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Profile: Hire Center ‘Multi-brand’ hire opportunities As the tool hire division of the UK’s largest plumbing and building merchant Wolseley UK, Hire Center plans to double its outlets to 250 in the next five years. Robert Aplin visits the new Wolseley ‘multi-brand site’ in Littlehampton to find out more from Hire Center Brand Director David Himsworth. It was back in May 2001 that we last caught up with the progress made by Hire Center, the tool hire division of Wolseley UK. With a turnover in its latest financial year of approximately £11.3 billion and operating profit of £708m, the publicly quoted company, Wolseley plc, is stated as being the world’s largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products, as well as the UK’s largest plumbing and building merchant. Wolseley’s trade-focused UK companies include Plumb Center, Build Center, Pipe Center, Parts Center, Drain Center, Climate Center, as well as Hire Center, working through a branch network of over 1,600 outlets, said to be more than McDonalds! Although only trading as Hire Center since early 1999, the company can trace its hire roots back to 1962 with the formation of Uni-Rents, which became part of Wolseley in 1973. When we last visited Hire Center, it operated from 76 outlets; the current network comprises 131 branches and Brand Director David Himsworth plans to operate from 250 outlets within the next five years. In the time since our last visit, David Himsworth states “we have consolidated Wolseley’s hire proposition under the Hire Center brand. Although we still operate 22 standalone locations, the majority of which are former Uni-Rents sites, the clear strategy is to pursue organic expansion through the Wolseley network.” Hire Center currently operates within 93 Build Center branches as its hire offering is predominantly aimed at this builder customer base. Significantly, Hire Center also operates in 10 Pipe Centers to reach its mechanical and electrical, as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning customers. Here, Hire Center offers specialist equipment for pipe threading, pressfit and welding, in addition to its general tools and equipment. It also operates six outlets, trading as Hire Center Utilities, within Drain Center branches. These hire specialist butt fusion and electro-fusion equipment to gas, electric and water utility contractors to weld pipes from 55mm-1600mm. David Himsworth believes “there are huge opportunities to develop our core tool hire operations as our customers become more professional and focused. We are all re-defining the concept of tool hire. Are flue gas analysers for heating engineers a tool hire item? The perception is that contractors buy them, but this equipment needs to be maintained, serviced and calibrated. As a result, there is hassle for companies owning tools and equipment. This presents increased opportunity for hire. “Increasing legislation that requires risk assessment to protect company employees and the public is driving people not to own equipment. The Hand Arm Vibration issue, for example, is leading contractors to want to pass the problem to hirers. This is fine for us because we deal with the problems every day – it is our job. Legislative issues are an opportunity to get the message across to our customers about what we are trying to do.” To further develop these increased hire opportunities, Hire Center is operating from a number of Wolseley ‘multi-brand sites’, the newest of which in Littlehampton, East Sussex opened in early November. On a 1.7acre site, with 22,500ft2 of covered warehousing, the bespoke facility houses Build Center, Plumb Center, Drain Center, as well as Hire Center operations. The Build Center operation has re-located from an existing site in the town, but the other three activities are new to the location. As you enter the branch, you walk into a huge showroom, with a Hire Center podium of hire equipment immediately in your eye line. This hire display is surrounded by a vast array of plumbing and building merchants equipment including shower, toilet and kitchen displays. At the back of the showroom is the large ‘U-shaped’ central counter featuring all four of the Wolseley brand activities. Behind the Hire Center counter is a hire office, workshops and storage area, which leads to an external compound. The total hire activity occupies 2,000ft2. The workshop offers ‘test and run’ facilities and major repairs are transported along the coast to the regional service base in Bournemouth. £100,000 has been invested in new kit, comprising, typically, Makita, Bosch and Hilti power tools, Alto towers, Thwaites one tonne high-tip compact dumpers and JCB 801.4 mini excavators, the largest item available from the company. The average age of the entire Hire Center fleet is stated to be 2.2 years. “Most exciting time” Hire Center’s Regional Manager, with responsibility for 30 branches south of the Thames and the south east of England stretching as far west as Aldershot, is Gerry Kimber, who originally joined Uni-Rents as a mechanic at its Aldershot outlet in January 1983. He states, “even though we were one of the original tool hire companies, this period is the most exciting time ever because everyone on the site – not just Hire Center - is working as a team to share customers. “99% of all Wolseley customers use tools and equipment, but some customers, like those of Plumb Center, have previously been untapped by tool hire. To help create awareness, we have also offered a number of ‘price-pointing’ offers. Hire and Build on the same counter works really well because there is a cross fertilisation of customers. As far as I am concerned, the more brands sharing the same facility the better, simply because it attracts more potential customers for Hire Center.” In Gerry Kimber’s region, the Wolseley branch in Gravesend, Kent is also a ‘multi-brand site’ and Broadstairs is scheduled to be the next. Wolseley’s future development will see more ‘new build’ Centers like these, where all its principal brands will be invited to set up their activity. Also, Wolseley will take a lower cost option to re-furbish existing Centers, with principal brands invited to join in the same way. Out of Gerry’s 30 branch Hire Center network, eight have been re-furbished in the last two years and another six are in the pipeline. Hire Center model established in Europe The Hire Center concept is also being tested in Dublin. After Wolseley acquired Brooks Builders Merchants, a trial Brooks Hire branch was established on the Naas Road last August. Although David Himsworth does not have a direct management responsibility, he was involved in the decision to trial the branch and advised on fleet purchases. Similarly, following Wolseley’s purchase of Reseau Pro, the second largest builders merchant in France, in 2003, six Reseau Loc hire outlets have been opened to date on the Hire Center model and there are plans for 80 branches in the next two years. Finally, a test site, trading as Miet Center, was opened in Vienna last July, following the establishment of Plumb Center in Austria. Whilst David Himsworth is clearly focusing on the organic expansion through the Wolseley network, he states that “if the opportunity to acquire a regional hirer came along that offered a geographically strategic fit, then we would consider it. Especially if it was in an area where Build Center is less well developed.” He also does not rule out the prospect of trying to acquire a national hirer if a suitable opportunity presented itself. For the foreseeable future, however, it seems that Hire Center has more than enough on its plate to achieve the five year plan for 250 outlets within Wolseley. Maybe - to draw on a recent analogy allying leading hirers with major high street brands - as Wolseley UK has more outlets than the major fast food chain, Hire Center can become the McDonalds of hire! More seriously, standing at No.8 in our Tool Hire Top Ten 2006 with a turnover of £32m, all the evidence presented here is that Hire Center is set for further growth in the years ahead. • Executive Hire News › Archives › Feb/March 2006 › Profile: Hire Center › "Multi-brand" hire opportunities
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