Swift-running Hares

28 August 2020

Last year’s trading performance was a record for Hares Hire Services and, while the lockdown obviously impacted on business for a period, the Rainham-based company is once again firing on all cylinders.

Most team members were initially furloughed but the operation never closed and all staff had returned by July.

“Back in March, I thought I’d be going into the office just to do paperwork but the phones just kept ringing,” managing director Daren Hare tells me. “Initially I was on my own and I was flat out. I remember delivering two rotavators to a homeowner at 9pm so they’d have them for a gardening project next day.

Business really picked up

“That sort of cash business really picked up from May onwards. Demand for equipment like plate compactors was just unbelievable. I bought a new turf cutter from HSC and it had almost paid for itself before the invoice was even due!”

Daren says that demand for powered access equipment had also risen strongly, and Hares Hire have been serving customers as far afield as Northampton and the south coast.

“We recently bought eight new Snorkel scissor lifts and we now have 140 powered access machines in the fleet. There’s a lot of business from supermarkets and electrical contractors.

New delivery truck

“We’ve also just added another 7.5-tonne delivery truck to meet demand,” he says.

“We’re pretty much back to normal trading levels now, and we need to see some big new sites opening up. However, we’re confident that things are heading in the right direction.”