BOA Plant Hire Adds To Kubota Fleet

BOA Plant Hire, a division of Bedford-based structural steelwork specialist Barratts of Aspley, has been investing heavily to update its fleet of equipment, purchasing more than 25 Kubota compact excavators in the last six months. The company operates in excess of 100 machines, of which 80 are Kubotas, with almost every model from the micro K008-5 through to the 8.5-tonne KX085-5 represented in the fleet.

In business for more than a decade, BOA Plant Hire also has site dumpers, telehandlers and rollers, with excavators up to 14-tonnes operating weight topping the line-up. The business provides powered access hire and a range of self-contained welfare units and is capable of providing a contract lifting mobile crane service, with a wide range of all terrain mobile cranes available for contract or driver-only hire.

Working within a 50-mile radius of its head office site, the plant hire business provides equipment on a self-drive basis to a wide range of customers, from larger civil engineering companies to smaller builders. Plant Manager Darren Millard is a believer in single source supply, building relationships with manufacturers and dealers to deliver consistency and ease of back-up. Around 85% of the BOA fleet has been provided by Kubota dealer Shellplant and the firm handles all warranty work when required.

“It’s much easier having a single source of supply for the fleet, for security of parts and service,” said Mr Millard. “I’ve known Tom Haywood at Shellplant for 25 years and they have always been good for the supply of machines.

“Plus, we never have any complaints from customers with a Kubota. From the micro through to the 8-tonne machine, they may not always be the very best individual model in every sector, but Kubota are certainly the best overall,” he said.

“Since they formed a plant hire division in 2014, BOA has been a loyal Kubota customer and one with whom we have very much enjoyed working closely,” said Tom Haywood, Sales Manager at Shellplant.

“We are looking forward to many more years of supplying them with Kubota machinery.”

With strong order books, the business has been through a regular turnover of equipment. BOA tends to change its machinery every four years and the last six months have seen plenty of new plant entering the fleet.

“We have been really busy and have invested to meet our customer requirements,” said Mr Millard. “We probably won’t need to get any more machines now until next year.”