Merchant celebrates first-year hire success
25 January 2023
The Independent Builders Merchants Group (IBMG) is celebrating a successful first year of trading for its in-branch tool hire service that is offered at a selection of its locations in the south east of England.
During 2022, the business opened such operations in strategically located branches of its Parker Building Supplies, Chandlers Building Supplies and Fairalls builders’ merchants. These are at Brighton, Petworth, Worthing, Eastbourne, St Leonards and Godstone covering Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
Head of Tool Hire Simon Gibbons (pictured), who previously managed multiple sites for national hire businesses, told me: “It’s gone amazingly well. There have been challenges in areas like recruitment, as the whole industry has experienced, but as a team we have addressed them and established six great locations.
“We had the advantage of starting from scratch so there were no historical obstacles to overcome. The team have made the hire business their own and, while we have management policies and procedures in place to have uniformity across our locations, we have also welcomed people’s ideas and feedback for making improvements. It’s been brilliant.”
The hire operation serves the builders’ merchant customer base and is reporting month on month growth. “What’s interesting is the diversity of customer requirements. We have a superb network of rehire partners and are providing a real mix of items alongside our core range, from lifting equipment, scissor lifts and hoists to diggers and dumpers.”
These are complementing the basic tool hire essentials like plate compactors, medium and heavy duty breakers, mixers and gardening equipment such as rotavators and post removers.
“This shows that the market remains very strong,” said Simon. "I don’t see signs of a slowdown. There may be economic issues like interest rate uncertainty but people still need to get work done.
“And what we are seeing more of is customers like small contractors and tradesmen who would normally buy equipment are hiring it instead for the short time it is needed, to save money and delay investing in new kit. Again, this is driving demand for bread-and-butter hire items.
“So the merchant customer base is proving very receptive and we really are able to provide a one-stop shop service where they get everything they need on one account.”
In this regard, IBMG’s move into tool hire has proved very timely indeed. And I understand there are plans to introduce the service at some of its other merchant locations in the future.
