Nisku 鈥� Guy Turnbull, owner and president of A-1 Rentals stared down the oilfield downturn at Ritchie Bros.鈥� mega spring auction in Nisku without a blink.
He was confident going into the sale, held April 28 to May 1 that he would get premium prices in a realignment auction of oilfield rental equipment, and he did.
鈥淲e did very well. I am very, very happy. I had a guarantee coming into this from Ritchie,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hey come and look at your equipment and they give you a guarantee and they gave me a very good guarantee I felt.
鈥淚 thought if things go right we鈥檒l get over the guarantee and everything will be groovy, and I think we鈥檝e done that.鈥澛�
The record-breaking unreserved public auction sold more than $215 million of heavy equipment and trucks for more than 760 sellers like Turnbull.
鈥淲ell, we鈥檙e getting down in numbers because of the oilpatch 鈥� we鈥檙e not covering it as much,鈥� he said about his reasons for entering the auction.
鈥淭here are not enough rentals going out, so we decided to disperse a bunch of stuff and buy some newer stuff and less of it.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 the first time I鈥檝e done this. I did in 鈥�08 when that turndown happened, and I鈥檓 doing it again now.鈥�
A-1 Rentals, based in Camrose and Wetaskiwin, Alta., rents everything from tools and light equipment to heavy equipment, forklifts and zoom booms.
鈥淲e were geared up for the pipeline companies and the oilpatch in general. It鈥檚 just slow, so we put 475 pieces in,鈥� said Turnbull聽
A-1 Rentals also services Fort McMurray where Turnbull has based his growing portable rental toilet business called A-1 Portables.
鈥淥ur porta potty business is still doing probably as much as we ever did up there,鈥� said Turnbull.聽
鈥淥ur main business is porta potties. We have about 2,000 porta potties up there about 400 heated Job-Jons.
鈥淲e鈥檙e number one in the number two business you might say,鈥� he said with a laugh.聽
He said equipment rentals to area pipeline companies like OJ Pipeline and Sommerville Pipeline dropped off with the downturn.
鈥淥f course, they are finished up now, so if wasn鈥檛 for McMurray right now 鈥� the porta potty business is very good 鈥� and the rental business was about 50 percent,鈥� he said.
鈥淥ur porta potty business will carry us through his hopefully.鈥�
The A-1 Rentals realignment auction included the sale of big loaders, skid steers, mini hoes, generators, light towers, manlifts, zoom booms and big heaters.
鈥淪ince December, we had over half of our stuff sitting in the yard so we just decided it was time to bring it to the auction and buy some new buy stuff,鈥� said Turnbull
鈥淚nstead of buying 10 of something, we鈥檒l have two or three until things pick up.聽
鈥淲e鈥檒l get some cash flow and new iron back into the fleet because some of the stuff was getting a few years old.鈥澛�
The A-1 Rentals auction equipment was among the record 7,700 lots sold by Ritchie Bros. with a record 14,000 bidders and 8,500 online bidders from around the world to keep prices high.
鈥淚 think everybody鈥檚 that鈥檚 selling anything here should be pretty happy. I haven鈥檛 seen much on the low side. Prices are up there,鈥� said Turnbull, who attributes that to doing business with Ritchie Bros. before.
鈥淭hey know your equipment. They know how well they did in 鈥�08. I think they look at that and our equipment is very good.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 clean and it鈥檚 well maintained. The last time, we got premium prices too.聽
鈥淚t looked pretty good so they know it鈥檚 probably good equipment and not just something people are bringing to the auction because there is something wrong with it.鈥�
A-1 Rentals also had about 100 pieces of aerial equipment for auction with fresh certification on every item.
鈥淭hat was the deal that Ritchie wanted and it is a good selling feature,鈥� said Turnbull who also spoke about what makes his A-1 Portables tick despite the downturn.
鈥淚 started the porta potty business 13 years ago, and I bought a company out. I thought this would be good for a little bit of cash flow,鈥� he explained.聽
鈥淚 built it from 110 toilets that I bought with that company to over 4,000. We鈥檙e probably the biggest in Alberta. It鈥檚 a growing business because you got to have it.
鈥淓very construction site you have to have a porta potty or you can鈥檛 work in Alberta.鈥�
Turnbull used to a B-pressure pipeline welder 20 years ago when he said there was no such thing as a toilet out in the right of way.
鈥淣ow, when you go on the pipeline right of way 鈥� we do a lot of pipeline companies 鈥� all the toilets are on the right of way, and they鈥檝e got one every kilometre or two,鈥� he said.
鈥淪ometimes there鈥檚 two in one place because there are women working on the line. We鈥檒l get them serviced once or twice a week.鈥�
He bought out a rental toilet business from Waste Management in Fort McMurray about nine years ago and has never looked backed.
Turnbull just bought three acres of land near Highways 881 and 63 in Fort McMurray for a $6 million expansion of A-1 Portables that has grown to 18 employees.
The company also rents disposal bins and wash cars and provides liquid waste removal services.
鈥淭he reason we started the garbage business was because every time someone called for a toilet they asked 鈥榙o you have a bin?鈥� so I knew it would be easy to build a business,鈥� said Turnbull.
鈥淲e鈥檙e on every site up there now, and we鈥檝e got a good safety record. We got all the tickets you need to do the job.鈥�
Companies in Fort McMurray can also contact A-1 Rentals for quick delivery of rental oilfield and industrial equipment.
鈥淲e bring it out of Camrose. We don鈥檛 keep it up there. I deal with a lot of people down here because they like the service or whatever and we鈥檒l get it to them,鈥� he said.聽
鈥淏ecause we don鈥檛 have a mechanic up there, if there鈥檚 an issue with a piece we will change it out. We will send a truck. We鈥檝e got our own semis.鈥�
The Ritchie Bros. auction attracted strong bids for heavy equipment and trucks from over 55 countries including every province in Canada, two territories and 48 U.S. states.
The industrial auctioneer reported that 51 per cent of equipment was purchased by buyers from Alberta.
The rest was sold to buyers from around the world including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and the Netherlands.
鈥淭hat was the big thing coming in to this sale with all the talk on the street. You don鈥檛 know how much money is out there,鈥� said Turnbull.聽
Having more than 1,850 online buyers at the auction helped to drive the success of the Ritchie Bros.鈥� auction.聽
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter how many people are standing here 鈥� the Intenet鈥檚 out 鈥� and how many thousands of people are on the Internet now? They are selling worldwide.
鈥淭hese people are the best in the business and they鈥檝e got their stuff together.
