Small in size but not in nature for WA hire business

Western Australian family-run hire business, Sweeney Hire, are finding that small machines are perfect for their line of work, after recently adding another Kobelco mini excavator to their growing fleet.

Tom and Mel Sweeney founded Sweeney Hire in 2016 starting with a used Kobelco SK13SR mini excavator. They loved it so much, that three years on they now own three SK17SR’s mini excavators and are looking to expand their fleet of Kobelco’s in the future.

“We never had a problem with the SK13, so we kept going back to using Kobelco’s,” says Tom. “We’ve found them efficient and really reliable, every customer we’ve had has said how much they love using them.”

The business is mainly 80% dry hire, with jobs ranging from small DIY jobs, to larger jobs on bigger sites like petrol stations and housing construction.

“We try to put ourselves in our customers shoes and think what would they need out of a machine? The SK17 is great as it’s so compact and easy to manoeuvre. Our favourite feature is the zero-tail swing as it can get into those tight spaces in backyards and smaller worksites,” Mel adds.

“You don’t need a truck or large trailer to move the machine around which is great, and it can easily be driven up on stockpiles or larger mounds, making it versatile on those slightly larger worksites. We have a 80% return rate on clients, and having reliable machinery definitely contributes to that.”

Mel and Tom credit local Kobelco dealer LiftRite as well for their quick and efficient service.

“We had an issue once with one of the machines and took it to the Liftrite guys to fix it. They only had it for two days and then it was back with us. That’s important when you’re running a small business as we can’t afford to have one of our machines down for a long period of time.” Tom says.

Mel and Tom have added a new machine to their business every six months for the past year and a half and are looking at adding more in the future.

“If it’s not blue, then it won’t do is the motto we’re going by, and it seems to be working!” Tom says.