EXECUTIVE REPORT
The business that likes to say yes
Parking is plainly in short supply around PRS’ Nottingham HQ, which should have clued me up to the popularity and breadth of the services offered. The selection of compact plant outside quickly identifies the hire unit, but two equally sized buildings adjoining bear a familial resemblance. Inside the former, a welcome cuppa gratefully received, Stewart Bain discusses the company history and structure.
“We pride
Q: PRS will be 40 years old later this year. How did it get started and how has the business developed over the years? A: Yes, it was set up in August 1980 by Steve Brandley, who is still the managing director. He started out with heaters and air conditioning units, so we were ‘PRS Heat for Hire’ for a short while. He gradually took on more small tools and pieces of equipment, as and when people asked for them. He started the Lincoln depot in the mid-eighties, which was a new business rather than an acquisition. Lincoln did not have many hire companies at the time, so Steve saw this as a gap in the market.
ourselves on
L to R: Stewart Bain, Operations Manager Neil Mills, and Branch Manager Steve Peach.
There’s more to PRS Hire Services than meets the eye, with two busy depots in the East Midlands, a thriving training facility and a diamond drilling firm. Andy McVittie met with Business Development Manager, Stewart Bain, to find out more…
We now have UK Diamond Drilling as a sister company. This
building was next door all the while, but Steve bought it out in 1996. The Training centre, which is also part of the business, has been going around eight or nine years now. Our growth has really been driven by word of mouth, and always has been. Many of our customers have been with us for many years and we pride ourselves on our service and can-do attitude.
our service and can-do attitude”
Q: With hire depots in Nottingham and Lincoln, nearly 40 miles apart, how does that work and is there any rivalry between the two? A: We work together well, and our product ranges are very similar - which is everything
from a hand drill up to a 1 tonne dumper or a 1.5 tonne digger. We move equipment backwards and forwards, as needs be, but there is a certain amount of friendly rivalry between us. We’ll look to see how many hires they’ve done on a particular day, and there’s always plenty of banter backwards and forwards.
Q: Who would you say are your typical customers? A: They’re usually small and medium-sized construction and maintenance companies. Like us, a lot of them have been around for 40 years or more too, and we’ll have worked together for all that time. It was interesting for me, having only joined PRS a couple of years ago, that many of our customers know a lot more about the business than I do - and that says a lot about our level of service.
Not an especially glamorous view, granted, but it's always interesting to see how equipment is stored.
10
Q: Service seems to be a theme for the company. Can you tell me a bit more about that? A: We pride ourselves on our ability to say yes to projects, and that can include pretty much anything. For example, one of our customers asked us to quote on a crane to lift a digger and a dumper onto a viaduct - because he had been with PRS for such a long time it didn’t even occur to him that we wouldn’t be able to supply the machine to do the job. Basically, we always deliver, and all our customers get this same level of service. We offer the same product range and quality of equipment, just as
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