EXECUTIVE REPORT
Richard Johnson at Frank Key Hire’s Daybrook headquarters.
The Key to success
Frank Key Hire has expanded its operation with the recent acquisition of two new depots. Alan Guthrie reports from the company’s head office in Nottingham.
The name Frank Key has been familiar in Nottinghamshire for more than a century. Named after its founder in 1907, the original business was established in Mansfield and offered sand, cement and other basic building and roofing materials. Ken Sansom joined the company in 1946, which moved to its current headquarters in the Daybrook area of Nottingham in 1953.
Tool and skip hire activities were added in 1977, by which time Ken’s son, Robert, had purchased the company and become MD (he is currently Chairman of the Frank Key group). This enabled customers to source materials and equipment at the same time. Expansion continued to create a four acre site in Daybrook. In 2008 two more builders’ merchant sites were added through acquisition, with tool hire being introduced at one of these outlets, in Somercotes, near Alfreton.
“This gave a platform for further growth,” said Richard Johnson, Group Hire Director, who joined Frank Key from HSS in 2008, having worked in that hirer’s Tool Hire and Lift & Shift divisions. “I was impressed by the opportunity to run a developing hire business with the flexible management style of a family-owned company. Having the second tool hire location raised the profile of Frank Key, and we began exploring other opportunities to grow this area of the business.
“Early last year, we heard that Sinbad Tool Hire, another family owned business in Nottingham, might be interested in selling and we eventually bought it in June. We obviously knew the company, which had a good reputation, and it was a perfect fit, both in terms
of its fleet and its two locations. The Frank Key depots at Daybrook and Somercotes are, respectively, just to the north of the city centre and to the north east, while Sinbad’s Stapleford and West Bridgford branches lie to the south west and south east of our area. We believe this now gives us the biggest presence of any national or independent hirer in Nottinghamshire, with one of the largest fleets of general hire equipment.”
All Sinbad staff have been retained, with two additional personnel having been appointed, and investment has been made in re-styling the retail areas and purchasing new vehicles. The Sinbad name has initially been merged with the Frank Key brand at the two new depots to ease customer acceptance, although it is planned that, eventually, the sole Frank Key name will be adopted. “The integration has gone very smoothly, and we will shortly be incorporating the new depots into our inspHire computer system, which Frank Key has been operating for two years,” said Richard Johnson.
The range of the hire fleet is broad. “We offer everything from power tools and carpet cleaners, to 3 tonne mini excavators and dumpers, essentially to meet the needs of our builders’ merchant customers, although, as our profile grows, we are steadily attracting new hire business from people who have not previously had contact with the Frank Key group.
“We continue to invest in our fleet. We have just struck a great deal with Bosch for more than 80 electric breakers and demolition hammers, comprising 5kg GSH 5 CE models, 10kg GSH 11 VC units and 30kg GSH 27s. In February we will be standardising our entire mobile tower fleet on Euro Towers’ 232 Tower system, which has 232mm rung spacings for climbable access on either side. It also requires fewer braces, reducing the number of components we need to stock. In both cases, these suppliers have bought back our existing competitive brand equipment, making the transition really easy. We will be targeting customers with brand new equipment in two of our most popular product categories, enabling us to achieve a better hire rate - something all hirers should be striving to do.”
The new Stapleford depot extends the operation’s reach south west of Nottingham. 40
Frank Key offers an extensive range of garden and landscaping equipment, from Dosko stump grinders from The Hire Supply Company and Stihl brushcutters, to Makita log splitters and Timberwolf chippers. Interestingly, the company also hires John Deere 25hp compact tractors with a variety of attachments for year-round grounds care tasks.
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