Executive Hire News › Archives › January/February 2010 › Profile: KDM Hire : Benchmark hirer
Profile: KDM Hire : Benchmark hirer
Robert Aplin travels to Cookstown in Northern Ireland to meet Keith McIvor, founder and Managing Director of KDM Hire Ltd, winner of the 2009 Passionate Independent Hirer Award at last year's Executive Hire Show.
Not having visited the company before, the scale of the KDM Hire Ltd operation on a five acres site in Cookstown, County Tyrone, in rural Northern Ireland can only be described as jaw dropping. It is undoubtedly one of the largest single depot hire outlets that I have ever seen. There was a place for everything and everything was in place.
In an attempt to give you a virtual tour of the site, as you enter there is a display area of selected plant and equipment, some of it priced for sale. In front of you is a large showroom with an overwhelming selection of tools and consumables that would warrant a separate article. Behind the showroom is the collection point, returns bay and storage, for the small tool fleet. Behind that is the tools repair bay, followed by the main plant workshop and covered wash down bay. In turn, behind that again, is the generator repair bay, service and spares department and engineering workshop. An extensive metal fabrication and cabin repair workshop also backs onto this building.
At the back of the site is the storage area for large equipment, with a forest of powered access platforms, generators and cabins. Moving around to your right is the chemical toilet storage and servicing area, the cabin joinery workshop, spray booth, vehicle maintenance bay and, finally, the majority of the fleet storage area. In financial terms, KDM has a GBV of plant of £10.5m, according to Catherine Stratton’s latest Plant Hire Investment Report. This GBV places KDM in the Top 100 UK hire companies
Again, to demonstrate the scale of the KDM operation, it currently employs in excess of 70 people and runs a fleet of over 35 delivery and service vehicles. In addition, KDM builds all its own lorry bodies, manufactures items like drip trays and waste tanks, carries out all
its own excavator bucket repairs and refurbishes its ex-fleet equipment for sale. The company also operates its own joinery workshop to fit out new cabins, with kitchens and sinks and the like, and repairs fleet cabins. KDM also undertakes all maintenance on its own vehicles, and carries out warranty work on behalf of suppliers. With many of these suppliers based on the UK mainland, KDM has obviously learnt to become entirely self-reliant over the years.
Family farming business
Established in 1990, KDM bears the initials of its founder and Managing Director, Keith McIvor, who started his career in the family farming business in this Mid-Ulster town. Having farmed for eight years, Keith concluded that agriculture wasn’t for him. “I liked the idea of hire. Working in a service industry and getting repeat revenue for a piece of equipment appealed to me. We set up the business in an old agricultural building on the farm, which is adjacent to our site.
“Initially offering small tools, we started to add mini diggers and agricultural equipment for hire. We built the business slowly, but progressively. At that time, we were serving a local market of 15 miles radius, with a customer base of mainly small builders and farmers. Up until 2000, 30% of our business was agricultural machinery hire.”
In the late 1990s, as KDM developed into commercial markets, it was asked to supply machines like industrial fork lift trucks and access equipment - Keith states that the company was the first in the area to offer units such as trailer-mounted access platforms and small scissor lifts. 1999 saw a big change as “we reached saturation locally. We either had to open more depots or hire equipment further afield.”
Specialist divisions
At the outset of 2000, KDM started its expansion throughout the Province, “as Cookstown’s central location offered the perfect platform.” Keith McIvor also launched a number of specialist divisions, the first of which was K-Cabin, its accommodation hire operation. “There were two or three major players in this market at the time and we felt that we had to develop a separate brand in order to be seen as a dedicated cabin hirer, rather than a plant hirer that offered a few cabins.
“Having bought our first jack-leg and steel anti-vandal units in 1999, we now have in the region of 500 units, the majority of which are
anti-vandal. Our latest venture includes the design and build of cabins for use within our hire fleet.” The company also runs a similar number of chemical toilets and anti-vandal mains toilets, with KDM undertaking all its own servicing. This activity is branded K-Loo.
In the same year, Keith McIvor also established a generator hire activity, Rent-A-Gen, in a joint venture with a local supplier. In 2003, Keith bought the balance of the shareholding and the business now trades as K-Power. “We operate an extensive fleet of generators up to 1250Kva and are the only hirer in Northern Ireland to have machines of this size available for urgent delivery. The majority of the units are MacGen, but we also offer F G Wilson sets. K-Power serves construction, industrial and event markets, as well as utilities. It has its own engineers, both on and off-site.”
