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John F Hunt Hire invests £1.3 million in Kubota excavators

John F Hunt Hire Centres has added 26 Kubota mini and midi excavators to its rental fleet in a £1.3 million investment aimed at meeting continued demand across London and the South East.

The latest order includes K008-5, U17-5 and U27-4 mini excavators, alongside larger KX030-4, U50-5 and KX085-5 models. Supplied by Boss Plant Sales, the machines bring John F Hunt’s Kubota fleet to more than 120 units. The order is the first major fleet deal for Boss Plant Sales since opening its Essex depot earlier this year, providing John F Hunt with local engineering support.

John F Hunt Hire Centres Managing Director Martin Lavery said: “By growing our fleet, we’re increasing capacity and flexibility to better support our customers’ needs and provide the service they have come to expect from us.”

Established in 1994, John F Hunt Hire Centres is part of the wider John F Hunt Group and operates from Grays in Essex, with additional depots in East and North-West London. The company manages more than 5,000 assets, supplying compact plant and equipment to contractors across a broad range of sectors. While originally established to support the Group’s demolition and regeneration businesses, around 80% of its hire operation now serves external customers, including groundworkers, landscapers and civil engineering contractors.

“We were initially created to support the demolition and regeneration companies within the John F Hunt Group, although now around 80% of the business is external, working with groundworkers, landscapers and civils businesses,” said Mr Lavery.

The company’s fleet also includes site dumpers, telehandlers, powered access equipment, tools and attachments, as well as specialist equipment including lifting gear, concrete cutting equipment and demolition robots. John F Hunt has been running Kubota equipment for more than 25 years, with reliability and residual values among the reasons for the continued investment.

“We’ve had Kubota machines for more than 25 years and we’ve known Boss Plant Sales for a long time,” said Mr Lavery. “The opening of the Essex depot is ideal for us, providing local engineering support right on our doorstep.

“Reliability is vital for our customers and we’ve always found Kubota machines to be extremely dependable. The residual values also remain very strong.”

The company operates its own in-house service team and apprenticeship programme, working with the CITB to recruit and develop new plant engineering talent. Potential apprentices are brought into the business ahead of formal selection, giving both the candidates and company an opportunity to assess their suitability. The new excavators are supplied in standard specification, with machines up to the U27-4 fitted with manual quick-hitches, while the larger models feature automatic hydraulic hitches. Boss Plant Sales Essex Sales Director Nigel Booley said the order underlined the long-standing relationship between the two businesses.

“Having worked with John F Hunt for more than 25 years, it’s fantastic to continue that long-standing relationship in my role with Boss Plant Sales in Essex,” he said.

“In what remains a highly competitive market, a £1.3m investment of this scale is a real statement of confidence, not only in the continued development of the John F Hunt fleet, but also in Boss Plant Sales and in Kubota.”

With demand continuing across several sectors, John F Hunt says further fleet investment is likely.

“For John F Hunt Hire Centres, it is definitely a period of growth,” said Mr Lavery.

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