Case Study

Picton Civil And Kobelco

Picton Civil and Kobelco

If you’re looking for a top-shelf specialist in the areas of civil earthworks, wet and dry plant hire, demolition, and asbestos removal in the southwest of WA, you won’t find an outfit with more experience, success and proven track-record than the team at Picton Civil. They have been providing their clients with cost-effective earthmoving services and solutions throughout the southwest and beyond since 1968.

Picton Civil began 50 years ago by four brothers with a Michigan Wheel Loader, which was purchased by their father Jack Cross who founded J.W Cross and Sons.
On a recent trip to Western Australia, EEM took the stunning drive down to Bunbury to catch up with Josh Silver, Workshop Manager at Picton Civil, who has been with the company for 11 years. When I chatted with Josh about his start in the industry, he shared, “Growing up my grandad always had trucks and machines. Watching him work in and on the machines must have made an impressive picture in my mind because I’ve always loved the industry and the people we get to work with on our wide range of projects.”
Josh continued, “At Picton Civil we primarily work with diggers, loaders, graders, and skid steers; and after the business recently gave the Kobelco range of excavators a go, we haven’t looked back. Our team has gone from strength to strength and our operators enjoy the comfort, power and performance of the Kobelco machines.”

Josh Silver, Picton Civil and Dean Bailey, LiftRite.
Josh Silver, Picton Civil and Dean Bailey, LiftRite.

CUSTOMER-FOCUSED STAFF

The Picton Civil team services a range of clients, from individuals and small businesses to large-scale industry and mining projects. The customer-focused staff are well prepared to cater to the individual requirements of their clients and projects, always giving a high quality of service and workmanship. With their large, diverse fleet of quality machinery, the team can provide a great variety of tasks to all of their customers. This includes work such as site preparations; demolitions; drainage; asbestos removal; trenching; hard stand construction; pathways; construction and hot mixing car parks and roads; dam building or cleaning; house pads; gravel, hot mix or limestone driveways; delivery of materials; environmental rehabilitation; and work to individual specifications or scope of works.

DISCOVERING THE STRENGTH OF THE KOBELCO RANGE

In recent times Picton Civil has discovered the success and strengths of the Kobelco excavator range, purchasing three machines from LiftRite representative, Dean Bailey, which consisted of the SK55RX-6, SK235SR-2 and SK350LC-10. When I chatted with Josh about both the experience with the Kobelco excavators and the sales and service from LiftRite, he shared, “The Kobelco machines haven’t missed a beat. We run them hard and with over 1200 hours onboard we haven’t had to lift a single spanner outside of the normal servicing requirements. We haven’t had a breakdown or issue, which has been really impressive, and that’s something I can’t say about the other machinery we have used over the years. The thing we love about the Kobelco range and the reason we gave them a try in the first place was the overall strong and solid construction of the machines, reliability and serviceability. The overall capabilities of the machines are right up there and the operator comfort in the cab is excellent.

Picton Civil and Kobelco
“Our operators love the machines. They are quiet and comfortable, but I will admit when we purchased our first Kobelco machine there were a few guys who were not 100 per cent engaged or convinced about the decision, but after spending just an hour or two in the machines our operators were all won over by their performance, specs and technologies. It was simply a matter of spending time in the machine and letting the performance and comfort speak for themselves.”
Josh continued, “We run 3D machine technology in our machines, which means fewer people on the ground with maximum machine efficiency, less holdups and reduced risk. The fact that we have had zero downtime across all three of our Kobelco machines speaks volumes about the quality of these excavators.”
Josh and the Picton Civil team have been working with Kobelco dealer LiftRite and Sales Manager Dean Bailey – and from all reports the relationship is well and truly off to a great start. “Since starting at LiftRite our rep Dean has shown an interest in our company and regularly reaches out to see if he can assist in any way. The regular comms and updates are handy, so we know what stock LiftRite has and what/when machines are due in. Dean recently let me know they had a 36-tonne excavator in stock, two days later we had a request for a 36-tonne excavator. We already had our other two out and we knew where to find another one… in a hurry!

“As the business continues to grow, we are continually expanding our fleet to give us greater capabilities for large-scale projects. It’s going to be through our relationship with LiftRite and the minimal machine downtime achieved by our quality equipment and quality product support from the LiftRite team that we achieve this. LiftRite and the Kobelco product will be there with us as we update and expand our excavator fleet,” said Josh.

Picton Civil and Kobelco

SIGNIFICANT TRUST AND CONFIDENCE IN THE KOBELCO BRAND

As we fired up the drones and cameras to capture the Kobelco machines ripping into the site at Bunbury I had the chance to ask Dean about his role and working with Josh and the Picton Civil team. “As the area manager for the southern region of WA for LiftRite Hire & Sales in Perth, my background has been in earthmoving for the last 12 years as an operator and user of the Kobelco product. During this time, I’ve built up significant trust and confidence in the Kobelco brand, which has definitely helped me in my role. It has allowed me to sell the product with confidence and provide solutions to our customers and clients.”
Dean continued, “I’ve been looking after Picton Civil for the last few years dealing with Josh and the managers and directors of the company. The feedback that I receive from the Picton Civil team is that the Kobelco machines are more stable than other machines they have owned previously – the fuel efficiency is second to none in this class, and breakout force is impressive to say the least. There are many opportunities right now for Picton Civil and our other clients here in WA to move forward and build their relationships with LiftRite Hire & Sales and Kobelco. We look forward to continuing to build our relationship with Picton Civil and work together to build both our success moving forward into 2023 and beyond.”

For more information on Kobelco visit kobelco.com.au or call 1300 562 352.

Send this to a friend