top of page

The Latest podcast Episodes
The Rental Journal podcast offers unparalleled insights into business successes and challenges, career progression, new technologies and industry-provoking topics from around the world. The Rental Journal Podcast aims to increase awareness of the hire and rental industry while also providing a platform for listeners to learn about the experiences from others in the rental industry.

#138 - Jeremy Shaw
Jeremy Shaw is the HRIA National President and the Sales & Marketing Manager at Master Hire. This episode was hosted by the new addition to The Rental Journal Podcast, Michael Larsen.
33 years ago the Shaw family opened the doors of the first Master Hire branch in Toowoomba, Queensland. Still an original Queensland owned and operated family business, Master Hire proudly supplies an extensive range of hire equipment to many customers each day across South East Queensland, the Darling Downs and the Mid North Coast of New South Wales.

#137 - Michael Larsen
Michael Larsen is a returning guest on the podcast, and was awarded the HRIA Young Professional of the Year in 2022. Following on from this award Michael travelled from Australia to the U.S taking part in the International Rental Business Leadership Exchange Program.
In addition to working at Larsen's Air Conditioning Hire, Michael is going to be joining The Rental Journal Podcast and hosting some episodes in the future.
The Hire & Rental Industry Association (HRIA) promotes hire as the preferred choice for Australian business and consumers through supporting members, hire businesses, developing people and growing the industry. Celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2018, the HRIA continues to be a powerful voice for the hire industry in Australia, providing direction and support to enhance the success and safety of hire businesses in Australia.

#136 - Nathan Borg
Nathan Borg was appointed Kennards Hire’s Head of Digital & Customer Experience in October 2021. An experienced digital product specialist, Nathan has a wealth of experience delivering digital products for Kennards Hire and its customers.
With more than seven years working with digital products, Nathan is a digital thought leader with strengths in agile delivery. Responsible for the development and execution of Kennards Hire’s Digital Strategy, he plays a key role in the company’s digital transformation, managing its customer facing digital solutions with an aim to deliver world-class customer experiences.
Nathan has spent a decade working across many verticals within the hire industry such as IT, finance and project management. Notably he delivered the Kennards Hire website through from ideation to delivery – an industry-first - and pioneering eCommerce in the hire industry. He also worked closely in designing and delivering Kennards Hire’s workforce mobility solution which revolutionised the way the business deals with its customers. Along with his experience in hire, Nathan spent some time working on digital transformation projects at Football Australia.

#135 - Phil Mause
Phil Mause is the Senior Vice President at Rouse Services.
Rouse Services is the equipment rental industry's exclusive source for benchmark rate and utilization Data. Giving businesses the opportunity to to make comparisons of rental rates, utilization and other key performance metrics.
With over $65 billion of fleet on a cost basis and $28 billion of rental revenue in the U.S market, Rouse Services is rapidly expanding in Australia and recently onboarded Coates.
Learn more about Rouse Services in the link below:
https://www.rouseservices.com/solutions/rental-insights/

#134 - Kenneth Kimura
Kenneth Kimura is the Director, Product Development at Wynne Systems. Wynne Systems is used by some of the largest equipment rental businesses in the world and is utilized in over 54 countries. With clients such as United Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals & Herc Rentals, we learn about the history of Wynne Systems and advice for an equipment rental company looking at selecting a new rental software solution.

#133 - Justin Walters
Specializing in GPS tracking in the equipment rental industry, Justin Walters talks through the benefits Geoforce provides to the equipment rental industry and a recent solution they provided to Kennards Hire.
Combining a cloud-based software platform with rugged GPS tracking devices and global satellite and cellular networks, Geoforce’s solutions include efficient asset location and retrieval, rental invoice auditing, service delivery verification, inspection compliance, equipment maintenance alerts, and a host of others.

#132 - Jason Morey
Bandit Industries was started in 1983 in mid-Michigan with six employees, and today Bandit employs over 700 people in over 560,000 square feet of manufacturing space, serving 56 countries with over 50 different models of hand-fed and whole tree chippers, stump grinders, The Beast horizontal grinders, track carriers / skid steer attachments, and Arjes slow speed shredders.
Jason Morey is the Marketing Manager at Bandit Industries shares his insights of the history of the company and its involvement in the equipment rental industry.

