If your grandparents started and grew a renowned clothing brand and your dad founded a large commercial bakery, what kind of business do you start?

For Robert Gray, the answer is an Internet equipment rental portal called RentalHawk in Newport Beach. Still in its early stages, RentalHawk lists 300 types of the most commonly rented equipment, with the emphasis on construction, from floor polishers to 1,000-watt generators offered by rental companies in 14 states. The goal is nationwide reach and anything that can be rented.

Grandparents Marie and Robert Gray started St. John Knits, designer women's clothing and accessories, in Irvine. Dad Michael Gray founded Sweet Life Enterprises in Santa Ana. That company makes cookies, cinnamon rolls and other goodies for Disneyland Resort and 15,000 quick-serve restaurants such as McDonalds and KFC. He sold it in 2007.

Even if an entrepreneur isn't going to take over the family business, lifelong exposure is invaluable. The younger Robert Gray, 31, worked at both companies as a youngster. His father worked at St. John Knits for 26 years before launching Sweet Life.

"You learn a lot growing up in the environment but you have to have a certain amount of (entrepreneurship) in your blood," Michael Gray said. "Even if you don't have to work, you love the excitement and challenge of starting your own business. It's fun because you don't know what you don't know so failure is not an option."

Robert Gray didn't just learn in the family work environment. He was also in a Toyota management training program and worked for United Rentals in San Francisco because "I wanted to be on my own."

That last job opened his eyes to a $50 billion industry and the difficulty that equipment rental companies and individuals and businesses in need of equipment have finding each other. That wasn't such a big deal for the rental companies until the construction industry and economy took a dive in 2007-2008.

"With the economy doing so badly, the relationship was strained between rental companies and contractors about price," Gray said. "Contractors didn't care about service or quality. They wanted convenience and price."

When he discovered there was no one place online that renters could go to find what they needed with reviews of the suppliers, he started thinking how that need could be turned into a business.

"It's in the blood," he said.

Gray consulted with his dad about the idea, wrote a business plan.

Father Michael Gray said, "It's a very good idea; he has to go through the process of cutting a niche in the market."

RentalHawk has been a work in progress. Robert Gray re-invented and tweaked the concept several times in response to rental companies and searching customers. Sometimes, it's a fine balance between the two. The service is free for renters, and rental companies pay a flat fee, not a commission.

"Rental companies want to capture new customers, but don't want to come across as discounting prices. Customers can haggle but companies won't advertise that," Gray said.

On RentalHawk, customers can sort by type of equipment needed and distance from the work site, but not by price. They can also see one-to-five-star ratings and read reviews about companies' reliability and service.

Calls are routed through RentalHawk, which tracks and records conversations so companies can monitor how their employees are dealing with potential customers.

"With these audio files we can prove we're sending hundreds of leads to these companies, and then a manager can sit down with sales people and use the audio files to discuss what they can do better," Gray explains. "It a great sales and training tool for a nominal fee."

Economy Rentals, which has offices in Anaheim and Los Angeles, gets about 50 calls a month from RentalHawk, said Doug Myers, who works the equipment rental service with his dad.

An individual business can't afford to buy all the Internet search keywords for every community in which it operates, Myers said. But RentalHawk pools all the companies so it can show up first on search results for everything from forklifts to tractors.

"Plus RentalHawk tracks call numbers and the audio files help me train my guys to sell more effectively," he added.

One key to making RentalHawk profitable is attracting rental companies in every community, Gray said. There are 10,000 equipment rental locations nationwide, and RentalHawk has 120 in 14 states. Gray's goal by the end of the year is 500 locations.

RentalHawk has a couple of employees including Keith Hansen, a computer programmer and designer who has an equity stake, and numerous independent sales agents who earn commissions for signing up rental companies for the site.

The first markets to take off have been the ones hardest hit by the construction slump: California, Florida and Arizona. The company is also doing well in Texas because of super salesman Scott Snyder, Gray said. RentalHawk has a Hummer with advertising wrap that Gray has promised to Snyder when he signs up 100 rental companies.

"We're just in our infant stage; I'd like to get to 50 percent of the (national) market," he said.

While his initial idea was to reach professional contractors, RentalHawk is attracting equal numbers of pros and do-it-yourselfers.

"On the website you can click to listen to sample calls and listen to big guys looking for seven-yard trucks and little old ladies asking about bobcats," Gray said. When developing the concept, "I was caught up in the construction world and big companies renting boom lifts. But profit margins are higher with customers who want convenience and are less price-sensitive."

Recently the DIY network called wanting to feature RentalHawk on one of its shows. Taping was done on July 23.

"RentalHawk doesn't replace a company's website or sales force, but we want to make it so rental companies have to be listed on RentalHawk," Gray said. "My dad and I are trying to figure out what the next step it. We did it low budget to see if it works, and it's doing so well that we want to build it up."

For more Details:
Company: Rental Hawk
Address: 15 Corporate Plaza, Newport Beach
Phone: 949-500-9626
Website: www.rentalhawk.com
Type of Business: Website to connect equipment rental companies with contractors, do-it-yourselfers and others seeking to rent large or small equipment in their local communities.
Founder: Robert Gray