Total Rental Solutions - Profile


“At the time I was running a specialist shutdown and maintenance division at AMEC, looking after clients in the petrochemical industries,” adds Gareth. “There is a lot of it around here – you only need to drive ten miles east to the coast to find many companies north and south of the Tees.”


“I had reached a point where I wanted something different,” Peter continues. “I left Speedy in 2013 and went to work for Supply UK. They were more construction-orientated, but they were keen to move into the industrial sector. I found that I was doing a lot of the legwork, negotiating with suppliers and clients, agreeing prices, arranging deliveries… I started to have ‘Little England’ thoughts that maybe I should set a business up for myself, and then I bumped into Gareth by chance…”


the road, our clients can be sure that we’ll be there to sort it out.


‘‘


That’s where we come into our own


“…I’d moved back to AMEC to run the onshore division, but I soon became jaded with the industry,” says Gareth. “I trained as a book-keeper for two years, then Peter and I met up for a coffee and the idea for the business grew from there.”


’’


The pair combined their skills and contacts, and TRS was formally established in August 2016. What did the company begin with, so to speak?


“Physically, nothing. We had a small office, a couple of laptops and two credit cards,” Peter says. “In terms of equipment, we knew a couple of specialist companies that provided kit we’d be interested in, so we were using their products to service a few clients that we’d brought with us from previous roles.”


TRS is very much not just two blokes in a tiny office any more. Indeed, there’s more to its premises than appears from the street and the company keeps other elements of its fleet in a storage yard nearby. How quickly did the company grow from such small beginnings?


If there’s a bump in


TRS has invested over £500,000 on ATEX certified Site Bright M1 Series lights from Shindaiwa.


“We were in a business centre only rehiring kit to begin with,” says Gareth. “However, we saw an opportunity when an enquiry came in for fans. We looked at the numbers and thought it would make a good first investment. Peter knew El Bjorn from his days at Supply UK, so we made a call and they went straight out to site.


“When they came back we stacked them up in the business centre. As we started to invest in other items, we began to realise that we were going to need a depot. The minute we’d signed the lease on this space, it went completely bonkers!”


“We always evaluate a job before we invest,” continues Peter. The customer wanted the equipment for a long-term hire, so we worked out the costs and decided that this should be our first purchase.


Expansion plan TRS markets some exotic items, for sure. One such is the ‘Flange Weld Tester’, here pictured. These industrial devices are manufactured by the company, and are designed to test the integrity of welds on pipe installations or repairs – just around the flange, as the name suggests. Operation is straightforward enough, with the unit bolted securely to the flange. Water is then pumped into the chamber created, displacing any air as it enters, and it is brought up to test pressure for the specified holding time – any leakages or failures would be readily apparent. The Flange Testers are available in stock sizes from ½ to 12 inches, and custom sizes by request. All in a fetching shade of TRS pink.


“A lot of the equipment you see in the depot now is highly utilised and has mostly washed its own face (he didn’t put it quite so politely). As a result, we do not have any debts with suppliers. The first year we did just under £100K, the second was £508K, and the third was £860K and last year was £1.2 million. There’s six of us here now.”


TRS crosshires the majority of typical hire items, as mentioned. However, its mainstay is equipment required in heavy industries that are legally required to shut down for maintenance at specific intervals. This is where the company specialises, offering a project management service, and kit designed to adjust, test and repair machinery. To the latter, the company supplies flange weld testers, tools to check and plug the tubes of large scale heat exchangers, gas monitors, electrical testing


May 2021 - Executive Hire News 21


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