#130 - Tom Trbojevic
Tom Trbojevic is a professional rugby league player and also a licenced finance broker with iFin Capital with a focus on the equipment rental industry.
Tom recently completed a Bachelor of Applied Finance with the degree of Bachelor of Economics at Macquarie University and talks through the importance of planning a career after a professional sporting career.

#129 - Nathan Hogan
Nathan Hogan is the principal at iFin Capital and was the Asset Finance Broker of the Year at the Australian Broking Awards 2021.
Specializing in asset finance solutions in the equipment rental industry, Nathan talks through navigating your asset finance in 2023.
Learn more about iFin Capital
http://www.ifincapital.com.au/contact/

#127 - Kylie Quinn & Damien Smith
In todays episode we are joined by Kylie Quinn & Damien Smith where talk all things insurance in relation to the equipment rental industry.
HRIA Insurance has been specifically designed by Hire Insurance Brokers in conjunction with the HRIA and their members to provide the best insurance products and advice for hire businesses.

#124 - Gill Dvir
Gill Dvir is the Managing Director at Alfasi Group. For 40 years Alfasi Group have been at the forefront of the construction industry successfully servicing clients Australia-wide. In 2004 Alfasi Hire was established as a complete standalone hire operation and have continued to grow exponentially with a focus on in access equipment and crane dry hire.

#122 - Tim Nuttall
Tim Nuttall is the Managing Director at Access Hire, the National Vice President of the Elevating Work Platform Association of Australia and an active mentor in the HRIA Women In Hire & Access Program. Tim has worked in the equipment rental industry for over 40 years working at companies such as Wreckair and JLG Industries, and was the recipient of the Dave Single Award at HIRE22.

#119 - Andrew Satterley
Andrew Satterley is a strategist, author & mentor in the equipment rental industry and has over 25 years of senior leadership experience working at the likes of Crown Equipment, Linde Material Handling, JLG Industries, Adaptalift Hyster, Baseplan & Access Group Australia.
Andrew Satterley recently published his first book "Redefine, Reimagine, Recreate" and was written to enable business owners, or business managers to have an easy to read, helping hand in improving their business.
Purchase the book, or learn more about Andrew Satterley here --> https://andrewsatterley.com.au/

#118 - Customer Focused KPI's for your equipment rental business
During this podcast episode we dive into some of the core customer focused KPI's for your equipment rental business.
- Quoting turnaround times
- Equipment delivered on time
- Equipment fit to spec & reliable
- Breakdown response & item swaps

#117 - Alexander Greschner
The Rental Journal Podcast attended Bauma 2022 in Munich and managed to catch up with Alexander Greschner. Alexander is the Chief Sales Officer at Wacker Neuson SE.
We talked about Bauma 2022, the history of Wacker Neuson, the latest technology and equipment and learn a little more about Alexander.

#115 - Michael Larsen
Michael Larsen of Larsen's Air Conditioning Hire was the recipient of the 2022 HRIA Young Professional of the Year award. Michael explains how he first joined the equipment rental industry through his family's business and his involvement in the HRIA Young Professionals Network & mentoring program.

#114 - Understanding your customers decision making process
During this podcast episode I dive into understanding the decision making process of a customer wanting to rent equipment.
- Are you close to where we work?
- Do you have the equipment I require?
- Are they big enough that they won't go broke during the project?
- Do they have safety procedures in place?
- Do they do anything special that will add value to my business?

#113 - Justin Pitts
Justin Pitts is the Managing Director at Blue Diamond Machinery. Blue Diamond Machinery is committed to being at the forefront of the energy transition and assisting in Australia's commitment to Net Zero carbon emission by 2050. As such, they are heavily investing in alternative Power Solutions to the traditional diesel offerings.
Blue Diamond Machinery aims to be at the forefront of these solutions which include Hybrid Generators, Energy Storage Systems (ESS) and Hydrogen Powered Generators.

