Econorent In Northbrook: A Small Business With Big Ambitions

Jeff Green | Jul 31, 2024

Jeff Van Dongen describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur”. When he bought many acres on the Clark Line Road near Flinton 3 years ago, he thought that would be the end of all that.

“My wife Meaghan and I spent every weekend for four months travelling everywhere in Ontario looking for a place to settle. We were looking for wilderness, a small town nearby, a private place. As soon as we saw the property in Flinton, we knew we had found our spot,” Van Dongen said, in an interview this week.

He said that at the time he was involved in several automotive & technology related ventures, and was ready to divest in some of them and turn a couple of others over to managers so he could step back.

When they moved to the property, near the end of COVID, Jeff wanted a “man cave” a combination shed to hold his toys, office space, and entertainment centre. In order to build the 6,000 square foot building, he had to rent a bunch of equipment, to clear the land, dig the foundation and put up the building.

“After months of paying excessive transportation and other hidden fees for equipment that broke down a lot, I got pretty frustrated,” he recalls.

Another thing that happened in Flinton. Instead of living an isolated life, as they expected, Jeff and Meaghan met people, and began to fall in love with the community as much as the landscape ‘north of 7’.

“From talking to people, I realised I was not the only one who was frustrated by equipment rental chains in the major surrounding cities. That’s where my frustration turned into a business idea,” he said.

Back when Jeff was growing up in Windsor and Essex County, there was a small, locally owned equipment rental company in Essex County.

“We used them all the time, and they were great. It was better to work with them than to buy equipment. I thought why isn’t there a company like that around here.”

That’s when the idea behind Econorent came about.

Jeff contacted a friend of his from childhood, Lawrence Stein, who has been working overseas and was ready to move back to Canada and make a change, and they put the business together, along with a third partner from Corbyville, Jason Morden.

One part of their business model is to use only new, or nearly new equipment.

“We run our larger machines less than 500 hours and have built a remarketing channel that allows us to effectively replace units keeping our fleet fresh, new and in great working order at all times, thereby ensuring little to no down time for our customers,” said Van Dongen.

Top of the line equipment, low cost delivery, no hidden fees and exceptional customer service are at the core of what the Econorent team believe sets them apart.

Econorent opened in late May on Highway 7, just north of Northbrook where Richmond Vet and Custom Coverups are located.

“We are learning very quickly about the local market,” said Lawrence Stein. We are constantly bringing in new equipment to meet the needs of our customers.” ”

Since opening, the partners have been surprised by orders from well out of the region they are building the business to serve.

“Our focus is on the local area in Addington Highlands and North Frontenac. That’s why we have free delivery for locations 25km or less from our store,” said Jason Morden, “but we are also looking at this business as a model that could work in other, underserved rural areas across Ontario.”

While they are not surprised about the volume of business they have attracted in two months, without any real marketing effort, because of the busy seasonal nature of the region, they plan to continue to invest to support off season rentals for several applications including forestry and snow removal.

In addition to renting small and large equipment, Econorent is also rents and sells Milwaukee tools, FAE forestry equipment, Wacker Neuson, Blue Diamond Attachments, Black Creek Innovations wood processors, and a long list of manufacturers and products being added daily.

Our commitment is to be a part of the community, and to work with the other businesses in the area.

“It is hard enough to build anything these days with al the costs and regulations that individuals and contractors have to deal with. But there is a strong group of businesses around here helping people out, and we want to be a part of that, and a part of the community,” said Lawrence Stein.

Econorent is located at 14 Bosley Road, accessed of Highway 41. They can be reached by phone at (613) 334-2095. A list of equipment for rent and pricing can be found at econorent.ca