P.F. Dixon Plant Hire sets the standard

P.F. Dixon Plant Hire Ltd is highly respected in the world of haulage, site clearance, excavation and demolition. Administration manager Joan Quinlan gave Irish Trucker an overview of the company's operations.

P.F. Dixon is based in Rathcore, Enfield, Co Meath

P.F. Dixon Plant Hire Ltd has built up a fine reputation in Dublin city and county, and counties Meath, Kildare and Offaly for its work in haulage, site clearance, excavation and demolition services since Paul Dixon established the company some six years ago.

The company's customer base reads like a veritable 'who's who' of the civil engineering and construction sectors. To complement its core activities, the company also runs a licenced landfill site.
Since inception the company's order books have been brimful to overflowing on the back of executing timely and professional services in all of its spheres of excellence.

Six years down the road and with hundreds of successfully completed contracts under its belt, P.F. Dixon Plant Hire's name is synonymous with quality.
Joan enthused: "In all of the work we do, we are working against the clock. We are the first to move in on site and nobody else can get started until we are finished. In that respect we have an excellent reputation for getting the job finished on time and in many cases ahead of schedule," Joan revealed.

Clem and Gerry Dixon are ready to put this Hitachi through its paces

She continued: "Our reputation for reliability is possibly our strongest sellling point. When we say we will be on site in two weeks, we are on site in two weeks. Likewise, if we say we will have the job finished in three weeks, we will have the job finished in three weeks regardless of what it takes."

In similar fashion civil engineering and construction companies know from experience that P.F. Dixon Plant Hire has the necessary plant and equipment on hand to get the job done in double-quick time, which pushes them firmly into the comfort zone.

To facilitate the smooth running of the business the company has a modern fleet, 14 eight wheeler tipper trucks and an extensive list of plant and machinery including: track excavators, excavators with rock breakers, low loaders, dump trucks and bull dozers."
Depending on the size of the project P.F. Dixon Plant Hire can also call on a variety of sub-contractors to supplement its own impressive machinery list. Joan commented: "

The company also has a preference for Hino

Paul would have a network of contacts in the trade. On the bigger jobs where we would need extra machinery we would hire in sub-contractors."
Similarly, P.F. Dixon Plant Hire is often called in by other contractors to give them a 'dig out'. "It would all depend on who got the main contract. In this business the contractors all work very closely with each other," she affirmed.

In order to keep the fleet and its extensive list of plant and equipment in tip-top condition, the company adopts an "in house approach" to maintenance. "We do all our own maintenance and repairs ourselves, so we know exactly what equipment will be available at any given time," Joan explained.

Part of the fleet

P.F. Dixon Plant Hire has no real preference for marque, but goes for the three big hitters in the world of construction trucks - Hino, MAN and DAF. "Paul would have a preference for MAN but Hino and DAF are equally well presented in the fleet," she noted.
To prove the point the company recently purchased four new Hino eight wheeler tippers. "The fleet would range in age between 2004 and 1994. The 1994s are all in perfect working order and our maintained in our garage to an extremely high standard," Joan elaborated.

With a plethora of trucks and plant and equipment to maintain, the company's fitter is kept on his toes. To that end, he has all the requisite equipment needed to ensure fast and effective repairs and maintenance. Joan remarked: "Paul would know all the equipment inside-out and he supervises the maintenance. Equally, our fitter would be very experienced."

The company's workshop is located on site at the company's headquarters at Rathcore, Enfield, Co. Meath. "The workshop is very well equipped and well stocked with fast -moving parts," she elaborated.

In tandem with the company's site clearance, excavation and demolition activities the company also has a number of landfill sites. "The landfill sites are fully licensed. We use the landfills for waste we would remove from sites. We would also use other licensed landfills, depending on the location of the job and the length of the journey," Joan revealed.

She continued: "In some instances the landfill sites are an advantage to us, but if we were working in Bray, Co. Wicklow for example it wouldn't make much sense to draw the muck back to Enfield. It would be more cost efficient to dump the muck locally in a licensed site."

At the time of writing the company was in the process of applying for a construction and demolition waste recycling licence. "That would allow us to recycle a lot of our construction and demoltion waste such as timber, metal, plastic, and stone. That would considerably reduce the waste going into landill," she noted.
She added: "It is the way forward. Stone could be crushed and re-used for building or resurfacing roads. If we get the license, we will have to make a significant investment in additional plant and equipment."

With the construction sector continuing to boom, P.F. Dixon Plant Hire's services remain in high demand. What is the saying? Where there is muck there is luck !