#111 - John Stewart
John Stewart is the Group CEO at Makinex Construction Equipment.
Makinex makes inefficiencies extinct by inventing and manufacturing solution-driven products, that provide the global construction community new ways to increase productivity, profitability & efficiency. There are now 4,580 rental stores around the world with Makinex Products.

#110 - Josh Mosko
Josh Mosko is the previous Managing Director of LogiMove America and today is the Vice President of Business Development at CES Power.
LogiMove CheckMobile Global was recently acquired by Banneker, the same company who recently acquired Texada Software.
Josh has worked in the equipment rental industry for the past 20 years and the last 10 years in various executive roles globally. Josh worked for industry leading companies such as United Rentals, Herc Rentals and Red-d-Arc.

#109 - U OK? Day
On the 8th September 2022 is R U OK? Day and I wanted to talk about how a conversation could change a life. You don't need to be an expert to reach out to someone who may be struggling with life - just a good friend and a great listener. Learn more about R U OK? at https://www.ruok.org.au/

#106 - Alma Duran
Alma Duran is a Branch Manager at the United Rentals Fluid Solutions location in Midland Texas.
Joining the industry almost 5 years ago, Alma hit the ground running and was the recipient of the United Rentals President Award along with the Women's leadership Award.
For those of you that aren't aware of United Rentals. United Rentals is the largest equipment rental business in the world, with over 1,300 locations, 20,000 staff and 4,300 classes of equipment.

#105 - Alexander Schuessler
Alexander Schuessler is the President, International Group & Founder at SmartEquip.
Alexander was a Co-Founder of Caterpillar Rental Services Network, and initiative put together by Caterpillar in the 90's to investigate the potential future of rental. This formed an introduction to the equipment rental industry, where Alexander noticed the challenge businesses were having when trying to procure parts.
Fast forward to today and SmartEquip is now used by the top 5 largest equipment rental businesses in the world to streamline their parts procurement processes.

#103 - Cody Stewart
Cody Stewart is a Product Analytics Manager at Sunbelt Rentals. Cody grew up in the equipment rental industry through his families independent rental business, DJ Rentals in Columbia Tennessee. Eventually Sunbelt Rentals came knocking and acquired their family business, and Cody would stay on as a Profit Centre Manager (Branch Manager).
During this episode we learn what it is like to be acquired by Sunbelt Rentals, and what career opportunities are available after your business is acquired.

#102 - Nathan Venables
Nathan Venables is the Head of Fleet & Procurement at Kennards Hire and the current NSW Hire & Rental Industry Association (HRIA) President.
Nathan has worked in the equipment rental industry for almost two decades, joining Kennards Hire in 2005 through the Oaks Hire acquisition. Starting his career as a Serviceperson Driver at the Unanderra Branch on the NSW South Coast, he worked his way through the branch ranks to the role of Branch Manager, Corrimal in 2009. In 2012, he took on the role of Area Manager for the NSW South Coast and Southern Sydney region looking after branches across this network. With a passion for new equipment, innovation, fleet optimisation and transportation, he was appointed Head of Fleet & Procurement.

#101 - Scott Daly
Scott Daly is the JLG General Manager of Australia & New Zealand. I managed to catch up with Scott at the HIRE22 convention in Adelaide, during the episode we learn how Scott first joined the industry and roles he has had over his career, some of JLG's new products such Service Plus, the new electric powered rough terrain scissor lifts and compact crawler boom while learning about JLG's manufacturing capabilities in Port Macquarie.

#098 - Chris Bradley
Chris Bradley is the Managing Director at VRents Construction Equipment. Located in South Australia, VRents provides specialist rental services to the civil construction, bulk materials handling, major projects, quarries, pipeline, utilities infrastructure, road construction, mining, site remediation and bulk earthworks industries.

#092 - Federica Gargiuli
Federica Gargiuli is regarded as one of the top recruitment specialist in the equipment rental industry, and the founder of Talent Supply. Federica talks about her journey in the equipment rental industry, talks about some of the common challenges rental businesses are faced with and provides some tips on improving your recruitment strategy.

