Exploring Life & Business with Justin Dunn of Dependable Tents Event Rental

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Dunn.

Hi Justin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I started Dependable Tents by myself in 2014 in Parma, Ohio. Up until that point, I was a professional drummer… whether it was touring with Cleveland’s own Machine Gun Kelly or gigging out with cover bands on the weekend, drums were my life.

During my time with MGK, I worked at an event rental company in the area… So I was well aware of how the event industry was set up. Ironically, to this day I still have a strong business relationship with the company I worked for…although I started my own company.

2014 finally came around and after a brief conversation with my parents, they recommended that I start my own event rental company. It made sense so I decided, why not? I would go on to store all of my equipment at a garage unit in an apartment building’s parking lot in North Royalton, which was less than ideal. I started off with 6 tables, 50 chairs, and 1 tent…

Flash forward to 2022 and I have 4 employees working full time in the summer we have our own warehouse on Brookpark Road, 15 tents, 1200 chairs, 120 tables, and tons of event accessories that go out weekly.

I would attribute Dependable’s success to not doing just 1 specific thing assuming that is your golden ticket but doing all the things and letting the small victories compound.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Every business comes with its own set of struggles over time. Besides the typical things you learn going into business by yourself, 2020 was a very questionable season for us. The state mandates went into effect in early March which is when our bookings really pick up for summer, needless to say, they were not.

We didn’t even do our first tent in June 2020 usually we are 30-40 tents deep by that time of the year.

However, we are still standing so I can confidently say… if we survived Covid and state mandates that shut down gatherings, we can survive anything thrown at us.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Dependable Tents Event Rental?
Dependable Tents Event Rental offers tents, tables, chairs, linens, and lights for rent to Northeast Ohio residents. We are very competitively priced for the same equipment you’ll be paying hundreds of dollars more for. We have over 100+ 5-star reviews between Google and Facebook. I would say our customer service is what I am most proud of. As the owner, I booked every job so I talk to every customer and make sure they are satisfied.

We do events ranging from weddings, graduation parties, corporate events, baby showers, and more!

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love how gritty and hard-working Clevelanders are. We have a strong workforce presence and you can feel it here. It feels like everyone contributes to the same goal daily and that is to make people who aren’t from Cleveland, respect Cleveland as the residents do.

What do I dislike about Cleveland? Snow — except on Christmas.

Contact Info:

• Website: dependabletents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dependabletents_cle/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dependabletents
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaqm7FHRV95XOOkqiFGX8Yw