Initiative and intuition: Gordon Leicester talks about his 25 years in access.

Facelift is probably the longest running powered access rental specialist in the UK. Maria Hadlow talks to owner and founder, Gordon Leicester, about how his thorough understanding of the business from the bottom up has helped keep the company thriving.

This year Facelift celebrates 25 years in the powered access business and founder and owner Gordon Leicester believes it is the longest running powered access rental company in the UK.

Today the company has a fleet of 750 machines, which includes truck mounts, self propelled, bridge inspection units, spiders and trailer mounts, which operate from 6 depots around the UK but Mr Leicester describes his entry into the powered access rental market as a happy accident.

At just 19 years old and working as a builder Mr Leicester regularly saw a small Land Rover mounted platform used to clean the windows of the bank opposite his home.

He though that a similar machine would be very useful in his business and when he came upon two machines in a nearby yard (one broken) he left his card with the owner with the request that he should call him if he should want to sell the working machine.

A few days later Mr Leicester received a telephone call: the business was going bust and if he wanted the machine he should come round with the money. Thus he found himself the owner of his first access platform.

A fact finding discussion with large plant rental company Gamble Jarvis Plant lead him to a potential rental customer and Mr Leicester found himself renting his machine, with himself as operator, at £17.50 an hour to developers GJ King and Sons. At the end of the month the machine had paid for itself.

Although he may call this accidental, the story is indicative of the intuitive business sense, which Mr Leicester has applied to Facelift over the subsequent 25 years.

In the early years Mr Leicester specialised in truck mounted platforms and was one of the first to put Bronto's S34 NDT in the fleet when the machine design was revolutionary in size and outreach. Facelift was also one of the first in the UK to introduce the small Italian made truck mounts to its fleet, "They all laughed at me when I bought 15 GSR machines, but I was right, and they proved very popular."

Mr Leicester says that he has instinctively known what to buy to develop his fleet, "It's about knowing the market and after eight years as an operator I know the machines like the back of my hand.

"We've been responsible for a lot of firsts and have been instrumental for opening up new markets we've also worked with manufacturers on new machine concepts and ideas."

Mr Leicester's individualistic perspective extends to the way he determines the success of his business, "It's madness to use utilisation as a gauge of performance," he said,

"We've always had relatively low utilization compared to some rental companies - 60% is probably our best. I don't want the hire desk discounting and subsidising the transport just to get machines out of the yard."

At Facelift the aim is to develop new users for access platforms as oppose to getting into price wars over competitors' customers, "I'm obsessed with opening up new markets," said Mr Leicester, "rather than ambulance chasing and driving the market down."

This policy has meant that up until the current recession the company's turnover had increased year on year. But Mr Leicester also credits the industry growth, "In 1984/85 when I started, there were probably 600 to 1000 machines in the whole country, now I guess there are around 60000. Previous recessions didn't affect us because the industry was buzzing."

2009 was difficult year for most companies and it was no different for Facelift, "Price wars were very damaging," said Mr Leicester, "and we did have had to drop some prices, but not to the suicidal levels of some and we were still getting good rates - some on list price."

Business is definitely picking up now and Facelift's monthly revenues, which is the criteria by which Mr Leicester gauges business performance, are back to the levels of 2008. Mr Leicester does think that the recession may have had some positive affects on the industry.

"In looking at ways to reduce costs some people have realised that powered access is a cost effective alternative to scaffolding."

Closer to home Mr Leicester has used the slacker period to personally carry out some additional training on the hire desk and has developed a Decision Tree to help the team get the best prices for equipment.

Operations manager, Paul Standing said, "In the good times we have taken on staff and trained them in the systems but not in negotiation."

The Decision Tree is a very simple tabular guide to help the hire desk team assess the customer they are dealing with and to help them get the best price for their equipment.

For example, even the opening statement made by a caller can provide valuable information to the sales desk. Someone who says they are, "desperate for a machine," will probably pay whatever it costs, whereas someone who is "ringing around" is comparing prices and looking for the best deal. It may seem obvious but Mr Leicester has, over his years in rental, experienced the erratic discounting policies employed by hire companies.

To illustrate he gives the following example, "We had one of our spiders stuck in a difficult to access area and needed a very particular type of crane to hoist it out. The machine I needed was specialised and it was urgent.

"The original quote was £550 a day, they sent out a representative to assess the site and with no pressing he quoted £500 a day, when I called the hire desk to book the machine I was quoted £450 a day."

The Decision Tree helps the hire desk focus on five criteria to help establish the right pricing structure for the customer: opening statements; source - or where the caller heard about your company; the callers job title; the industry they are in and the type of machine they require.

Mr Leicester is happy for other rental companies to adapt his Decision Tree to their business - every business should know which of their machines command premium rates (usually niche and specialised machines) and which need to be priced competitively.

Sharing the work Facelift has done on the Decision Tree is typical of Mr Leicester's drive to promote the professionalism of the access industry and this includes his work on improving safety.

"The safety aspects of this business are enormous," he says, "and some people are unaware. On any one day I could be responsible for over 600 people up in the air."

Mr Leicester believes the Facelift training facility has the third largest throughput of IPAF trainees in the UK, "We train around 400 people a month on the IPAF courses plus PASMA and ladder training, "he says.

As a committee member at IPAF Mr Leicester was instrumental in the development of the Clunk Click campaign [this has similar but various names around the world] to encourage the use of harnesses in powered access.

He is currently working on a programme to educate users about the correct use of jacking boards. The Rental + initiative was also Mr Leicester's idea and he chairs that particular IPAF committee.

While Mr Leicester modestly attributes his beginnings in the industry to accident and luck, it is clear that this is a man with unusual depth of understanding not just in his own business but in the powered access industry.

He appreciates simplicity of design in equipment and likes to buy British where possible - complimenting the work of Niftylift and truck mount manufacturer Ascendant Access, although the fleet is wide ranging and from many manufacturers.

Reflecting Facelift's confidence in the access hire market for 2010, the company has recently taken delivery of 64 new trailer mounts and scissor lifts from Niftylift and Skyjack.

Mr Leicester is also responding to a growing demand for environmentally friendly machines by adding to Facelift's Green Fleet ten Niftylift HR21 Hybrids, which have environmentally conscious engine technology and the SiOPS safety system to prevent crushing injuries.