#090 - Gary Radford
Gary Radford is the Managing Director of Mynt Group a company focused on power, fuel & distribution products. Gary has a lifetime of experience in the equipment rental industry working at Wreckair, Donpra Hire, Onsite Rental Group and starting his own businesses Generator Solutions, WASP & Rhino FSD which would eventually be merged into Vortex Group of Companies and sold to National Pump and Energy (NPE).

#088 - Jim Lee
Jim Lee is the Managing Director of The Fleet Office. Jim spent 14 years in the British Army in various roles, including being trained as a heavy diesel fitter and later an officer managing a construction Squadron in Afghanistan. He would then move to Australia in 2010 to manage the largest privately owned vehicle and equipment fleet in Queensland, before eventually starting The Fleet Office.

#085 - Tom Kimber
Tom Kimber is the General Manager of Kennards Hire, New Zealand. Working in the New Zealand equipment rental industry for over 20 years, Tom was originally working at McEntee Hire before Kennards Hire acquired the business in 2012 and opened up the the first Kennards Hire New Zealand branch.

#081 - Josh Nickell
Josh Nickell is the Vice President, Equipment Segment at the American Rental Association. Growing up in the equipment rental industry, Josh was first exposed to the industry through his grand-father's business, Taylor Rental. Josh would go onto become the CEO of Nickell Rental which was eventually acquired by Sunbelt Rentals, Inc. Following the acquisition Josh would gain experience at Point of Rental Software, while also becoming a Strategic Advisor of easyToolhire and LogiMove CheckMobile Global.

#076 - Emily Donney
Emily Donney is the Senior Rental Controller at All Lift Forklifts & Access Equipment. Working in the equipment rental industry for 12 years, Emily shares some of the challenges she faced early in her career, advice she would give to women joining the equipment rental industry and what a normal day looks like for a Rental Controller.

#071 - Clint White
Clint White was awarded the 2021 Hire and Rental Industry Association Young Professional of the Year. Working in the dewatering industry for over 14 years, he has had roles such as dewatering Technician, Project Supervisor, Project Manager, Branch Manager & Depot Manager. Today he is a Sales Specialist at National Pump & Energy based in Western Australia.

#070 - Maureen Mousdell
Maureen Mousdell has over 25 years working at companies such as Brambles Forklifts, Access Group & Source Machinery. During her career Maureen has had various roles including Parts Manager, Service Co-Ordinator, Hire Manager, Account Manager and Service Operations Manager. Maureen also gives back to the industry through her involvement in the Women in Equipment Hire Facebook Group & the HRIA Women in Hire Program.

#069 - Charles Anderson
Charles Anderson is the co-founder of Arrow and is the first guest to feature for a second time on The Rental Journal Podcast. We learn more about the Arrow solution, in particular its group chat feature, the purpose of a marketing campaign and how Arrow has managed its culture while working remotely over the past 12 months.

#068 - George Whyte
George Whyte is the Aggreko Managing Director, Australia Pacific and Global Mining Sector Leader. Joining Aggreko 22 years ago, he has had roles such as Sales Manager, Temperature Control Manager, Sales & Marketing Director & Area General Manager. We learn about George's journey in the equipment rental industry, the history of Aggreko, the challenges of running a true global organization, some of Aggreko's initiatives such as their Net Zero Target & Reconciliation action plan and the process to Aggreko winning the 2021 HRIA Rental Company of the Year.

#066 - Rosemary Tilley
Rosemary Tilley is the Company Director at Construction Advisor, a company that provides Professional Development, Coaching, workshop facilitation, research services and the latest news in construction. We cover a range of topics with a focus on organization and personal wellbeing.

#064 - Charlie Pidcock
Charlie Pidcock has over 30 years sales experience, and first got exposed to the equipment rental industry in the early 2000's with National Hire. Going onto work at companies such as Coates Hire & Aggreko, Charlie would later find his passion in training & coaching of sales teams. A number of equipment rental businesses now enlist their sales teams into Charlie Pidcock's B2B Selling Series course.

