PROFILE
Two winners one passion!
The joint winners of the 2011 Passionate Hirer Award were P.E.T. Hire of Crewe and Dromad Hire of Dundalk. The Chairman of our Judging Panel re-visits the winners.
It is fitting that, as EHN celebrates 40 years of independent publishing serving the hire industry, this year’s Passionate Hirer Award - Large Hire ‘Super Centre’ was won jointly by two independent hirers that share the ideals and enthusiasm that were evident in so many pioneering businesses in the early days of our industry.
Both Dromad Hire of Dundalk and P.E.T. Hire of Crewe were founded by local families that foresaw the demand, and potential rewards, from offering tools and small equipment for hire. In common with many of their contemporaries, they initially set up shop in their homes and backyards and have graduated to the impressive premises that they both occupy today. The respective founders, James Byrne of Dromad and Paul Banks of P.E.T., wisely encouraged their sons to be involved from the early days.
Second generation leaders, Seamus Byrne and Carl Banks are proud to recall how they started as ‘gophers’ and mechanics learning on the job. Whilst their current operations are already based in purpose-built large ‘super centres’, these locations are now getting a little tight around the belt. Both of these go-ahead outfits have future expansion plans that have not been dampened by the ‘prophets of doom’ that currently inhabit so much of the national media.
Upholding quality standards
Indeed, what set these two companies apart in the opinion of the Award Judges was not so much their awareness that ‘something was wrong and looking gloomy’ in mid-2008, but they set to and did something about it. At the same time, they continued to uphold quality standards and ideals that others were tempted to compromise as the recession took hold.
Carl Banks and his team realised that enquiries for traditional building and construction equipment had started to dry up and, by late 2008, delivery vehicle mileage had fallen to half of its normal level.Work for scaffolding, in particular, seemed to evaporate and that was a key indicator that many clients were just not getting new work. He recalls, “it was not just builders - our area has a good engineering and manufacturing base and they were also just not ordering.”
Over in Ireland, Seamus Byrne was also experiencing similar, if not more serious, problems with the traditional building industry. He states, “if you thought it was bad in the UK, then over here the Celtic Tiger seemed to expire overnight. Where there had been dozens of tower cranes, within months there were none and collection of debt became a nightmare.”
Neither of these progressive outfits considered that contraction was an option. Of course, cost reviews and other economies were put in place, but the solution that became the cornerstone of new business development was diversification.
The joint winners share the ideals and enthusiasm so evident in the early days of our industry. 25
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