KDM had long offered powered access as part of its general hire fleet, but, in 2003, two events led to the formation of K-Lift. “The first was that Elevation Equipment, a national hirer in Northern Ireland, got itself into difficulty and eventually went bankrupt, which opened up a gap in the market. This, together with the introduction of the Work At Height Regulations, gave us a great opportunity to further develop this operation.
In excess of 300 powered access platforms
“We now offer well in excess of 300 powered access machines, with the fleet ranging from ‘runarounds’ and electric scissors through to booms of up to 40m working height. The majority of platforms are Genie, with Skyjack and JLG making up the mix. Haulotte Star 10s, Hinowa tracked booms and Niftylift trailer-mounted platforms are also available. Low-level push around units are also becoming more popular and we have added a number of these units recently.
“In Northern Ireland, we consider ourselves to be in the Top 3 in each of our four leading hire fleets of powered access, generators,
cabins and toilets, as well as general plant, and each of our divisions competes with its individual market leader. We have the most comprehensive range of equipment available for hire in Northern Ireland - and probably much further afield. We can cover the whole of the Province within an hour and a half and, where there are Northern Ireland contractors working in the south of the country, we are providing equipment to service their needs.”
KDM also continued to evolve its general plant fleet. Over the years, it has added Hitachi excavators up to 13 tonnes, both Barford and Thwaites dumpers, up to 10 tonnes capacity, as well as Bomag rollers, up to 12 tonne, and JCB and Merlo telescopic handlers up to 17m working height.
“With the portfolio of equipment we offer, it was natural to offer a ‘one stop’ supply service to the Northern Ireland events industry, which has grown considerably in recent years. We have built up expertise in event management and we use key individuals in the team to co-ordinate logistics and the supply of equipment to larger events.
Opened in Belfast in 2006
“As our business grew, we realised that if we wanted to be recognised as a major player, then we had to increase our profile by opening in Belfast.” Opened in November 2006, KDM’s outlet is based north of the city on a 1.4 acre site close to the M2 at Mallusk, an hour away from Cookstown. “This site gives us an added service level and we have a prime location to service the city. Our Belfast depot offers the full portfolio of products, but it is operated as a satellite outlet, with most of the larger equipment stored, and more complex repairs carried out in Cookstown.”
In response to the changed market conditions that we are all now facing, KDM, by the start of this year, had considerably reduced its investment strategy. “We have, however, made specific investment in certain innovative or niche products. Having seen demand for heating and drying products, we launched K-Therm in October 08. We live in a damp, cold environment for much of the year and we saw the opportunity to develop this specialist business. We had a successful first season and hope to build on this in the future.
“We have now consolidated our position before we look to the future, but we must have an eye on the next products that will grow our customers’ business. We are about to launch our lifting gear hire, sales and service business that will have its own dedicated management team. Again, it is a natural extension to what we are already doing and it will enhance the service that we provide. Only Speedy and HSS are offering this service and we would like to think that we can compete with these national hirers. “We also recently won a tender to provide Variable Message Signs, which have slowly filtered into Northern Ireland. We have invested in a quantity of the signs and we see them as a growth market. They have to be treated as a specialist product, rather than a piece of plant. We must always remember that this is a service-driven industry, it is not drop and run.”
As stated at the outset, I had not previously visited KDM. It was our very own Steve McKenzie who first highlighted the company’s obvious abilities during his 270 visits to hirers all over the UK and Ireland to mobilise them to visit the 2009 Executive Hire Show. KDM made our shortlist of five candidates for our Passionate Independent Hirer Award and our Judges took over.
Based on seven specific criteria, including mystery shoppers’ visits, KDM was the clear winner, achieving a rating of 57 out of 70. The Judges citation read ‘KDM sets a very impressive standard and is certainly a benchmark for our industry. KDM also demonstrates that it is possible to extend high standards over more than one depot.’
All that leaves me to do is to wholeheartedly agree and warn the 2010 candidates that they have a difficult task to live up to. •
www.kdmhire.co.uk
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