#063 - James MacPherson
James MacPherson has over 18 years in the equipment rental industry, working at companies such as Coates Hire & Onsite Rental Group. He worked his way through various customer facing roles within the branches but would eventually find a passion for pricing & data. Today James is a specialist in analysing equipment rental rates, while also helping rental companies better utilize their data through reporting solutions. From this passion, James would go onto start his own company called Wolf and Bear Services, where he provides consulting services to the equipment rental industry.

#062 - Patrick Tunnicliffe
Patrick Tunnicliffe has a background in mechanical and maintenance engineering and world cup snowboard racing but found himself in the equipment rental industry in 2010. His engineering, planning, process efficiency, and operations background complimented his role as General Manager of a rental store which led to dramatic improvements of the operations and profitability of the company. Today Patrick is sharing his experiences and helping owners do the same from a business consulting perspective with a focus on leveraging technology to exponentially improve their businesses.

#061 - Aileen Hiskins
Aileen Hiskins is the founder of Strategic Alignment Training, a company that delivers coaching, mentoring and training programs. Aileen was involved in the design and ongoing delivery of the Hire and Rental Industry Association Women in Hire & Access Mentoring Program, Young Professional Network & HATS (Hire Apprenticeship training scheme).

#058 - Charles Anderson
Charles Anderson is the co-founder of Arrow, a company looking to change the way sales reps in the heavy equipment industry interact with CRM solutions. On a mission to eliminate data entry Friday, Charles and the Arrow team visited over 100 different dealerships to talk to equipment sales managers, reps and owners to build Arrow from the ground up.
Learn more about Arrow at https://www.rentalarrow.com/podcast

#057 - Kyle Clements
Kyle Clements is the founder of quipli, a business that helps take equipment rental businesses online. Kyle is relatively new to the industry, however to fast track his knowledge interviewed over 100 equipment rental businesses to find out whether or not they wanted an online store front, and what the business requirements would be. We dive into the results, while talking about general advice around the topic of e-commerce and the equipment rental industry.

#055 - Ash Woodcock
Ash Woodcock is the CEO / Owner of RPM Hire, a company that recently hit 10 years in operation. Ash established RPM Hire in 2011, whilst studying for a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Civil Engineering, RPM Hire initially was an entrepreneurial exercise for Ash, which has now become a successful business specializing in traffic solutions throughout Australia.

#053 - Matt Whalen
Matt Whalen is the Service Manager at Forklifts of Minnesota, and is also known as the Head Coach of the Service Department. Working at Forklifts of Minnesota for 17 years, Matt explains his journey within the company, advice to up and coming technicians and also what the purpose is of a Service Manager within an equipment rental business.

#052 - Jesse Buckingham
Jesse Buckingham is the CEO at Record360. Jesse talks about how he first joined the equipment rental industry, some of the most common challenges equipment rental businesses face when it comes to pre and post rental activities, ways to increase your damage collection and reflects on some advice he would provide his younger self.

#049 - Luke Habza
Based in Canada, Luke Habza first joined Equipment Corps 19 years ago and has moved his way up the ranks in various departments. Joining a business that specializes in technical rental, sales & service solutions, Luke would gain experience in the compliance testing and servicing, customer service and sales team. Part of his first role in the business was actually sweeping the floor, and the career progression only come about through Luke putting his hand up and saying yes to opportunities. Today Luke looks after the National Sales & Business Development at Equipment Corp.

#048 - El Ioannou
El Ioannou is the Power Access Division Manager at Mr Plant Hire. Based in the London UK, El first joined the equipment rental industry with HSS Hire before eventually gaining additional experience at Ashtead Plant Hire (A-Plant). El talks about some of the challenges she faced throughout her career, how Mr Plant Hire tackled the challenges with COVID-19, advice for other men & women that are looking at joining the equipment rental industry and also how important it is to believe in yourself.

