Rental: How did you first get your start in the rental industry?
Garrett Shurling: I’m fortunate enough to be the third generation of my family to own and operate Badger Rental Services alongside my two cousins, Aaron Drew and Bridget White. I grew up here. Aaron and I have been working at Badger Rental Services our entire adult life.
Rental: Can you give us some insight on your current company?
Shurling: In 1979, Roy Redmond saw a demand in the Savannah, Ga., area for quality equipment rental with people that cared about their customers and who were dedicated to stellar service. Roy and his wife, Pattie, started P&R Tool. For seven years, Roy worked a full-time job in construction and together with Pattie, ran P&R out of their home in Ellabell, Ga. They took no salaries from P&R and reinvested every dollar of profit back into the company.
In April 1986, the name was changed to Badger Rental Services, and Roy quit construction to focus on his growing rental business. He also hired two employees: his two sons-in-law Gary Shurling and Paul Drew. In 1989, Badger Rental Services moved to Garden City, Ga., in a rented building on Oak Street. There, Badger’s reputation for clean, dependable rental equipment and dedicated quality service spread, and Gary and Paul were made full partners.
As demand for Badger’s equipment grew, Roy, Paul and Gary purchased land on Hwy 80 in Garden City, and in 1995, Badger Rental Services moved to its current location. In 2017, Gary and Paul passed the torch to the third generation of the family to run the business. Now, Aaron Drew and I, along with our stellar team of employees, continue to serve our customers with the cleanest, most dependable equipment in the industry along with unmatched customer service and fast delivery.
Badger Rental Services
Rental: What have been some of the challenges and successes you’ve had since you’ve been in business?
Shurling: As a growing business that’s been around since the 70s, there have been quite a few times in our history that we’ve had to make major strategic changes that helped us get to the next level. At some point, simply adding more equipment and employees just won’t cut it. So, we’ve developed new systems throughout the marketing, sales, back office and maintenance functions of the business to allow us to scale faster and become more efficient.
We’ve also hired trusted outside advisers that help teach us what a healthy business looks like and, more specifically, what a healthy family business looks like. We’ve had the great fortune of being a part of the American Rental Association and Peer Executive Groups. Both of these organizations have provided us invaluable information, best practices and resources for things like contracts, human resources help and online training, as well as access to companies across the country that are willing to share and help each other.
Rental: Your company has a very family-orientated background. How has that influenced the business today?
Shurling: For the first few years, Badger Rental Services was literally just my family working together to serve our community. When you’re family, you naturally look out for one another. You naturally make decisions for the good of the group. To this day, those values continue to run strong through the company. We eat together. We check on each other. We make decisions based on the group. We have healthy conflicts. We even talk a little trash! Even though Aaron and I are the only two family members in the daily operation, we are still indeed a family here at Badger.
Rental: What’s a technological advancement that you predict will change the face of rental?
Shurling: Automation. Already we’re seeing autonomous equipment, remote pickup and dropoff locations, and online ordering. The future of equipment rental is exciting!
Rental: What is your favorite snack?
Shurling: Chicken wings! Can’t get any better than that, can it?
