What we look for in Hire Companies.

WHAT WE NEED FROM A HIRER

When CJ began its survey of what contractors feel about hirers we didn't know what to expect - unrelieved doom and gloom or ceaseless joy. What we actually found was a curate's egg - good in parts.

We found that our figures showed an accurate reflection of the trend towards contractors getting rid of their plant fleets after the phasing-out of capital allowances. This is illustrated by the fact that the general trend towards external hire is up by 75% over the 10 years surveyed. This applied across the board from small companies to large.

But there are exceptions of course. There are companies which have firmly stayed with owned plant. Indeed, some have expanded their plant holdings. Tarmac even has a large foot in both camps. It has Tarmac Construction Plant which operates in-house and runs Castle Plant as a subsidiary seeking external hire. But it is in the minority as far as large companies are concerned. By far the vast majority of main contractors have a heavy dependency on plant hire industry - which by and large has provided a first class response.

There's no doubt that plant hire has become more professional in its attitudes and approach. But contractors are undecided as yet whether or not it is reactive or proactive. On balance the vote probably goes to the reactive camp.

Surprisingly, in view of the emergence and growth of machines hired without operators, 80% of our respondents preferred to hire with an operator where possible. This may help to explain why there is a stubborn resistance offered by so called 'one man bands' usually with one backhoe loader and a wife who looks after the 'bookkeeping'. If you look at any large site there will usually be a selection of backhoe loaders all with different names on the boom. Whether or not these individuals make any real money remains open to question. We've come across rates as low as œ9.00 per hour which must mean that the owner driver is paying a high price for his independence - whether real or imagined - since he's still tied to a machine every day, and still following someone else's instructions.

When we looked at the question of which machines are most popular then there were few surprises. Top of the list is still the good old backhoe loader, that peculiarly British favourite. It was followed closely by larger excavators (and minis), compressors, dumpers, RTFLs, powered access equipment, cranes and small tools.

Of these, six are old stagers which just shows how reactive the industry is. But there are three new-ish pieces of kit. Minis need little introduction. Since 1979 when Kubota made its first tentative steps, the growth has accelerated explosively. And despite evidence of oversupply, there is further rapid sales growth being reported now in the wake of the end of the downturn. Delivery on some marques is going out from four weeks to six months and more. Yet hire rates (as we report earlier) have shown definite signs of having reached a plateau. Perhaps it's time for a new piece of kit to be hailed as the saviour of the industry!

Powered access has also suffered from explosive growth followed by chronic oversupply. But our friends in the industry tell us that it is now much less frantic and many of the cowboys have closed operations. There have been a few mergers and closures in the access manufacturers ranks too. But Simon Access is still in there with probably the widest range and the biggest UK turnover.

Rough terrain forklifts (and telehandlers) have also been seen as a saviour for much of the last decade. Telehandlers in particular have taken over much of the work formerly carried out by truck mounted cranes of around 10t-15t nominal capacity. Their ability to lift a couple of tonnes to 15m and then place the load inside the building - often through a window - is much appreciated on site. They can often be hired without an operator and simply used as and when necessary on site. Following an oversupply in 1989, which forced much selling-off of kit overseas, there is now generally agreed to be a shortage which should mean rates going up. But there's no sign of a quantum leap - yet. Kit deliveries are stretching out here too.

When it comes to what contractors like/dislike about plant hire companies, the results were illuminating. As the pie chart shows, the biggest complaints were joint first with invoice queries alongside breakdowns at 27% of our sample. Just why this should be so remains a mystery. Machines are now much more reliable than they were even five years ago. Perhaps there's an element of roguery at loose on some sites. Certainly for 27% of kit to be subject to breakdown complaints is totally unacceptable.

The invoice queries tactic is such an old chestnut that it's amazing that it's still alive. When a main contractor has sat on a perfectly legitimate invoice for long enough but still doesn't want to pay then low-level accounts staff are instructed to raise a query. It's an old, old trick but it works. The livewire hirers with tough no-nonsense credit controllers know the trick and how to bypass it. The older style hirers get bogged down in totally spurious arguments, because in general terms hire desk men know nothing about accounts people and vice versa, so there tends to be a lack of communication. So the problem festers until it becomes an issue. If it's a genuine problem then discussion should solve it quickly. If discussion doesn't work then the probability is that obstruction is a management ploy. The answer is simple - don't do any more work for that particular customer. It's hard but it's the only solution.

There are several companies which offer computer programmes designed to cope with plant hire and its vagaries, but simply installing such a programme is not a panacea. If the information going into the system is not of the highest quality then what comes out will be similarly - if not more - flawed. It's really down to attitude, care and training. Good efficient hire staff are worth their pay.

Poor service is third in our chart at 18% which is hardly surprising since the service department usually takes the brunt of any cutbacks caused by a drop in turnover. This has been particularly true during the past four years of depression. Plant hirers have shuffled off service responsibility onto manufacturers. In turn, manufacturers have seen sales turnover dropping and so have pruned service departments accordingly. It's a vicious circle and it won't be broken until sales have climbed out of the trough, which they are showing every sign of doing. It's a fair bet that if we repeat this exercise a year from now, we'll get different results.

Next up in the complaints register with 17% complaining was old kit. This again is a hoary problem. Nobody can survive by purchasing new kit to replace old on an annual basis. Machinery has to have a working life and a rate sufficient to cover its maintenance/repair and a surplus for reinvestment in replacement machinery. By far the best solution for a contractor is to forge a good close working relationship with a plant hirer. Then any problems which might arise can be ironed out by friendly discussion. It works and it's far better than the usual adversarial procedure we're all used to having.

Second last in the complaints stakes is unanswered telephones. Either because they are engaged or no one is there to answer them.

Again it's a familiar problem in a service industry which has sometimes seen its turnover falling away. The trick for the customer is to find a hirer which does answer the phone. The tip about forming close relationships mentioned above is also a solution to problems such as this. For the hire company, then, a proper telephone queuing system might take the pressure off. But it's not really a substitute for adequate staff numbers.

Last complaint in our survey is unhelpful attitudes at just 3% of our respondents. This one is so obvious, little comment is necessary. But one word of warning, before you complain about the hirer's attitude, have you examined yours? Pressure of work causes people to adopt strange attitudes. Being meek and mild won't get you far but then neither will being stroppy and unreasonable. Simple politeness works best.

Our survey also threw up some companies which might take some pride in the appearance of their names. Favourite plant hirers included Hewden Stuart, Agent Plant, Cox Plant Hire and HSS Service Group. You're not surprised, they're all big outfits with training programmes and the clout to retain competent and well-paid staff.

But there were others. Vine Plant, St Vincent Plant, Mervyn Lambert Plant and Speedy Hire are far from being giants of the industry but all achieved accolades for efficient, friendly service.

And that's what it's all about - service.

Without it you're dead. But get the message across that you care and you're in with a fighting chance!