‘Mr. Absolutely:’ A can-do attitude is at the heart of New West Equipment Rentals

New West Equipment Rentals was one of the only fuel-cleaning businesses in all of Western Canada. Keith Beggs, owner and general manager of New West started the company in Calgary, Alta. When he first immigrated to Canada, Beggs did not anticipate life to be surrounded by oil, diesel and fuel. Nor did he foresee that he would create a fuel-cleaning machine that would cause his business to boom. Beggs fell into the industry unexpectedly because he became a Canadian unexpectedly. Beggs was born in England and spent his whole life there up until 1973 when he was stationed in Calgary with the British Army. Beggs fell in love with the Alberta mountains and Canada as a whole. He immigrated a year later in 1974 at 22 years old.

Beggs started out working as a yard man for a rental company in Calgary and worked his way up to become a full-time mechanic with Certified Rentals. “They’re the guys who truly taught me everything I know,” says Beggs, who attributes New West’s success to the work ethic Certified Rentals instilled in him. Beggs worked with Certified Rentals for 10 years and went on to become a journeyman and heavy-duty diesel mechanic. Although it was not a glamorous job by any means, Beggs adored the work.

Around this time, Beggs was being asked to service old generators after hours. Which was something he was hesitant to do, not only because of the mess but because it was a big job. After some consideration, Beggs went through with the job. “I made more in two and a half hours than I did all week,” he says. Beggs continues to work on generators after work hours, on weekends and on Christmas. In 1994, He realized that starting his own business would be beneficial, but he and his wife had two infant boys – taking a chance was risky. “My wife asked me ‘What if we fail?’” says Beggs. “And I said ‘I would rather try and fail than sit in a rocking chair and go, what if?’ So we did it.” From there New West was born.

Image courtesy of New West Equipment.

Thirty years later, the family-owned business has three locations in Calgary and another in Red Deer, Alta. Beggs says his company has been incredibly successful. What is his secret? According to him, it is treating the customer with the utmost respect and always saying yes. “They call me Mr. Absolutely,” jokes Beggs. When the company started, it was mostly fuel and oil changes, with a few guys working with him on the weekend. “But every year the business doubled,” he says. The business remained steady with the ebbs and flows a family-owned business is prone to. It wasn’t until 2021 that the business “exploded” as Beggs puts it. Mr. Absolutely always says yes to everything and his customers are his biggest priority. “It’s our reputation,” he says, “We get a lot of passion back from our customers.”

Image courtesy of New West Equipment.

There are four key components to New West: one equipment rental, two diesel, three propane and four site services. Fuel cleaning did incredibly well for New West; Beggs got into it when customers would try to rent equipment to move 10,000-litre tanks from their homes and basements. The Alberta and National Fire Code require an annual “swirl and bright,” test to determine fuel conditions. According to Beggs, a lot of customers would replace the fuel rather than clean it. Beggs used this opportunity for a moment of innovation and decided his business would offer fuel cleaning as a lucrative business strategy. Initially, Beggs was using an older machine that was born out of the 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. He used that machine for the first year, but it didn’t work as well as Beggs hoped – it was incredibly messy and slow. “We decided to write down everything we wanted in a machine and make it ourselves,” says Beggs. At first, it would take Beggs and his team 10 to 12 hours to clean a 10,000- litre tank but with his new machine it only takes about four.

“It did really well,” Beggs says. “I wanted to raise revenue for the summer and this was a great way to do it.”

Image courtesy of New West Equipment.

Equipment rentals are the heart of Beggs’ business. According to Beggs, the majority of his customers are homeowners. The business also offers services on-site to help with any of the rented tools; his biggest seller is battery generators. Like most rental service businesses, New West faced some challenges when big commercial construction companies developed in the area. “We had to adapt,” says Beggs, “and went onto a different segment.” This is exactly what he did. Beggs started to work business-to-business and sell equipment alongside renting. “We were helping the guys who were building homes,” Beggs says. His team was doing everything from fencing, oil changes, roads and filling any gaps in staff. “When we work together we’re stronger,” he says. Beggs has also committed to being as eco-friendly and efficient as he can be, even if it makes him less money in the long run.

Beggs attributes his company’s success to the hard work and dedication of his employees, which are made up of many family units including his own sons. “They’ve transformed this place,” says Beggs. “Hiring them was one of my biggest milestones.” As cliche as it sounds, Beggs loves his job and the company he has started from scratch – and now “absolutely” is his company mantra. “It sounds corny as hell,” he laughs, “but when we say we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it.”

Beggs’s two sons. Image courtesy of New West Equipment.