In the civil engineering, groundworks, forestry and agricultural sectors machine reliability is paramount. Downtime negatively impacts your productivity and profit margins so investing in brand new machinery is crucial for business success.
For plant hirers too, an up-to-date fleet is attractive to customers and helps them to meet the latest fuel consumption and emissions standards, so the ability to purchase new machinery quickly and easily is not just a nice to have, it is a necessity.
Throw in the unpredictable Scottish weather and you have a very real mix of challenges that J.M. Dewar Plant Contractors contends with on a daily basis. Which is why they have forged a tight working relationship with JCB Finance which has been assisting the company in maintaining a modern fleet, since 1991.
BUILDING THE PERFECT FLEET
Based in Crieff, Perthshire, J.M. Dewar Plant Contractors was founded in 1968 and is now run by father and son team, John and Iain Dewar.
The company offers a broad range of services across the civil engineering, groundworks, forestry and agricultural sectors as well as offering plant hire and operating a mixed arable and livestock farm partnership.
A large proportion of the company’s business comes from repeat clients and word of mouth, highlighting their commitment to reliable and consistently excellent customer service.
Central to this is an extensive fleet of equipment, including: the latest investment of two JCB 150X HD tracked excavators which join JCB tracked excavators from 2.5 to 22 tonne, JCB 3CX backhoe loaders, a New Holland combine harvester and a Pedrotti grain dryer. All financed using JCB Finance’s HP Fixed and HP Plus facilities.
The ability to finance both JCB and non-JCB equipment has been hugely useful in helping J.M. Dewar Plant Contractor’s maintain an extensive and varied fleet which is ideal for their needs, as well as that of their plant hire customers.
As Iain Dewar explains: “We’ve always used the HP Plus facility – we’ve been using it since 1991 and we’ve stuck with it. The fact that we can keep the machine at the end is the primary focus for us. The team at JCB Finance make everything as easy as possible for us and we can’t recommend them enough.”
HP Plus is a fixed rate hire purchase (HP) product designed by JCB Finance to provide UK businesses with a way of spreading the cost of buying JCBs, plant, equipment or vehicles through regular fixed instalment payments with the flexibility to make ad hoc lump sum payments and reduce the interest charged. Plus, this facility comes with a built-in payment-holiday feature that enables you to take unplanned payment holidays, when for example bad weather impacts work and cashflow, without it affecting your credit rating.
A SEAMLESS PROCESS
Maintaining a reliable and productive fleet of modern machinery that is geared up for the task in hand is essential – particularly for a company whose work is as varied and specialised as J.M. Dewar Plant Contractors.
As Iain Dewar explains: “We have to keep renewing our machines, we couldn’t work without them. For reliability and reputation, new machinery is important and we can’t afford to be broken down. That’s where the warranty comes in handy. We continue to invest every year, to keep the fleet modern and up to current standards with emissions.
“The newer machines are more efficient, so there’s less downtime and decreased fuel consumption and emissions. Having modern machinery also helps retain existing staff and encourages new staff to join.”
AN ONGOING PARTNERSHIP
With over 50 years’ experience in providing asset finance for customers in the construction, agricultural and industrial sectors JCB Finance can offer fast, flexible finance solutions that help preserve working capital while spreading payments in a cost-effective and tax-efficient manner.
Finance options are not restricted to JCB equipment and are also available for other new non-competitive and used machinery, cars, 4x4s, commercial vehicles, tractors, harvesters, cultivation equipment, balers, trailers, static plant, access equipment and more.
The success of JCB Finance has been built on longstanding relationships, a deep understanding of its customers’ businesses and a commitment to meeting their needs. This is echoed in the partnership between J.M. Dewar Plant Contractors and JCB Finance Relationship Manager, Stuart Robertson.
Iain Dewar concludes:
“JCB Finance is easy to deal with. They make it simple. It’s ideal for us and they’re competitive. Stuart is great – he knows exactly what we do and what we’re after and he’s always there on the end of the telephone when we need him. Setting up a deal is so easy, once you agree the figures, it’s all done online with electronic signatures. As it’s all set up in the system already it’s time saving for us too. I don’t think the service could be improved.”
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