THE HIRE SHOP – A new concept of Leasing

Equipment Leasing Limited (ELL), known by the industry as ‘The Hire Shop’, is your port of call for any equipment required in construction. From sawing and cutting, to gardening and farming to leisure, polishing and vacuuming, painting and scaffolding; the range of rentals you may wish to check out is vast.

Martin Scerri who has continued to build upon the roaring success which The Hire Shop has become; out of investing in equipment other people need for a definite period of time. Design & Build caught up with Martin in order to discern why leasing equipment from The Hire Shop instead of outrightly purchasing it can enhance and expedite its customers’ operations.

The Hire Shop was originally set up in 1996 as a franchise to the British company HSS. This was set up by the late Ramon Spiteri in partnership with another 3 persons. At the time, Martin Scerri was employed with Mr Spiteri and the rapport was excellent. Eventually, Mr Spiteri bought the partners out and ended up the sole owner of the company, and he subsequently made Mr Scerri a fellow, minor shareholder.
With the eventual regrettable passing of Mr Spiteri, Martin, who possessed intricate knowledge and experience pertaining to the business, was given the opportunity to take over the company, which he unhesitatingly and gratefully agreed to. Thus, Martin, who was already handling the core aspects of the business, took on the responsibility of acquiring the company and has never looked back since.

A BOND OF TRUST

A big part of the success of The Hire Shop has always been the bond of trust formed between the company and its clients. “Just as a librarian trusts the readers with the books on the shelves, we trust our clients with the equipment. The clients, in turn, trust us to provide them with a well-maintained, precise product,” Martin explained. He stressed that the vast majority of the people who seek rentals from The Hire Shop are bona fide, and that the company has its processes to ensure that its customers are indeed reliable. This culture is also fostered by Martin’s constant presence: the sole owner of The Hire Shop;
he is the one the people deal with.

The majority of their work goes to repeat clients. There are many reasons for this: “having zero maintenance costs tops the list but then there is also significantly reduced storage space, quick replacement in case a fault develops, no need for insurances, the list is indeed long,” Martin explained. Another vital point in this regard is that he will take the time to explain to the customer how to best operate the equipment in need. “You get people coming here knowing what they want to do but not how to best get it done. We advise them and they are happy with the service,” added Mr Scerri.

“we trust our clients with the equipment. The clients, in turn, trust us to provide them with a well-maintained, precise product”

The lease may be longer than a day but if the equipment is stolen, then a series of procedures are triggered and these are mainly the responsibility of the client. “This is clearly stated in the rental contract so that no one is caught unawares,” underscored Mr Scerri.

PARTNERS IN BUILDING UP A CLIENTELE

He explained that in case of theft, the necessary reports to the police need to be filed and the client is, in due course, given other equipment to continue the job in hand. Theft may be an extreme case, given that the lease of equipment is most likely needed with a certain immediacy which renders the issue of theft a rarity. Breakages are, however, another matter. Mr Scerri explains that the company differentiates between wear and tear and wilful damage. “Here we are talking of careless or wilful damage such as throwing a piece of equipment down a couple of floors,” he ruefully explained.

“the company differentiates between wear and tear and wilful damage”

The Hire Shop strives to be flexible and promotes honesty as the basis of good customer relations. This reciprocity seems to be working a treat since The Hire Shop’s client base is constantly expanding. Martin said that The Hire Shop is very convenient among those tradespersons who are still building their client base and cannot afford, as yet, to have an expensive set of tools that they may not be using regularly. “Say they need a jigger for a week, we give them a good price and that helps them get on with their work and ensures that they become repeat clients,” said Mr Scerri. Word of mouth, he smiles, does the rest.

Their customer base however also includes growing businesses which, notwithstanding the fact that they enjoy work volumes which allow for the purchasing of one’s own arsenal of tools, nonetheless prefer to partner with The Hire Shop as “prices are right and the service is optimal.” In this case, rather than comparable to car hire, working with The Hire Shop would be akin to leasing, say, a company car – a quality vehicle with no hassles for the user.

“prices are right and the service is optimal“

Notwithstanding that The Hire Shop is now a token name amongst practically all the industry players, Martin is not content with this status quo. “We’re currently emphasising a lot on upgrading and expanding our line of equipment,” explained Mr Scerri.

