Many of the startup companies you hear about these days are technology based and involve the Internet and software development. But there are also plenty of opportunities in the more traditional industries for those who want to do something a little different.
One of the best examples is setting up a plant hire company, and supplying heavy machineries such as trucks, forklifts, and diggers to other businesses. It can be highly lucrative, and it isn’t as hard to get started as you might think. In today’s guide, we’re going to take a look at everything you need to consider to ensure your plant hire business is a success. Read on to find out more.
Getting started
First of all, don’t assume that you need a full complement of construction machinery to get your business off the ground. In fact, you could, potentially, kick things off with just one machine. Many successful plant hire companies start life as an offshoot of a parent building company, who have invested in a digger or forklift and rent it out to raise income when they aren’t using it. Over time, you can save your profits and invest in more machinery, before eventually having dozens – possibly hundreds – of machines out on loan at any given time.
Finding contacts
As with every business in the construction industry, a lot of your success will be down to who you know. It’s essential to build up an extensive list of contacts who know what you have to offer – building firms and tradespeople are alway looking for ways of keeping their costs down, and if you can provide them a better deal than the competition, you won’t find it hard to start turning a decent profit.
Reliable services
As a plant hire business, your relationship with other services will also be critical to your success – and your reputation. For example, let’s say that you rent out a bulldozer to a building firm working on a big project. If it breaks down and they are under significant time pressure, you will need to get a maintenance service out to them as quick as possible. Fuel is another big issue. As New Era Fuels point out, plant hire companies to rely on next day deliveries so that petrol diesel and oils are always on hand at a moment’s notice.
Location
As your plant hire business grows, it is usual to expect to move into large premises capable of holding all your equipment. Safety and security are essential, of course – all that plant is worth a fortune and is a big attraction for thieves. But the location of your premises is important, too. Ideally, you will be situated somewhere with easy access to major travel routes to cut down on the costs of delivering your plant.
Market saturation
Finally, if you want to succeed in plant hire, have something different to offer from the competition. Check out nearby plant rental and leasing businesses and find out what they do, who they rent to, and what sort of services they offer. If you can work out what you do better than them, your business will have more chance of success. Good luck!