Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental offers wide selection with personal service

Doug Carbone and Wendy Licht started Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental after getting tired of driving to Wausau every time they needed to rent equipment to work on projects on their property and they saw a market for rentals in the Merrill area.
“We were driving down to Wausau to rent and stuff,” Carbone said. “And I said, this is crazy. And then we started buying things and said, ‘Let’s make a business out of it.’”
The couple formed their LLC in October 2022 and spent about a year getting insurance and everything in place before opening their doors May 16, 2024, in the Town of Pine River. They held an official grand opening in 2025.
Carbone and Licht met while both serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2005. Carbone retired from the Army in 2013 after 20 years of service. Licht served approximately eight years in the Army.
“We met up in Iraq in 2005,” Carbone said. “We became friends, and then we started dating.”

After retiring from the service, Carbone pursued his lifelong passion for flying. He moved to Florida with Licht to attend helicopter flight school, then worked as a contractor instructing for the Army for four years. When a position opened flying medevac for Aspirus, the couple decided to return to Wisconsin, where Licht, originally from Eau Claire, had grown up.
Now married, both work full-time jobs in addition to now owning their rental company. Carbone works as a pilot for MedTrans, which provides medical transport services supporting local hospitals in the state, while Licht works from home as operations manager for a Florida-based medical management company.

Wide range of equipment and tools for rental — and sale
Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental specializes in the rental of medium to heavy skid steers, mini excavators, and tele handlers. The business also rents brush cutters, chippers, zero turn lawn mowers, concrete saws, chainsaws, survey equipment, pressure washers, log splitters, and various hand tools including drills and saws.
Additional rental items include ladders, drywall lifts, drywall sanders, commercial dehumidifiers, generators, shop vacs, weed whackers, and more.

In addition to machinery and tools, the company also offers some unexpected recreational rental items including kayaks and paddleboards, complete with life vests and paddles, and bike racks that mount on vehicle hitches. The kayaks were added after the couple participated in a triathlon and saw a potential market.
In addition to the rentals, the business recently partnered with MTW, a Merrill-based manufacturer on Thomas Street, to sell their attachments — including the power box rakes, land planer, log skidder, silage defacers, tilt assembly, skid steer PTO 3-point hitch, and others — as an authorized dealer. Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental also plans to become an authorized dealer for Baretto equipment, which includes tillers, sod trenchers, sod cutters, concrete dumpers, trailers, and various other machinery.

Training and contract work
Carbone said safety is the top priority when equipment goes out for rental. He spends as much time as needed training customers how to safely operate machinery like skid steers and excavators.
“There’s times I spent hours out on a job site,” Carbone said. “We’re here to make money, but we never want anybody to get hurt.”

For jobs that are too technical for a first-time equipment user, Carbone offers contract work at competitive rates.
He recalls a time one customer rented a mini skid steer. “I was trying to show her and [at one point she asked] ... how much would you charge ... to do it? ... I knew I could probably do it in probably about two hours, three hours.”
“We’re fair about contracting [prices],” he said.
Carbone said he often completes contract jobs for the same price as the rental would cost, but in a fraction of the time.
“I — flying medevac — see way too many commercial accidents, way too many,” Carbone said. “It’s just sad. And that could be prevented. So I’m kind of extra cautious about it.”

Customer-focused approach
The business implements several policies designed to take care of customers. Delivery fees are $2.50 per mile for both delivery and pickup combined, significantly less than larger rental companies that charge separate fees for each trip.
“Most companies charge $3, $3.50 per mile,” Carbone said. “That’s out and back. And that’s just delivery. And then when there’s time to pick up, then people are shocked because what happens is ... to pick it up ... [is] another $3.50 per mile out and back again. We charge a one-time fee.”
Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental rents equipment by the half day, full day (24-hour period), weekly, or monthly. The business is family-owned and family-operated, which Carbone said allows for more flexibility than larger companies.
“We can accommodate a lot better than larger rental companies,” Carbone said, “... and not have huge surcharges.”

The business offers discounts to veterans and civil servants. Carbone said the fleet consists primarily of brand new or like-new equipment, with a maintenance plan to rotate older equipment out and bring new equipment in.
All equipment goes through a complete visual inspection and maintenance each time it is returned and before it is rented out again. And the company is in the process of implementing a rental protection plan that will cost approximately 10 percent of the rental fee and cover up to $2,500 in damage to equipment.

Accommodating schedule
Because both owners work full-time jobs, they’ve structured the business to accommodate customer needs outside typical business hours, as well. While they do maintain normal business hours, their business phone rings on both owners’ cell phones as well as at the shop and their home. Customers will seldom get an answering machine.
“Saturdays, Sundays, holidays,” Carbone said about their availability. He said that’s a real plus when a customer encounters an urgent need for equipment. For instance, if a lightning or wind storm knocks down trees late in the evening blocking a homeowner’s driveway and they need to get out to go to work the next morning, a customer may need chain saws and a mini excavator quickly rather than waiting until most rental stores open the following day.

Carbone works seven days on, seven days off at his pilot job, so said he often makes deliveries at 4:30 or 5 a.m. before his shift or at 9 or 9:30 p.m. after work.
“We’re pretty much able to service almost 24/7,” Carbone said.
Merrill Tool & Equipment Rental is located at W3575 Hillview Rd., not far off Center Road, in the Town of Pine River. For more information or to book equipment, call 715.804.0311 or visit their website at mterents.com/. The business can be reached seven days a week.