01.05.2012

One year down…

Australian aerial lift rental company Uphire is celebrating a strong first year in business, with big plans for year two.

Owner Nigel McKinley founded the Sydney based company last year with a single machine, since then he has significantly expanded the fleet adding over 50 new units from Genie, JLG and Merlo. McKinley started out in the access business as a scaffold yard hand with Wreck Air, before moving onto All Safe Access and now Uphire.

The new company’s fleet now includes scissor lifts, mast, articulated and telescopic booms and telehandlers – all of which are for sale or rent. It also offers machine servicing, transport and training. The company has been supported in year one by Terex Financial Services, which has backed the young business and its entrepreneur owner.
Please register to see all images

(L-R) Nigel McKingley of Uphire with Brent Markwell of Genie.

McKinley said: “Our strong and detailed business plan was executed fully in our first year, with rapid growth necessary to maintain the loyal customer base that I’ve built up over many years in the access industry. But from the financers point of view, it was a standard start up business. We have grown from nothing to a point where we are competing with the larger companies and now expanding our fleet to meet the demands of our increasing customer base.

"We are adding a new machine to our fleet almost every week in order to keep up with demand. The next 12 months is going to be just as exciting as the first as we rollout more machines targeted at the mining sector in regional areas of Australia."