EXECUTIVE REPORT
The Fairfax Hire Centres operation was established in 2008.
Fairfax flourishes
Alan Guthrie visits a Yorkshire-based plant hire company which has successfully added a thriving tool hire business to its operation.
Since being established in 1985, Selby-based Fairfax Plant Hire has concentrated on serving customers throughout Yorkshire and into the surrounding areas. The business was run by Ken Love until 1997, when younger son Matthew joined the family firm. In 2001 Matthew was promoted to the position of Plant Director. The following year, the company moved to a larger site just outside Selby, close to the M62 to accommodate its expanding fleet, which has grown steadily over the years and now includes excavators of up to 30 tonnes, available with CPCS trained operators or on a self-driven basis, dumpers up to 9 tonnes and more than 500 other items.
The tool hire depot includes a large showroom.
Ken’s elder son, Mark, subsequently joined Fairfax Plant Hire as Business Development Director in 2006 after a successful
career in manufacturing. “In 2008, despite the recession, the company’s growth started as we supplied plant for a number of major national and local contractors,” Mark told EHN, “and we also gained business in new areas such as wind farm developments, green power production plants, flood defences and other markets. As a result, we invested significantly in the fleet, which held us in good stead for winning other work. Despite the downturn, our workforce has doubled over the last five years and we currently have 54 staff.”
Growing customer base
Also in 2008, the opportunity arose to buy a local tool hire business, GS Hire Centres, which had originally been established in 1997 as Selby Tool & Plant Hire, changing its name to GS Hire Centres following the opening of a second depot in Goole, which traded for three years. Acquiring the business, which was re-branded as Fairfax Hire Centres, has enabled demand for tools and smaller equipment from existing plant hire clients to be met, while continuing to serve a growing customer base of tradesmen in the local area.
The tool hire depot moved in 2009 to larger premises opposite its original building on a small trading estate in Selby, covering 6,000ft2
41 plus a mezzanine floor giving an additional 2,500ft2 . The operation is
run by Dave Prime and Mark Allerton, who both worked for the original Selby Tool & Plant Hire business. “The acquisition provided the resources for expansion and we have just kept growing ever since,” Dave told EHN. “We have averaged 20% growth each year since 2008, and we recorded our four busiest months ever during the second half of 2013.
“We have established stronger relationships with customers during the downturn, being flexible with payment terms when good account customers asked us, for example, and they will stick with us now because of this, and the service we give them. Our rates are sensible and we will not slash prices simply to win business. I always say that you can shear a sheep many times, but you only cut its throat once. Rather than asking what the price is, most of our customers who need equipment simply ask if we have it, and when we can deliver it.
“Our client base is diverse, including builders, tradesmen, farmers and DIY customers, and we have three power stations within a 15 mile radius, leading to demand for equipment from contractors working there.”
The largest equipment that the tool hire depot typically has available are 1.5 tonne mini excavators and 1 tonne dumpers. These can be delivered by its own vehicle fleet. Larger items, or combinations of equipment, are supplied using Fairfax Plant Hire’s larger transport.
“Over the years, we have established excellent relationships with trusted suppliers, such as Euro Towers, Kubota, Thwaites, Seddons, Stihl, Morris Site Machinery, Altrad Belle, Makita, Bosch and Duro. We have no tiers of management and we can make quick decisions if we want to add something to meet demand, as we did recently with a GreenMech wood chipper and an ArcGen welder
Dave Prime says the tool hire business achieved its four busiest months ever last year.
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