Photo: Nor-Val Rentals

A North Okanagan-based equipment rental company that grew to have outlets across the Okanagan has changed hands.

Nor-Val Rentals is now part of the Sunbelt Rentals group.

Owner Jim Clipperton announced the sale on Facebook.

"Thirty years since a little idea to do something better than the others came to be," he said. "This is a sad but exciting day for me as the Nor-Val family join the Sunbelt Rentals team.

"I look back at all the amazing friends, memories and opportunities that this little business has given me, and I honestly don't know where to start the thank you's ... This wasn't just a business for us, it was our lives."

Clipperton says he will stay on with Sunbelt under the new banner.

Clipperton is president of the Canadian Rental Association.

He grew Nor-Val to become one of British Columbia's largest independently owned and operated equipment rental companies.

The company was founded in Armstrong in 1994 by Clipperton and his parents, Paul and Shirley Miron.

It has rental shops in Vernon, Armstrong, Oliver, Penticton, West Kelowna, and Kelowna.

Clipperton thanked his customers, suppliers, friends and family "for their business, loyalty and support over the last three decades."

Sunbelt offers eight branches in the Okanagan, from Kamloops to Oliver.