Rig Hut breaks down the managed truck parking market

Tell us a little bit about Rig Hut and how the company came to be.

Rig Hut’s been in the works for a long time.  My partner Jose and I originally were looking at the IOS space from a real estate perspective.  We saw the writing on the wall in 2020 with the supply/demand imbalance here in South Florida, knew it would be exacerbated, and saw parking rates going straight up and to the right.  By way of example, some of our customers often quote “I remember paying $200 just a few years ago.”  Average rates in Dade and Broward counties are now ~ $550 per month, with some yards commanding up to $750 per month and $35 / day.

Anyways, we wanted to learn the business by doing, so we spun up a third-party management company and were able to make a deal with a large diesel distributor outside Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.  We got an incredible opportunity to learn, and helped the landlord expand his operation from one yard to three, representing over 500 parking spaces.  We successfully increased his rates 25% over the course of a month; and, to our surprise we were able to maintain 95% occupancy.  We were on to something.

As we grew the management business, we were looking for a technology solution to help us accept payments, assign parking spots, execute reservation agreements, and help with reporting.  We found there were a few providers of software that could do some of these things, but not all.  We were originally using Excel and QuickBooks, but that got difficult once we got past ~ 150 spaces and we set out to build it ourselves.  For purposes of speed, the first product we built was a truck parking marketplace, where we could accept payments in an easier fashion and keep track of space assignments.  That got the technology company off the ground and served as a means for us to continue building out our property management functionality.  We made many mistakes, learned a ton, and got thrown out of more yards than I can count.  Fast forward and we’ve got a complete property management tool, purpose built for truck parking operators. We like to say we built this company as managed truck parking operators, for operators.

What are some notable features Rig Hut utilizes?

Rig Hut solves the needs of truck parking operators, without any confusing functionality that only serves as “fluff.”  Using Rig Hut, parking operators can take inbound leads and quickly create reservations for interested drivers, sending a text message with a pre-built reservation requesting payment.  Once accepted by the driver, assign a parking spot utilizing our built in inventory management system, which will keep track of occupied and vacant spaces. 

If you need to relocate a driver within your facility, you can do so in a couple clicks without disrupting all your reporting. 

In terms of reports: what we’ve found the most useful is (1) what have we collected this month, (2) who still owes this month, and (3) what are we scheduled to collect next month.  We’ve got these built in, automatically updated based on your platform activity.  All charges and payments are tracked on a ledger system by customer, so there are never any questions as to what’s paid and what’s owed.

I hear you guys help landlords with rent collections. 

We leverage our existing customer support team to act as a landlord’s receivables agent.  Sometimes, Landlords are hesitant regarding the potential management headaches of running short term rentals with tenants on wheels.  We alleviate a lot of that headache by running their collections process for a fraction of what an offshore VA costs, and they get American labor that they can call 24/7/365.  If you’re tired or worried about chasing down receivables, give us a shot.  We process over $1MM in parking revenues every month under this service. 

How do you see the technology space playing out in the IOS world? 

I think like all other industries, there will be a bunch of startups built, failed, bought, merged, et cetera, resulting in a few dominant players across the different required solutions.  There will be a few players that win in the marketplace, management software, and access control spaces. It would be difficult for a startup to own all three segments at this point.  I think there is room for many, many companies to do very well in this space and I believe we would all be better off helping each other grow.  Our team is very open book on our functionality, goals and love partnering with other groups to promote everyone’s success. 

What’s your pricing model like?

Rig Hut is offered under a flat monthly fee with pricing depending on the size of your facilities.  The only product offered separately is our accounts receivables service mentioned above, which is optional, but a no-brainer in our opinion.  If you’re unsure as to whether you need to integrate technology, call us for a free trial.  Once integrated, we’d be willing to bet a month’s rent you’ll stick around.

Let talk about your ideal clients.

Rig Hut was purpose built for managed parking operators. Our existing customer base varies in size from a single, 30-spot facility up to a portfolio of 1,200 spaces spanning 14 properties in North New Jersey. These are the businesses we can add the most value to immediately. That being said, we also work with institutional outdoor storage funds, serving as an additional resource and a potential solution for those that are looking to enter the managed parking space.

We believe with powerful technology and a little bit of infrastructure, the IOS funds (that typically prefer net leased deals) will enter the parking space as a means to reduce their vacancy and lease up costs. We’ve already found some smaller groups willing to pilot this program and expect others to follow suit.

A Message from the Founders:

What started as out as a third party truck parking management company around Port Everglades has turned into a vertical software business built by truck parking operators, for truck parking operators.

At Rig Hut, we are striving to become the leading operating system in this space over the next 20+ years and currently have happy lot partners powering their yards with our technology across the country. If you are in the business, we’d love to talk!

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