TOOL HIRE SECTOR ‘PUNCHING WELL ABOVE ITS WEIGHT’

The tool hire sector and the contribution it is making to overall plant and equipment sales has been recognised by leading construction equipment distributor, McHale Plant Sales.

According to its sales director, Denis McGrath, the sector is “punching well above its weight” in terms of the contribution it makes to plant and equipment sales.

“Once the preserve of self-employed entrepreneurs focused on servicing a developing a DIY home repairs, house extensions and landscaping market, the sector is now populated with highly-professional, well-financed, well-managed and well-marketed businesses heavily geared to meet the needs of ‘rent-as-you-go’ utilities contractors fuelled, in many cases, by state bodies and local authorities that now ‘farm-out’ work traditionally handled in-house,” McGrath said.

“Driving this growth also has been the development of ‘tow-away sized’ mini and midi diggers and the emergence of agricultural contractors keen to expand and pursue applications and growth opportunities beyond silage cutting, crop sowing and harvesting,” he added.

As distributors of Komatsu equipment in Ireland, with other brands and attachments within their portfolio – units like the new Merlo Cingo tracked dump truck – McHale Plant Sales has recorded the impact of these trends across a host of recent sales. 

The popular Komatsu PC138US-11 excavator is now available with the latest generation Topcon semi-autonomous positioning system as part of the McHale Plant Sales product offering.

Typical of these were Komatsu PC16,26,55,80 and 138 model excavators and rock breaking attachments sold to Treaty Tool Hire in Limerick, Galway Tool Hire, Boland Hire in Arklow, Nenagh Plant Hire and, amongst agricultural contractors, to Walsh Agri of Kilmaine, County Mayo.