BUSiNESS PROFILE
Mark Batten is learning to deal with rapid expansion. Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
BY CHARLENE MACAULAY COMPLETE Hire Equipment has reached double digits. The Sunshine company, which supplies a range of tools, boom lifts, cherry pickers and other equipment for construction, maintenance and DIY, is celebrating its 10th birthday this year and is already busy preparing for the next 10 years. Owner Mark Batten started up the business in a small Laverton North warehouse in 2003 after managing a range of other hire companies and knew he was onto a winner. The business expanded so rapidly in its first 12 months that it outgrew the premises. He then moved to the current facility - which includes an office, showroom and lot - and plans to take over the adjoining block of land to expand once again. Mr Batten is also looking to open another store this year in the East to expand his reach on the Melbourne market.
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BUSiNESS WEST
“I learnt from a lot of different people and a lot of different companies through management roles, and I decided I could do it myself,” he said. “Apart from the fact that I was now 100 per cent responsible, that was pretty much the only difference. “Everywhere I’ve worked my whole life, I’ve treated the businesses like my own anyway.” Complete Hire Equipment stocks around 4000 different tools, machines and equipment for hire, lending out the equipment to handy men, the building industry and even the film and television market. The business was a finalist in the Hire Company of the Year award for the Hire and Rental Association of Australia.
end of last year on three boom lifts alone. “If I had to stop updating the equipment, I’d have to close the business,” he said. “It’s all driven by what the customers want. “I suppose the Global Financial Crisis didn’t affect us as much because we were still buying equipment - every cent we’ve ever made out of the business, we’ve poured back into it. “I think that helps a hell of a lot.” Mr Batten believes it’s the constant updating of equipment and a focus on offering customers good service that has made Complete Hire Equipment so successful. “The problem I see these days is that people don’t care. We offer something different.
It’s a lucrative business, but also a competitive one.
“We offer good equipment, good service, if people want things at a certain time, we make sure it’s there on time.
Mr Batten said he has had to constantly fix and update equipment to stay current in the market, spending more than $500,000 at the
“We probably couldn’t be where we are today without the personnel that I have - without good people, your business is buggered.” [BW]