Author: Luke George

We’re excited to announce that we have recently acquire Oakley Garden Machinery (http://oakleyfrome.co.uk/)who are based in Frome.

Oakley Garden Machinery have been selling grounds care and landscaping equipment for nearly 18 years in the Frome area and have a reputation for providing a fantastic service and repair service on all makes of gardening equipment.

The decision was made to purchase the business as it has many synergies with what we do at Dorset and Somerset Hire Services. It will provide us with access to great brands such as Countax, Grillo, Echo and many more. Helping us provide our customers with a greater range of equipment to buy and hire through our branches. Also Oakley Customers will have access to our extension hire fleet which contains a great deal of gardening and landscaping equipment – a win, win for everyone.

The business will be moved to our premises at Somerset Hire Services, Whitworth Road on Marston Trading Estate in Frome. Being less than half a mile from their current location and much bigger it was felt that integrating the business made much more sense than trading from two locations on the same trading estate.

We are excited to be able offer our Frome customers a much larger service offering and excited to meet the many new customers who will be discovering Dorset/Somerset Hire for the first time.

We’re proud to announce that after inspection by our industry governing body, the Hire Association of Europe, we’ve have successfully met the standard required for their Safe Hire award.

Safe Hire was set up to ensure hire companies meet the most stringent of standards. We were thoroughly tested to ensure that not only was our equipment at the required standards but also that our business processes met the highest standards too.

You can rest assured when hiring equipment from us that it will be safe to use and you will be provided with the best service possible. All our staff have worked hard to achieve the Safe Hire accreditation and Dorset Hire Services continue to invest in their training as well as the best equipment for our hire fleet.

We’ve waited a while for these to arrive but we’re pleased to say it was worth the wait. These diesel skip loading tracked dumpers are ideal for jobs where space is limited. At just 75cm wide they are ideal partnered with a micro digger for jobs around the garden. Powered by  a small diesel engine means they are easy and cheap to fuel and being high tip means they’ll lift up and tip into a skip. They’re even fitted with a standing plate so you don’t need to walk behind it!

The first batch of 4 have arrived with another 4 to follow shortly. We hope you like them and appreciate the continued investment in the Dorset/Somerset Hire fleet.

We are excited to announce the opening of a new Somerset Hire Services store in Frome. The new branch can be found on Whitworth Road, Marston Trading Estate and will be open to both the trade and public.

The new branch will be open on Monday 17th May 2021 and will provide a range of tools, plant and access equipment to hire. Customers will be able to collect equipment directly or take advantage of our convenient delivery service.

The new store will be run by two local guys, Alex George and Alex Hartley. Both have many years experience of hiring equipment in the Frome area and will no doubt be familiar faces to many in the trade in Frome.

The contact number for Frome is 01373 476702 and the initial opening times for the branch will be: Monday to Friday 7:30am until 5pm.

We look forward to seeing you at the new store.

To bolster our ever expanding range of tool hire equipment we are excited to announce the arrival of a range of Ammann compaction equipment.

Along with a new 80cm Double Drum Ride on Roller there is a large range of brand new petrol compactor plates of various sizes. We chose the Ammann range of compactors as they are heavy duty and fitted with the ever reliable Honda engines.

We also ordered a number with integrated water tanks for use when compacting tarmac and rubber mats for when using them on block paviors.

Available to hire at both our Semley, Shaftesbury depot and our Evercreech, Shepton Mallet location.

We are excited to announce a partnership with local construction training provider Mindset Training. Based in Frome, Mindset Training provide a number of courses on construction equipment and have a large open training facility nearby where operators can practice in a safe and controlled environment.

We have provided the training school with a number of pieces of plant for the students to train on, including excavators, dumpers and rollers.

If you would like more information on training available please visit the Mindset Training website here

After receiving great feedback from customers about the new Bobcat micro diggers this week we added another 3 to the Somerset Hire Services fleet. At just 72cm wide the Bobcat micro digger is ideal for getting into tight sites and will pass easily through a standard garden gate.

They have been fitted with locking quick hitches to make changing buckets quick and easy. They are one of the few micro excavators on the market to come fitted with servo joystick controls making them smoother and more comfortable to operate.

Available to self drive hire for just £80+vat for 24 hours – no licence needed.d.

This week sees the arrival of some exciting new equipment to our hire fleet. A Bobcat S70 Skid steer and a Bobcat T35.105 Telehandler are now available to hire from either our Dorset Hire or Somerset Hire store.

The Bobcat S70 skid steer can be fitted with a bucket, grab or pallet forks making it a very versatile machine. A favourite for clearing out barns or just moving materials quickly around site. This skid steer is available to hire from £90+vat.

It’s bigger brother the Bobcat T35.105 Telehandler is capable of lifting up to 3.5 ton and has a reach of 10.5m. Available to hire with either pallet forks or bucket, this telehandler is ideal for helping out on busy building sites and is available to hire at £320+vat per week.

Both our Dorset Hire Services and Somerset Hire Services shops will remain open and operating as normal during the latest government announced lockdown.

The current government advice (as of 04/01/2021) according to gov.uk for our sector is as follows:

The following businesses and venues that provide goods for sale or hire are permitted to remain open, including if they operate from a market stall, or at a defined concession within a shopping centre:

• builders’ merchants and suppliers of products and tools used in building work and repairs. This does not include carpet stores, and showrooms such as those for bathrooms, kitchens, tiles, and glazing

Please be aware that when visiting one of our shops that you must ensure you have a face mask in order to enter.

We will also continue to offer a full delivery service for equipment, plant and bottled LPG Gas, we recommend customers take advantage of this service to help reduce person to person contact.

We are excited to announce the arrival of a Snorkel TL37J road tow cherry picker this week. This versatile machine gives a working height of 14m and being towable means you get move it round site easily. It is powered by rechargeable batteries for near silent operation or there is the option of running on petrol power if you find yourself on a site with no power. The cherry picker has a 3 piece boom design making getting to hard reach places easier. Ideal for working on house roofs or for tree surgeon work. For more details give us a call to discuss or visit the Snorkel site for the full specs here