CJ Holmes & Son is a family run company based in, Skegness Lincolnshire, established for over 20 -years the company provides groundwork services to local business Including leisure, commercial, construction and to the domestic market and more recently has opened a Plant Hire side to the business.
Managing director and founder of the company, Chris Holmes started out as a ‘one man one machine’ operation working mainly in ground work for Caravan sites in Lincolnshire – Chris’s business grew as he attracted the attention of local contractors, including blue chip company JN Bentley, who offered Chris an environmental contract – this was the beginning of a growing empire!
More companies were approaching CJ Holmes for machines – Chris saw this as an opportunity and a distinct gap in the market in the Lincolnshire area and decided to open a plant hire arm to his current business and launched CJ Holmes Plant and Tool Hire in January of this year.
The new company has 12-machines in its fleet – which includes 10-Hyundai machines ranging in operating weights from 1.7 tonne up to 22 tonne supplied by Hyundai dealer EP Industries, based in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
Managing Director Chris Holmes said:
“One of the main reasons we chose Hyundai machines is for their reliability – they are very low maintenance machines and down-time is minimal.
“The machines also represent excellent value for money. We purchased our first Hyundai from EP Industries in 2013 and we now have a fleet of 10-Hyundai’s which includes the R17Z-9A 1.7 tonne zero tail swing machine, which is perfect for the domestic market and difficult to access sites.
“We also have in our excavator fleet – two R60CR-9A six tonne machines, two 14 tonne R140LC-9A, two R160LC-9A’s. Our latest purchases have been another R220LC-9A 22-tonne machine and a 2.5 tonne R25Z-9A – another zero tailswing machine.”
CJ Holmes operations manager, Keith Ranson is responsible for the day to day running of the business and also the company’s fleet he said:
“We find Hyundai machines fit the bill job wise – for example a company might ask to hire in a 3-tonne machine and are unsure when we offer them the 2.5tonne Hyundai.
“But when the operator on the job-site gets on the machine – it does the job just as efficiently as a 3-tonne machine.
“With the hire side of the business taking off so quickly and being ‘crazy busy’ we have to make sure the machines we have out on hire are up to the job – and we have every confidence in our Hyundai fleet and the back-up service we get from EP Industries.
“We have four operators, including our managing director Chris, who is still very much ‘on the tools’ and they all rate the machines very highly.”
Ian ‘Doddy’ Lovely has been an operator for over 30-years and has been with CJ Homes for just over two years where he spends 95% of his time out on hire.
In his time at company Ian has operated the majority of the machines in the CJ Holmes fleet and is currently working on an Environmental Agency project in Skegness for JN Bentley, operating the Hyundai 14 tonne R140LC-9A. Ian said:
“I find the Hyundai machines very good and they are a pleasure to operate. When you are working on a machine for 12-14hrs a day – it needs to be comfortable – and the cab in the Hyundai has all the ‘mod-con’s’ – the visibility is excellent too.
“I also use the camera system every day – the picture is very clear and gives an all-round view of the machine which is important when working on a busy site with lots of people around. Even at dusk the picture on the monitor is clear.”
Ian added, “The power in all the Hyundai machines is also excellent – and have plenty of grunt for all the types of work they do.
“I have found that the machines are good on fuel too – for instance when I am on the R160 (17,800 kg operating weight) in heavy digging mode I can get a day and a half of operating on one tank full of fuel.
“There’s very little or no ‘down-time’ with these machines I have had none at all on the R140, the R220 and the R160 has just clocked up 2000 hours and again not one moment of working time has been lost.”
So it’s a big thumbs up from CJ Holmes for the South Korean manufactured Hyundai machines and as the business continues to expand into new markets including highways and the utilities sector the company says it is likely it will be expanding its fleet further.
Will it be Hyundai? Operations manager Keith Ranson seems to think so.
