Customer Spotlight: Justin Williams, Advantage Tent
Advantage Tent & Party Rental is a complete event, tent, and party rental company servicing the Greater Cincinnati Ohio and Northern Kentucky area. They work with you step-by-step to cover any questions or concerns you might have. Their vision is to be a premier tent and party rental company by offering exceptional quality, trusted advisory, and unparalleled customer service at competitive pricing.
How long have you been in the tent business and how did you get started?
I started in the tent & party rental business in spring of 2000. My full-time job, teaching independent living skills to individuals with disabilities, required mostly evenings and weekends. So, to make extra money, I applied for a part-time position at a local tent company called Snappy Tents. After a year of working both jobs, the owner of Snappy Tents called me into his office to see if I was interested in a management position, with the ability to earn ownership over time. I accepted the offer almost immediately as I felt this was something I could really excel at and liked that I would be involved in all aspects of the small business.
Over the next 9 years, I spent most of my time growing and leaning about the business. During that time, the aforementioned ownership commitment had not gone anywhere. Faced with several other business opportunities, I felt it was important to sit down with the owner to discuss the future and the original commitments. The meeting did not go as I'd hoped, so if I was going to stay in the business, I needed to find investors and start something on my own. Or, I needed to approach one of the several other rental companies that had popped up in recent years. While working on both options, I created a new LLC called Cincy Tents & Events, and sat down for a partnership meeting with Advantage Tent & Party Rental, another small rental company. Starting something on my own would've been a 10-year struggle, whereas, if I went to a rental company with more assets and deeper pockets, I could build the company I had envisioned much more quickly. I got married that year, so I felt the guaranteed ownership, company car, insurance, and salary were the best decisions for my new family. At the time, Advantage was making about $150,000 a year in sales and losing money. The deal that the owners and I had worked out stipulated that if I could make the tent company profitable and reach sales over $500,000 in three years, I could earn ownership up to 10%. I vastly exceeded their expectations and based on the company’s new business plan, we had become the premier tent and party rental company in Northern Kentucky.
That same year, I started another successful business called Advantage Restroom Trailers. We won awards and were highlighted by the Northern Kentucky Chamber as a top 10 fastest growing company in the region in 2012, 2013, 2014. The following year, I approached the majority owner of Advantage Tent to see if he would be interested in selling his shares. At the time, we were doing about 1.5 million a year in sales, had just moved into a new 24,000 square foot warehouse, and profitably was better than ever. The one thing the majority owner did not like was our labor rates, which we butted heads on often. After many discussions, we were able to work something out, but it required me to come up with additional funds, so I went back to an original investor/friend, someone who had become an advisor to me over the years. In 2016, the two of us gained control of Advantage Tent, and in 2018 we acquired 100% of the company.
Tell us about an interesting and/or challenging project you and your team completed in 2023.
Eary last year, I met with a bride that was interested in creating a dream wedding on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River. The space she wanted is called Covington Landing; mere feet from the water and just across the river from the Cincinnati Bengals stadium. She rented a 40'x100' Jumbotrac on 10' legs with solid roof and clear gable ends with an additional 30'x100' Jumbotrac Lite with a clear roof for dancing. The challenging part came when Taylor Swift booked her concert series on the same weekend just across the river. If you have never visited a city where a Taylor Swift concert is scheduled, you can't image what it is like. Droves and droves of “Swifties” journey in and take over the entire area! The day before the wedding we delivered a box trailer to the site so the customer could store some of her "day of" items, our specialty white bars, the linens, and the dance floor. The morning of the wedding we went back to the site to turn on the generator and set up the bars, dance floor and ceremony chairs. After the ceremony was over, we broke down all the ceremony chairs, and then after the wedding was over, we went back to the site again to remove all the items from under the tent.
Now that we're on the backside of Covid, what has changed with the way you operate?
The only thing we have really changed is the terminology in our rental contract. We excelled during Covid, thanks to my amazing wife and some creative thinking, we got a random email in front of the right person, at the right time. The first few weeks of Covid were very concerning, but once we were able to get our first Covid testing tent up for the State of Kentucky, it turned things around. For the first 8-10 months of Covid, we set up Covid testing tents all over the state of Kentucky, and I mean all over the state. Some of our trips took us 6 hours away! With what we did and how we worked, the head of Kentucky emergency management knew if he was in a bind no matter what time it was, he could call me. That relationship continued and led us to all types of projects that not only provided us work, but also provided an opportunity to help our Kentucky community in times of need.
Over the last several years, labor has been a major issue with tent installation. How have you retained/kept your workforce?
We have a few things that I believe work well. We have a $2 per hour bonus pay, every pay period, for anyone that has perfect attendance. For jobs that are scheduled to be delivered or set up after hours, customers are charged a $75 per hour rate, which is fully paid to my employees. On an employee’s paycheck they have a base pay, bonus pay #1 “Show up bonus”, and a bonus pay #2 “Afterhours work”. For my managers I do other things to create a better life for them, but most importantly I don’t hire seasonal help. I keep all my employees year-round, unlike most rental companies. Labor has not been an issue since I took over controlling interest in the company.
How has Tidewater changed your wedding customers?
We are the preferred tent & party rental company at almost every wedding venue in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. Having tidewater keeps us growing without having to add additional trucks, space, or employees. We carry 44’ wide, 51’ wide, and now will have 59’ wide available for the 2024 season.
What keeps you buying Aztec Tent products?
I have many reasons, the product lines are great, but Phil Teer from Aztec is even better. I have been following Phil around for years and will continue for many years to come. The other reasons I buy from Aztec is the website is great, I can pull any of the information I need for permitting without making calls to my rep, and the addition of the new website ordering system is awesome [tentpros.com]. I am a tent nerd so looking at and buying random products is fun for me. I just ran into a situation with the permit office on a fully custom graphic printed top from another manufacture. When it was time to pull the permits, I had an issue getting the assembly instructions. When I did and submitted the plans, they were wrong, when this was pointed out they stated it was a typo. This required me to submit a revision to the building department, and schedule new inspections. If I would have ordered the tent from Aztec none of the issues would have come up.
If you were to sum up your business philosophy in a sentence or two, what would that be?
Don’t be lazy, put in the time, and take care of your employees.
