PROFILE
HIRE-IT! KIDDERMINSTER
Always looking ahead
Founded 30 years ago, Hire-It! Kidderminster won the Executive Hire Show Passionate Hirer Award 2010. Alan Guthrie discovers the reasons why this ambitious company is such a worthy winner.
Located in an area that was once a major centre for carpet making and weaving, it is appropriate that the first item Hire-It! Kidderminster bought for its fleet was a carpet cleaner. However, while the weaving industry has declined significantly, this single-depot operation has maintained a pro-active policy of expansion, constantly adapting its operation to successfully explore new markets. This is one of the reasons why the company is a worthy winner of the Passionate Hirer Award 2010, presented at the Executive Hire Show in February.
along with rotavators, lawnmowers and other larger items. Even in those early days we targeted new markets, offering barbecues for events, and we even hired out a bouncy castle with our branding on it, which raised our profile and attracted more hire business.”
Another move was necessitated in 1985, into a converted greengrocer’s, with space for a dedicated workshop. Two employees were recruited for the business, which until then had still been run by the two women in the partnership, while their husbands worked elsewhere during the day (John and Fiona bought out the co-founders in 2000). In 1991, however, the operation re-located to its current unmissable site, a former lawnmower dealership on the main A442 dual carriageway, and John joined the business full-time after having had spells in the meantime working for GKN Kwikform selling formwork, and for hirer, Law Plant, also in Kidderminster.
Broader fleet offered
John and Fiona Davies show off their Passionate Hirer Award.
Hire-It! Kidderminster is the trading name of D.I.Y. Hire Kidderminster Ltd, originally founded in 1980 by Directors John and Fiona Davies, operating from their own home, and established in partnership with another couple. “In 1980 I was working happily for Coller Plant Hire in Cradley Heath,” recalls John. “Fiona and I were just starting a family, and she wanted a business she could manage from home while looking after the children. I could see great potential for tool hire, offering equipment for homeowners - hence the D.I.Y. Hire name.”
Quick business growth
“Business grew quickly,” adds Fiona. “After buying our carpet cleaner, we added equipment like Belle mixers, wallpaper strippers and power tools, building as big a fleet as we could sensibly store at our house. Items were offered on a delivery-only basis, being dropped off and collected in the evenings. Soon we needed more space, and in 1982 we opened an own-branded hire counter within a large DIY store in the town centre.
“This enabled us to expand considerably, adding equipment for builders and tradesmen, like aluminium towers and Kango breakers,
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“We then adopted the Hire-It! Kidderminster name to reflect the broader fleet we offered for domestic and professional customers, plus consumables like drill bits, blades and specialist fixings,” says John. “And I could see even greater potential in hire. Having more space, we added items like Hilta heavy-duty pumps, and we were the first local hirer to offer mini excavators, starting with Pel-Job machines, although today we run Takeuchis up to 1.5 tonne.We also introduced Belle skid steers, but now we operate Wacker Neuson machines, and we offer Cormidi compact tracked loaders and Terex one tonne dumpers.
“In 2001, we re-built the premises over a 12-week period, and continued to trade
throughout the period. This gave us our current two-storey facility with a 3,000ft2 footprint, plus the
same again in yard space,
Having a diverse fleet enables the company to serve many different markets.
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