Published September 2004

Volvo Construction Equipment Rents:
Northwest franchise opens in Everett

Snohomish County Business Journal/JOHN WOLCOTT Bryan Chernick is manager of the Northwest’s first Volvo Construction Equipment Rents business, which opened in July at 1021 N. Broadway in Everett. He rents to both contractors and homeowners.

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

The first Volvo construction equipment rental franchise in the Northwest has opened in Everett to take advantage of population and economic growth in Snohomish County, according to Bryan Chernick, manager of the facility that opened in July.

His business, Volvo Construction Equipment Rents, is remodeling a long-vacant building at 1021 N. Broadway, adding offices and an equipment showroom. The parking lot is filled not only with Volvo equipment but also John Deere and other brands.

Chernick said rentals have taken off briskly in the first two months in response to the new facility.

“We knew this was an area with competition, but we believe the growing population and recovering economy will make this a growth market for us. Also, we’re bringing new Volvo equipment into a marketplace that hasn’t seen that before for rentals,” he said.

He said his firm will be serving the construction, commercial, industrial and landscape industries but also catering to homeowners. His storage room is filled with generators, soil compactors and other smaller equipment pieces.

Rentals will include a comprehensive line of equipment and tools, along with compact excavators, wheel loaders, backhoes and skid-steer loaders. Chernick said Volvo also is coming out with a new line of roller compactors and trucks. The rental company’s largest piece of equipment is a 37,000-ton Volvo EC-160 excavator. Most units are in the under-100-horsepower class. Much of the equipment is stored at a large Lynnwood site, in addition to equipment at the Everett rental site.

The Volvo franchise has six employees. Operated under Phoinix Equipment LLC, it’s owned by five partners, including Chernick, Brad Coury, Anthony Bahnick, Alan Hall and Heather Elton. All of them left the same company a year ago to start their own venture.

“We were all working in environmental site clean-up in the Western states, including mine restoration and industrial facilities. We rented equipment all the time, which got us thinking about being on the other side and renting equipment to other people,” Chernick said.

The other four partners in the Volvo franchise work in the parent company the five own, The Phoinix Corp., at 6016 204th St. SW, Lynnwood. Much of Phoinix’s work is in construction oversight on environmental issues, with the Port of Seattle being its largest client.

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