PROFILE BRADFORDS TOOL HIRE
From left: Sarah Gifford, Keith Hallam, Terry Heal and Simon Webster.
Busy Bradfords
Bradfords Tool Hire, whose parent builders’ merchant business celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, continues to expand. Alan Guthrie visits its impressive new branch in Sherborne.
The Yeovil-based Bradfords Building Supplies merchant activity dates back to 1770. The family-owned business currently operates 43 sites throughout South West England. Its Bradfords Tool Hire activity was introduced in 2001, co-ordinated by Keith Hallam, Trading Director - Tool Hire, and it now has a presence at 27 locations.
satellites enables us to test a new area and gauge potential demand. We have a great team of more than 60 people and we pride ourselves on our flexibility to service emergent customer requirements. In our model, kit can be quickly taken to where it is needed. For example, all the mini excavators at our Weston-Super-Mare branch were out on hire today, so our Glastonbury branch was able to respond quickly when another enquiry came in for the same item.
“Every Bradfords merchant branch is keen to have a Tool Hire presence because they know it brings in more business for both the core merchanting side of the branch as well as through the dedicated Tool Hire offering. We have a ready-made customer base of merchant customers with trade accounts, some of which have been trading with Bradfords for over a hundred years and we can hire them the equipment they need with the service they expect. We believe demand is such that we could establish a Tool Hire offering at the other 16 locations - the only current restricting factors are having the available space and being able to recruit good people.”
The business is proud of its heritage, dating back to 1770.
“We have made great progress since establishing the hire operation,” said Keith. “We know that for the business to grow you don’t just need more branches and more kit, but you also have to continually reinvest in the existing branches, renewing machinery, purchasing additional items when customers need them and broadening the range offered. That takes resource, which some businesses might shy away from. However, we have demonstrated that, properly managed, if you make the right investment, the returns will follow. We know that for every pound we invest in the hire fleet, we will get at least one pound back during the first 12 months of ownership.”
Flexible service
Twenty of the Tool Hire locations are self- contained operations within the merchant sites, with workshops, service centres and specialist facilities, like wash-down bays for machinery. The other seven are satellites offering a collect-only service, fed by other branches. Terry Heal, MD - Tool Hire, told EHN that, “Introducing
Simon Webster, who was the first employee for Bradfords Tool Hire back in 2001, and is now its Business Development Manager, adds that, “Our core customer base comprises regional construction companies and local jobbing builders who remain very busy. The hire rates quoted in our catalogue are realistic and we don’t want to get involved in a price war. It might not look like we discount as heavily as the other Tool Hire providers in the market, but that’s because we start at a more realistic price, with a pricing strategy that is consistent, throughout all the Bradfords offerings.”
The impressive Sherborne facility opened last September. 15
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