‘Golden’ Eagle Plant 50 Years of Hire.

2025 will see loyal Thwaites customer Eagle Plant celebrate its 50^th anniversary. The business, established in 1975 on a former brewery site in Chard, Somerset, has significantly expanded since its inception.

In 1981 Eagle Plant became an independent entity when the business was acquired by Michael Grimoldby and his (late) wife Vivien.

Currently, the company operates from 30 locations across the Southwest, South Wales, Herefordshire, London, the West Midlands, and Manchester. The company now employs over 250 people, marking substantial growth from its original small builder, ownership origins.

Silver Star:

The company has another reason to celebrate this year as they will have been ordering Thwaites dumpers for the 25th consecutive year. The fleet back in the day was a mix of traditional dumper manufacturers, the last 15 years has seen a predominance of Thwaites with the last 5 years being exclusively Thwaites, leading to a dumper fleet today that is 95% Thwaites supplied.

Nick Barrow said “Thwaites are today the only company we will forward order dumpers with, helping to both grow and refresh our fleet, they are our first port of call. This year we have already committed to purchase 77 new machines, with the likelihood that number will rise in the second half of 2025”.

The Eagle Plant dumper fleet holding today stands at well over 600 machines.

First Among Equals:

Eagle Plant stands out as an employee-owned business where every worker becomes a Co-owner upon joining and keeps their share until they leave. The company has a management trustee board that holds employees’ equal shares in trust.

Employee Co-owners are given every opportunity to play their part in the running of the business.

An employee council formed from branch representatives ensures two-way communication with company directors at quarterly council meetings. This gives opportunity for the Co-owners to challenge the board, discuss or suggest innovative ideas for the business and engage with fellow Co-owners and the company’s operations team.

At the Helm:

For the past 9 years Nick Barrow has been a director of the business, today he is Managing Director, we caught up with Nick who said, “The culture of our business has been shaped by our people and our ownership model, when people feel part of something they become part of something and our customers notice the difference.”

Nick went on to mention that staff retention and engagement is high… a working example of the success of the model, as is the fact that the company shares its monthly branch P&Ls along with the company figures for complete transparency.

Being employee owned gives the Eagle Plant workforce security and peace of mind on three fronts, firstly the business cannot be sold without co-owner agreement, secondly all the profits from the business are reinvested in the business to give the third employee benefit of enhanced job security.

With turnover of approx. £40m and company assets of £50m the business is in good hands.

Why Do Customers Have an Eye for Eagle:

Any plant hire company celebrating 50 years in business is clearly doing something right, when you ask the business what it is that keeps customers coming back, it appears quite simple.

Every penny made is reinvested in a business that is equally Co-owned by a workforce that is passionate about what it does and how it does it.

Relationships with customers and suppliers are of paramount importance…Eagle Plant director Alan Craddock said…” We may not be the cheapest, however nobody can hire a better product or give a better service…We keep our promises”

Investment Assessment:

As an employee-owned business every penny, as mentioned earlier, is reinvested in the business. The business has three primary rental categories of Plant Hire, Tool Hire, Welfare and Accommodation Hire.

The Plant Hire exclusively offers premium brands with Thwaites dumpers, Takeuchi and Kubota compact excavators supported by Hitachi machines upwards of 13-tonne. Single and two tool compressors are provided by Atlas Copco, with a full range of air tools to tackle any job. JCB and Manitou provide the full range, from compact to large Telehandlers.  Ride on twin drum rollers come from Hamm and Bomag, with a nice range of 3-tonne to 12-tonne tracked dumpers being offered by Morooka.

All the leading suppliers from Makita, Stihl, Altrad Belle, Honda, Hilti, Pramac, and Stephill are available across the tool hire categories.

The ever-expanding portable accommodation and welfare unit business has enabled Eagle to both up sell and cross sell an impressive range of stores, canteens, welfare units, office units and cabins, with a quality selection of toilets being offered to the event market.

Talking About a Generation:  

If we look back at just the last 25-years of Eagle Plant, there would have been no Facebook, no Twitter and no routine use of e-mail at the start of this period…so what has changed from a hirer’s perspective.

The biggest difference cited by Eagle is reaction times, 20 odd years ago a week would be standard notice…today its hours.

Post covid the company has seen, except for its cabin business, shorter hire periods, with on the whole machines being rented for days not weeks.

With recent data highlighting machines were being washed, checked and refuelled twice as often as they were prior to 2021.

The business believes that whilst people continue to buy off people, they need to look at how they align themselves digitally and socially to satisfy the next generation of hirers from Eagle Plant.

The recent appointment of a full-time marketeer being a prime example of Eagle Plant spreading its wings.

Image L-R: Alan Craddock, Michael Grimoldby, Nick Barrow.