Soaring like a Larke

For the past eleven years, Larke Haulage has been operating from its premises in Ballybrittas, Co Laois and company owner Patrick Larke spoke to Irish Trucker about the services provided by the firm.

The current economic climate has put many businesses under pressure, some which, unfortunately have been forced to close down. However, Larke Haulage are one of the lucky ones as they have a reliable repeat customer base that has been built up through years of hard work and ensuring to provide an efficient service.
The Laois based firm specialises in waste management, grab hire and recycling. Patrick established the business after he spent seven years working in the same industry in London.

“I operated a grab for many years in London and when I decided to move home, I bought a lorry and grab to bring home and I started the business here in 1998,” said Patrick.
Like all businesses, it takes hard work to establish a customer base and Patrick admitted that it took time to get the company up and running to the standard he aimed for.
“We have a large client base including construction and utility companies having continuously worked with McCloskey utilities who work in ESB, Gas, Water and Fibre Optics for the past 9 years. We are a C2 registered company and are permitted and insured to collect construction and demolition waste and green waste. It has taken time to get here, but we are delighted that we have and hope to hold on to our current customer base.”

Of course, licences are needed to collect waste in all counties and Patrick revealed that they are covered in the counties that surround them.
“You need many waste licences, but the one covers certain areas and this is why we have ones for Offaly, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare, Laois, South Dublin, Fingal, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown and Dublin City.

Larke Haulage concentrates on green waste and waste timber. This means that they are involved in site clearance where hedges, trees and other shrubbery are brought to their yard in Ballybrittas for recycling, while the timber waste sees the firm pick up timer recyclables and this goes through the same process.
“The waste timber is brought back to the yard and shredded and this is used for timber briquettes and for bedding, most of which is used for stables. The green waste is also sorted at the yard and then brought to Bord Na Mona, where it is shredded and used for compost.

“This is a relative new area of the business and it is something that we are looking to build on. I’ve only been doing it since late last year, but I’m happy with the way things are going.”
Waste Management has become a very contentious issue in the past decade or so as people have been made more aware of the significance of recycling and disposing of their waste in the proper manner.
“We recycle as much waste as possible and dispose of all waste in line with government regulations. Our lorries for waste timber and green waste have a capacity of 34 cubic yards so a big job for you is a small job for us. We handle the job from pick up to removal to disposal or recycling.

“Our Grab Lorries are self loading so eliminating the need for a skip cutting costs on skip licences, loading shovels and manpower. We do all the loading and removing for you.
“Having lorries with a capacity of 18 tonnes means all your waste is removed quickly and efficiently. With a grab arm to reach we can navigate tight spaces, i.e over a fence or wall. If you need any of our products we can bring them and place them exactly where you require them.”
Patrick admits that the firm has never grown too big and that is a situation that he is pleased with as he feels that some of the bigger companies have not been able to cope with the credit crunch.

“I’ve only my brother Brian working for me, while my wife Marie looks after all the administration. It has worked well and there are certainly no major plans to expand in the future, especially with the way things are at the moment.
“The number of companies that have been forced to close down is frightening and a lot of them have been big firms, while the smaller ones seem to be surviving.
“Yes, I’m happy with the way the business has flourished since it was established and we have built a decent reputation for ourselves that we must continue to maintain and hopefully expand in the near future.”

Last year saw the purchase of a brand new Volvo 400 to go along with the two DAF lorries that Patrick already has and he admitted that he likes to keep the fleet fresh in order to keep down on maintenance.

“It saves a lot of hassle if you keep the trucks fairly new, and we keep them well maintained. David Gray in Rathangan looks after that side of things, while we do a lot of business with North Dublin Commercials and Irish Commercials. The grabs that are fitted on the trucks come from Palfinger in Tullamore.”
Larke Haulage have has placed an emphasis on providing a quality service to its large customer base and this ethos has stood them in good stead thus far, while there is no reason for that change in the near future.