Still Going Solo

Wed 26 Jul 2017

Still Going Solo

Like so many people I meet, Rob Williams grew up in a world surrounded by plant and machinery. Rob’s father, Graham Williams, had always been a plant operator and worked for Gilbury Plant Hire in Gillingham, Dorset. Young Rob used to spend all his Saturday mornings on site with his dad and often long periods during the school holidays.

Rob’s dad used to operate an early JCB 3CX, followed by periods on a Poclain 60, before moving on to Hitachi models including UHO63, FH120 and EX150. Sometime later he moved on to another company where he operated a Poclain 90 and a Cat 213BLC, which was one of the Eder based badged machines in the Caterpillar 200 series in those days. Like so many of us, Rob has great memories of break times that were often spent “having a go” on whatever machine his dad was operating at the time, as such there was never really any doubt that Rob would follow in his father’s footsteps and join the plant game.

Rob’s first work experience started in 1997, when he was doing his NVQ3 in plant mechanics at Rycotewood College, during which time he was taken on as an apprentice plant mechanic by Kedgeworth Ltd, who deal in Komatsu machines, repairs and breaking for spares. In 2000 Rob started a job with well-known local company Mark Farwell Plant Hire. Initially Rob started out in the workshops, using his recently learnt skills on the spanners, but over time he was deployed to operate a JCB 3CX on day hire jobs, which eventually led on to long hires to the local council and Wessex Water. The lure of the seat full time was overwhelming and in 2003 a job offer came up working for Dorset based civil engineering company C.J. Lee. Rob was placed on a Daewoo DH220 for starters, but it wasn’t long before he was rewarded with his first new machine, a brand spanking new Hitachi ZX130. Over the next 5 years Rob worked on a variety of job’s with C.J. Lee and went on to take charge of a 20 tonne class ZX200. After a couple of moves with other firms, Rob joined Bartlett Contractors Ltd in 2008, operating their JCB JS220. Talking about this job Rob said, “With Bartlett’s I worked on pipelines, heavy civils and agricultural work so as you can imagine it offered a lot of variety. I loved it and gained a lot of experience from the job. I was also lucky enough to spend some time operating the larger Caterpillar machines on the fleet including the 323D and 324D models, this exposure to the Cat products made me want one of my own even more”.

Rob had wanted to own his own machine since he was a little boy, recalling how a real digger was always on his Christmas list! Rob said, “I almost went for it around 12 years ago when I considered buying my own JCB 3CX, but I felt I didn’t have enough experience under my belt. In 2012 I started enquiring about going solo, during which time I asked a number of people in the industry for advice about starting up, of course we were still in a recession at the time and I found I got a lot of negativity about going for it, but my wife Fiona was the driving force behind me and she pushed me all the way to give it a go and in all honesty I am so glad she did as we have never looked back since”. So in July 2012, Williams Plant was formed, to start with Rob had no machine of his own, but he had been offered a 6 week contract doing the ground works for a large extension and although it wasn’t what he wanted to do, he took the job, which proved to be a good start for the fledgling business. After this contract was completed Rob did a few jobs as a relief operator and completed a few smaller groundworks jobs. The hankering for his own machine was becoming stronger and stronger and as such Rob started to search for his first machine. Rather than saddle himself with a lot of debt for a brand new machine, Rob decided to do the sensible thing and purchase a decent second hand model. The search took him back to one of his former employers, Bartlett Contractors, which coincidentally is where his wife Fiona still works. Bartlett’s had a Fiat-Kobelco E80 8 tonne class machine available to purchase which was in good order and with Rob having previously worked for the company, he was well aware of the machines history and the fact that it had been well looked after. To cut a long story short, a deal was done and Rob had his first machine, the only problem at the time was that he didn’t have any work for it, so it was time to make a few phone calls!

