Plant hire start up business - advice please...

[samuel martin]

Hi Everyone

As I'm sure everyone says, I'm new to forums, but I'm looking for some advice. I'm 28 and have worked with heavy plant and agricultural equipment since I could pull levers and turn wheels but properly since I left school. Since I was small I have dreamt of being an owner operator and being a subscriber to earthmovers I see a lot of people’s dreams coming true. I don't want to take over the world but want my name to be put to my work rather than the companies I have represented. I have often been told that I have a natural ability and skill when operating machines and I am keen to promote and generate my own work rather than securing work for my employers. I mainly operate dozers and excavators using both laser and GPS systems and want to know the best way to start and promote my own business within the Southwest region. I am unsure of whether too small with mini diggers and see how it goes but was hoping some of you more experience business people could share some advice with how to start. Thanks for your time and hope to hear from you soon.

 

[Matthew Barsauckas]

Hi Samuel,

We have a couple of clients in this line of business. Most are self-employed.

I would definitely start off small, with some local ads in low-cost community papers. Also in some supermarkets via the pin board with a card.

A lot of small landscape gardening firms do like to subcontract their excavation works, as the cost of hiring digger plant can be expensive.

Also, they lack experience in actually using the plant and equipment.

So as a starter I would target the above but particularly the small to medium sized landscaping firms.

Hope this helps.

 

[samuel martin]

Hi Mathew
Thanks for taking the time to read status. I think all what you have said makes sense and is a great way to start. Thanks again

 

[Scott@KarmaContent]

Hi Samuel,

Great to see someone wanting to start a business in something they know about and are passionate about.

Where do people look first when they want to hire a excavator, mini digger etc? Unless there's a company already known to them, I'd imagine it's going to be Google. That means you are going to need a website, but not just any old website, one that makes the visitor choose your business for their needs.

I can't see that you'd need anything too complex, it just needs to be nice and clean with well written content that's targeting the keywords your target audience are searching for. As you're hiring locally, you'll probably be able to rank pretty well for some very targeted local phrases with some very basic SEO pretty quickly (great content, good solid on-page SEO and some local citations/links).

You may also want to look at an Adwords campaign. If you can find someone who really knows what they are doing then this can bring in instant results and can be a great investment if done well.

 

[samuel martin]

Hi Scott
Yeah that's sound good. I was guna wait until I got some photos of my work that I've done private rather than of work I've done for companies so that theirs no arguments and use them for my website. Also as I no it can be an expensive business to start I was going to start by hiring plant and equipment to keep cost down an see how it goes rather than jumping in the deep end of finance. I agree with a Google ad would be great but I'm unsure where to pay to advertise on the web just yet... but that's why I started this blog to get more advise thanks

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Wprk with one supplier to rent your machines and first of all meet the manager and explain what you are trying to do, they should be your best friend and help you build your business whist at the same time making money from hiring you equipment which you should pay for always on or just before due

They know the companies who hire and those to avoid in their own experience so can help you a lot often knowing who is doing what way before its public knowledge

Look after the machines and return clean and filled with oil and fuel, the less work he has to do to turn it around for the next customer will help him

Try and use the same supplier and even if he cant help ask him who can that way he can get a good name with another supplier and you keep in his good books

At the end of the day the cheapest is not what you want to build your name on as quality of machinery is also normally reliability which your customers will want

 

[samuel martin]

Hi Chris
Yeah that's a good idea.
thanks

 

[MartinCivil]

This is something that we have looked at recently, a number of personal reasons mean that the timing is not right, but I'm sure that at some stage we will liven it up.

In the commercial sector, plant hire is a fiercely competitive industry, a lot of big players with big financial backing and preferable rates with manufacturers is going to make it difficult to squeeze in initially.

I would certainly recommend starting at the smaller end, we found that locally the domestic/small builder marker was looking positive. Initially planning to put together a couple of 'packages' that could be advertised. 1.5t exc and 1t skip loading dumper, 0.8t doorway digger and power barrow, aimed at extensions and the like.

Try and build up a relationship with a couple of plant firms and look to cross hire equipment from them if something crops up that you don't have, it's very common practice in the industry, and we found that a lot of people aren't worried about what you do with their kit, so long as you bring it back.

Couple of things to consider.... Insurance, things do go missing, and the liability to the hirer needs to be clear. All very well identifying them at liable for the plant, but if you have a small deposit and a £19k mini digger goes missing, you will have a scrap on your hands to get it back. Maintenance, we have a small amount of own plant, and the maintenance costs are definitely higher than we initially expected, and thats with experienced operators, rather than joe bloggs that you have hired to.