Equipment rental company grows by being flexible and going ‘wherever the work is’
April 2014, Democrat & Chronicle
When the Buffalo Bills come to Pittsford for training camp, they use construction equipment furnished by Admar Supply Co. And when the team sought heavy equipment for its $130 million renovation of Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, they turned to Admar again.
“The Bills have been a strong customer of ours for a number of years,” said Joel DiMarco, Admar president.
The Rochester-area firm rents out a variety of aerial lifts, light towers, forklifts, generators and other heavy equipment, some of which is used by the football team during its season. Admar is also supplying equipment for construction at Syracuse University, the College Town project at the University of Rochester, a new Tops Friendly Markets store in Irondequoit, the RTS bus terminal in Rochester, and several other projects.
Business has been good. Booms in construction, large-scale landscaping and the oil and gas industry, particularly in Pennsylvania and other areas, led to Admar expanding into Erie, Pa. Its 21,400-square-foot facility opened in November.
The site enlarges Admar’s footprint further with interstate access to Pittsburgh, Ohio and New York state. It’s also where construction work is growing, DiMarco said.
“We tend to follow our customers. In the construction industry, to maintain a book of business, you have to be flexible and travel to wherever the work is,” he said, “so we have done the same thing.”
The business was founded back in 1972. Its first store was at East Main and North Goodman streets and offered smaller equipment, pumps and generators. Today, Admar has eight locations throughout upstate New York and Pennsylvania, and employs 200 people — 70 locally.
DiMarco’s family also runs related businesses in real estate development, commercial contractors and facility maintenance. “I would say our expansion has required us to look at how we manage our information and how we develop and support our employees,” DiMarco said. “We’re ensuring that our employees are factory-trained by all of our vendors. We’re spending a lot of time on personal skills development for our people. We’re spending a lot of time and effort working on how we collect data and how we determine what our success looks like.”
Joel DiMarco on running a business
Today’s business environment requires flexibility and creativity when addressing customer and business challenges. Finding new and unique ways to serve customers is essential.
Work to sincerely understand your customers’ business. Knowing how they work, how they define success and what challenges they face allows you to enhance their overall experience.
Hire top talent who are aligned with your company mission, and support them in their growth.
They become ambassadors and, if provided with the tools needed for success, will allow you to grow.
