Start Up Rank:10
Revenue: $3,536,000
Founder: Jim Noort
Industry: Property and business services
Head Office: Queensland
Employees: 23
Website: www.vikingrentals.com.au
After hiring a dirty toilet that was barely serviced while constructing a new family home, Jim Noort felt the only solution to cleaning up the industry was to simply do it himself.
"I was supplied with a dirty horrible toilet that was rarely serviced while on site. I thought ‘how hard can it be to keep a toilet clean?' Well, we now have 2,500 toilets and keeping them all clean does require some smart logistics, but we seem to do it fairly well."
Viking Rentals is one of the largest companies of its kind, renting toilets to construction sites and other events in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Sunshine and Gold Coast. And while Noort says the company suffered during the downturn, careful planning has helped this start up avoid disaster.
After mortgaging his house and borrowing some money from his father, Noort leapt headlong into a business he had absolutely no experience in.
He happily admits that the funniest part of starting his business - at least for those people watching his progress - has been getting covered in poo! But Noort says the business has forced competitors to improve their pace to keep up.
"Prior to Viking Rentals entering the industry, portable toilets were a disgrace. We lifted the bar very high and this is dragging the industry overall up as our competitors try to meet our challenge."
The last 12 months have been challenging, with housing construction in Queensland diving by as much as 40%. But a careful cashflow plan, which Noort checked daily, has helped him emerge with a stronger business.
"This was a very challenging period from which we have only recently emerged from. We survived by carefully planning a rolling 60 day cashflow forecast and reviewing it every single day. We are through that now and are starting to flourish again."
The business has revenue of $3.5 million and a staff base of 21, including 11 hired just in the last 12 months. His next big goals include expanding the business across Melbourne and "possibly" moving in to Sydney, with a revenue target of $10 million.
Currently he is working on planning capital requirements for the future, and is "meeting my investment partners to ensure we have our ducks lined up". But so far, he says the best part of Viking's journey was "Taking a punt and winning".
MOST CHALLENGING PART OF STARTING YOUR BUSINESS:
"It was very hard not having anyone to ask. I worked out through trial and error which end sucked and which end stank."
 |
 |
