang.  I run the day to day and it is because of my relations with customers over the last 10 years that we have accrued the amount of business that we have in such a short time.   My wife  handles the behind the scene with accounting, contracts, legal and anything business related.  We are a complete team.  I operate a lean workforce.  I am a hands on owner that works whatever hours are needed. I have all phone calls forwarded to my cell phone and I take calls 24/7, within reason.   I will always be hands-on owner-operator.

After broken promises by my previous employer, my wife and I decided to open our own store in our hometown of 30 years.  We are located in the panhandle of Florida, in  Santa Rosa county.  This county has averaged more growth than state average for the last 10 years and our community still has plans for more growth.  Our customers are contractors,  sub-contractors, business owners and homeowners.  The average home in this market is $327,135 and annual household income average is $84,000. The county population is over 200,000.  Commercial and residential growth looks to be strong for the next decade.  Our job is to focus on the rental side currently while building the retail and service side to carry us when the major construction starts to subside.  The national average for the rental business growth for 2024 is 11% per ARA, American Rental association.

Our business rents, sells, and services equipment.  The primary business is renting small-medium sized equipment.  We currently lease approximately 4 acres of land with a 3,500 sf store front and a separate building for servicing and storing equipment.  In addition, we sell concrete finish tools, hand tools and construction supplies, landscaping materials as well as some small equipment.  Our plans are to enhance our primary business with the retail side of the business in the coming years.  We have a methodical plan for growing our business in this area.  As well as selling our products in brick and mortar we are building framework to sell online.  There is huge potential for the service/repair side of the business. In our area the average rate for service/repair is $125 an hour.  

The potential for this business is exponential.  When I began my rentals career at the previous store,  a business that had been open 27 years total annual revenues were just over $600,000. Within the first three years we were over the million mark and within 5 years we were over the 2 million mark. Major contributors to these increases were 1) an increase in selling of consumables, hand tools and small equipment and 2) a change in management style which increased and retained a new customer base.  At the time of my departure, the business was averaging 2 million/year in total revenue with 1.5m (or 75%) of that resulting from rentals which, in my experience, is where the best profits are made. We are on a path to reach those number within 5 years.

This leads us to our vision.  Tray Rents It, LLC, is a place where people are the most important asset that we have as a company.  After being in this business for 10 years, learning the competition and learning the customer base, it was evident to me that a different type of store was needed. A store that works with the customer, one that gives a little more than it takes. This strategy results in repeat business and in this business, repeat business is imperative. It goes without saying that the overall objective in any business is to make money,  however, it is also as important to not too loose sight that there are different strategies between a sprint and a marathon, and in this case we are striving for the marathon. My experience has proven if you work through issues with customers, remain trustworthy, go above and beyond, rent the most reliable equipment possible long-term customer relationships are built. This concept has already been proven in our 1.5 years of operation.  Additionally, I believe that proper presentation is paramount. From the store front to the cleanliness of the service shop and even the wrinkles of an employee's shirt, here presentation matters. Here we believe the presentation of all things are important. That said, the presentation, reliability and functionality of the equipment is the most important to the customer. Yes, all customers appreciate excellent customer service, friendly staff, free coffee and a clean store but none of that matters if the equipment isn't reliable. Truth be known, the only thing real thing that matters to  our customer is the ability to get their job done timely and that is why they are at the store renting equipment.  The high level of customer service and respect is what keeps them returning.

As far as numbers go, we currently have $648,350 in fleet inventory and approximately $10,000 (recurring) in hand tools and consumables in our store front to be sold.  We have approximately $750,000 (startup and equipment) in debt.  Our monthly income average is $54,000.  Our overhead including all payroll is 30,000 a month.  Currently we have a need for more equipment as the market is still in early stages of growing. We are just scrapping the surface from the customer pool.  

We are open to offer ownership shares, loan with dividends on top of debt, 5-10 year exit plan, or anything else.  I could write for days and would still not cover everything, and that is because of my passion.  There is no ceiling on my goals.  There are floors, but the floors are endless. I know we have left some key points out, but that was intentional.  If you would like to know more please reach out to us.