With the machine prepped and sign written Rob was ready to go and he was soon on the phone to Steve Few, a friend of Rob’s dad, who was at the time a Contracts Manager with Bristol based CJL Construction Ltd. The busy civil engineering contractor was quick to snap up the services of Rob and his machine. This hire turned into a decent run of work for Williams Plant and as workload increased Rob was able to purchase an additional machine in the form of 1.5 tonne Volvo EC15. Rob admits that initially the small mini excavator was purchased for a bit of fun at the weekends, to save hiring one in, but in reality it has proven to be an invaluable addition as it hasn’t stopped working since they purchased it!

As workload has increased in recent months Rob has taken on a self-employed groundworker/machine operator, who now undertakes the smaller groundworks jobs that come in and the occasional hire work, this has allowed Rob to concentrate on growing the business further. With everyone being busy in the UK at the moment Rob has once again felt confident to expand further and thanks to the help of the aforementioned Steve Few, who is now working for new company Quantum Civils Ltd, who are based in Christchurch, Dorset, he has been offered a long run of work with them. Having good connections and friends in this industry is often the key to survival and on this new site in Parkstone, Quantum have assembled a highly experienced crew who had all previously worked together on C.J. Lee many years before. On the strength of this job Rob has just invested in a quality used 13 tonne Caterpillar 312D excavator, which he has purchased from Finning UK. Rob had spent a day up north visiting a number of dealers, but explained that the treatment he received at Cannock was fantastic. On arrival at Finning’s UK headquarters Rob, accompanied by his father, was shown a selection of used machines and being a Cat man deep down he was sold on a the 312D model with 4,900 hours on the meter, which was a Finning Cat Certified Used machine.

Rob’s local Cat Sales Representative, Peter Atkinson, done them a great deal and the machine, which was still in its raw condition, was put through the rigorous workshop checks that a certified machine goes through. This included a full mechanical check up with any parts that needed changing being done and any bodywork damage repaired. The machine was later moved down to Finning’s Cardiff branch, where it came under the scrutiny of the branches Used Equipment Manager Sue Deary, who Rob describes as an “absolute star”, with a real eye for detail. It was at this location that the paint was touched up and the machine was finished off with the distinctive track themed, Williams Plant sign writing. Rob said, “I think the team at Finning’s have done an outstanding job with our latest machine and I am very pleased with my choice. Portraying a good and professional image is very important to me and this machine looks the business when I turn up on site”.

The machine was delivered to the new job site in the leafy suburbs of Parkstone, where Quantum Civils Ltd will be undertaking all the groundworks and infrastructure for a new block of retirement apartments on a long term piece of derelict land overlooking the luxurious Sandbanks area, which is home to many rich and famous people and it was here that Earthmovers caught up with Rob and his new mount.

The machine has impressed Rob since it arrived and he got familiar with it. Rob said “It’s so smooth and light to operate and has plenty of power when needed, I am very happy with it”. The machine, which is fitted with a Dromone quick coupler has been supplied with 4 new buckets, comprising a grader/re-handling bucket, 450mm, 600mm, and 1200mm digging buckets with removable cutting edges and an existing 900mm bucket that was already with the machine.

On first arrival at the site I was not prepared for what I was about to see, entering the job site I was amazed to discover a deep excavation had taken place there to remove many 100’s of tonnes of quality sand. One of Rob’s first jobs was to make a ramp down into the excavation to facilitate a crusher, which was coming in to recycle the hardcore. This material would later be used to form a working mat for the piling rig, but first Rob had to pull down the bank of existing sand which was to be compacted in layers to build the level up on the lower plateau.

It was really early days on this site during our visit, but it was clear to see there is plenty of work ahead for Rob and his new machine, with exciting times ahead. Summarising about his time in business so far Rob said, “Being an owner operator definitely has its highs and lows, breakdowns can be a headache and we had a few of those in the early days, but having said that I wouldn’t want to go back employed, I love what I do and to me it’s more like a hobby than a job”.

Like a vast majority of successful men, there is always a strong and determined woman behind the scenes. Rob is no different as he explained, “My wife Fiona’s input has been invaluable, I know I could not have done any of this without her help, drive and ambition, she works in the industry too so she knows exactly what is needed to succeed, I’m very lucky”.

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