UPGRADE AND EXPANSION

This involves not only more tools, but also more tool types, and adding to our stock from the most reliable and durable providers which are truly and genuinely providing great quality and reliability at fair prices. It also involves having a good hand on the pulse of the market. “If you notice that clients are coming in, asking for a particular tool or type of tool, then that should flash a light for you. It does for me, and I normally put it on my acquisitions list,” Martin said.

The Hire Shop does have its staple tools: that equipment, which The Hire Shop is the go-to place for. These are mainly construction materials such as scaffolding, chutes, chasers for trunking, jiggers and renovators. These last are increasing exponentially in popularity. “Renovators enable the rendering of the walls and surfaces to heftily reduce the peeling-off of the laying of new coverings, finishes and paints,” Martin explained. “Another important tool which is very much in demand is the ‘hoover’. Construction sites are obliged to mitigate the generation of dust and for this, they require a construction-grade vacuum cleaner which absorbs dust from small-scale chasing projects to large-scale works,” Martin said, while assuring us that The Hire Shop carries a good number of these items too.

“working with The Hire Shop would be akin to leasing, say, a company car – a quality vehicle with no hassles for the user”

He is constantly on the lookout for the best: not only in deals but also in quality and capability. This means that Martin spends a significant amount of time once the Shop is closed for the day in sourcing and learning about the pros and cons of each model and variants of the equipment he is interested in. And so, he follows up on a personal basis not only with his clients but also with the suppliers. This sometimes also involves visits either by the suppliers or to the suppliers as the case may be.

Much like how car drivers tend to prefer manual buttons instead of touch-sensors, so does Martin for his tools: “I try to avoid complex electronic elements to equipment as this tends to get defective very quickly – especially when usage is by different people,” he said. So such variables he goes for are as as simple and straight forward as possible. This outlook is hardly surprising. A motor mechanic by profession, Mr Scerri has first-hand experience of the problems that operators have with engines; and how best to circumvent these issues.

A rental operation requires good planning and logistical skills. “The day starts with taking a look at the order books and seeing what is due out and due in on the day and how best to move in between jobs,” Martin passionately explained. This, strictly speaking, is an on-going process. All equipment due out needs to be operationally checked to ensure that it works well. It is cleaned, and maintained, such that I am confident of its reliability and performance before given to the client.”

“The mechanic in Martin Scerri is evident when he talks about tools”

This is a matter of particular priority to Martin’s company. “Besides checking it out ourselves, we also check the equipment in front of the client,” he added. This all ties in to the element of trust which is the core of the service which he supplies. He said that this extends to the quality of the tools supplied, as well as to how and when they are returned.

“If they are returned in good condition and in a timely manner, what does it matter if they are an hour or two late,” he remarked. Martin’s extensive experiences in this business have highlighted to him how crucial this element is to his customers. It is possible for The Hire Shop to sustain this flexibility thanks to the company stocks on tools; which are substantial. When asked to give an example of such customer care, he narrated “I just had a client call me: the tool leased is particularly popular and his has stopped working. We gave him an immediate replacement while we then scrutinised the tool to discern whether it should be repaired or written off,” explained Mr Scerri. Indeed, The Hire Shop keeps a stock of main parts to the tools so that these tools can be repaired expediently and quite perfectly.

“The Hire Shop keeps a stock of main parts to the tools so that these tools can be repaired expediently and quite perfectly”

The mechanic in Martin Scerri is evident when he talks about tools. In answer to his ‘favourite tool at the moment’ his eyes light up in a smile “Oh the airless sprayer, for sure,” he exclaimed. This is a tool that enables one to paint not with a roller but with a sprayer: the water paint is loaded into the sprayer and large surfaces are then covered quickly and easily. This is demonstrated to clients and they quickly see the advantages of such an innovative tool. Fashions, Martin observed, change even in trade.

“The Hire Shop advises the clients on the average consumption of the tools leased”

He pointed out that up to a few years ago, hand sanding was the order of the day. Today, this is done using a variety of tools with different gradations of how finely sanded one would like the surface to be. One has to always keep an eye out for consumables and he assured us that customers are advised on what to purchase. Things like sandpaper, Martin tells us, are the responsibility of the client to purchase but The Hire Shop advises the clients on the average consumption of the tools leased.