#046 - Stefan Ottl
Stefan Ottl is the Director of Sales & Marketing, Off-Highway at Irdeto. Based in Vienna, Austria, Stefan was first exposed to the equipment industry through Hilti Group and later found a passion for technology in construction. Focusing on driving sustainability in construction, Stefan talks about how he believes customers sharing construction equipment on job sites will become mainstream.

#045 - Ali Hajj
Ali Hajj is a degree qualified and experienced Communication & Electronics Engineer with an accomplished working history spread across 11 years’ practical experience in driving improvement and change initiatives within the heavy equipment/rental industry. Ali first gained his equipment rental experience at the largest Caterpillar Dealership in the Middle East, Zahid Tractor in Saudi Arabia. Having completing various roles within the company, one of Ali's key achievements was Project Managing the Implementation of Infor M3 into Zahid Tractor and Ejar Cat Rental Store.

#044 - Tony Colon
Tony Colon served in the U.S military before eventually joining the equipment rental industry. Tony has worked at companies such as Cummins, Caterpillar, United Rentals and Herc Rentals. Based in San Diego, Tony is a Field Service Technician at Herc Rentals, and recently completed his MBA. Tony talks about the transition from the U.S Military to the civilian life and the journey he has been on to get to where he is today.

#043 - Stephen Donnelley
Stephen Donnelley is a Director at Donnelley Civil and Vortex Group of Companies. Stephen was the Managing Director of National Hire Group, which eventually merged with Coates Hire, Australia's largest equipment rental business. Growing up in a family business in Wollongong, Stephen was mentored by his father and some of the industry greats, such as Andy Kennard, Barry McDonald, Neville Kennard, Sam Greenberg and Peter Lancken to name just a few.

#042 - Andy Martin
Andy Martin is the Managing Director of Martin Plant Hire, an independent, Scottish firm with depots covering the whole of Scotland. Andy is second generation rental with his father starting the business 47 years ago. Growing to become one of the largest independent hire firms in Scotland, Martin Plant Hire recently acquired the rights to the easyToolhire Scotland brand.

#041 - Bruce Fouracre
Bruce Fouracre has over 25 years experience in the equipment rental industry and is one of the Directors of 1300TempFence. Starting with the family business back when it was called Ready Bin, Bruce would help take the business on a journey to become one of Australia's leading temporary fencing providers for what is known today as 1300TempFence.

#040 - Doug Levings
Doug Levings has over 40 years experience in the equipment rental industry, running his own company and also working at various independent and national rental companies throughout Australia. During one of Doug's first interviews he was told that he would never make in the equipment rental industry. He would go to eventually become the Manager of that individual and have a successful career in the industry. Doug talks about the importance of mental health and being honest with yourself, explaining some of the struggles he faced and how he overcome them. Multiple guests on this podcast have mentioned that Doug was an influential figure in their career.

#039 - Jason Stanczyk
Jason Stanczyk is the Vice President of Operations for EDCO, an American manufacturer of surface preparation equipment, professional sawing equipment, demolition and drilling machines. EDCO also provides hand tools and vacuum systems. EDCO is family owned and operated. Jason is 3rd generation rental. His grandfather Leo Swan, an ARA 2006 Hall of Fame Inductee, started EDCO with his business partner Ed Harding. Leo and Ed, rental store employees in the 1950s, began solving their rental customers’ problems by creating products for their specific needs.

#038 - Steven Brooks
Steven Brooks is the National Sales Director at Great Lakes Lifting Solutions, a family owned equipment rental business based out of Illinois. Steven talks about the benefit of renting out niche products in the rental industry, the challenge of spending long amounts of time travelling for work, becoming a Spydercrane dealer and the exclusive dealer for SmartLift and how social media and video content plays such an important role in keeping customers informed about equipment available for rent.

#037 - Blake Menning
Blake Menning is the Vice President at All Choice Rentals out of Alberta Canada. Blake has won numerous awards including Rental Person of the Year through the Canadian Rental Association, he was included in the 14 people to watch under 40 list and was nominated in the Ernst & Young EY Entrepreneur of the Year.
Podcast Partners
Subscribe to our email list
Stay up to date on the latest podcast episodes and The Rental Journal updates
bottom of page