Next year will see Reactive Hire Ltd celebrating its tenth anniversary and since its formation by Eddie Tait, the company has evolved into a major player within the sustainable cabins sector under the stewardship of Managing Director, John McClure, as he recently outlined to Construction Industry News.
“Reactive Hire has been operating since 2014 having started out as a local hire company serving customers in Leicestershire and the East Midlands,” explains Mr McClure. “At the time I was working as a sales rep for Boss Cabins and Reactive Hire were my biggest customer. In 2016 I was head hunted by Eddie Tait to join the business as Sales Manager to help him grow the fleet size and region. I left Boss on good terms and have always maintained a strong working relationship with them – in fact, they remain our biggest supplier – I have used my previous industry experience, gained at Boss Cabins, to help move Reactive Hire forward by targeting a larger geographical area with the most innovative products on the market. To support this process, over the years, we have added more staff and drivers to the team.
“We’ve subsequently grown the business naturally through our expanding customer base and we’ve increased turnover from around £400,000 in 2016 to its current level of about £4m. At the same time we’ve been careful to build the infrastructure to support the growth we’ve seen.”
Having successfully used his ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’ knowledge to such favorable effect, Mr McClure has not only helped oversee Reactive’ s growth from a 60-cabin company to a 300-plus-cabin business, but he has also been integral to its transformation into an eco-led operation with its offering now moving in the direction of being completely diesel generator-free.
“I’ve always been something of an eco-warrior myself: I drive an electric car and do everything I can to be environmentally friendly,” adds Mr McClure. “I’ve therefore been keen to replicate this approach with Reactive and when Boss Cabins began producing generator-free units, the range dovetailed perfectly with our new vision.”
What’s more, Mr McClure’s background at Boss Cabins has helped play a part in assisting this process. “I’ve always encouraged Boss Cabins’ move towards developing products that implement the latest green technology and we’ve been keen to test their new pieces of kit as they’ve come to market. We’ve therefore helped them pioneer much of their range. Many unit manufacturers have attempted to go down the eco route but have only been able to come up with highly expensive or unreliable options, whereas this range from Boss Cabins really ticks all the boxes. It performs really well even in the darker winter months, so we knew it would be able to be used all year-round.
“Around 90% of technical problems for cabin hire companies are related to the generators, whereas this is no longer an issue. At a stroke our number of call-outs have almost fallen to zero because it’s simply much less of an issue. This is not only great from a service perspective but saves us money as we’re not having to travel from Leicestershire to London or wherever to fix a problem with the generator.
“It’s quite a saturated industry we’re in, so we’re always striving to get ahead of the curve and provide a real point of difference. As we metamorphosize the business into a completely solar powered operation, we’ve sold off all our diesel generator powered cabins to a company called Astley Cabins. This has given us the finances to add further full solar – no generator cabins to our fleet. Many other operators are reluctant to stock solar units as they don’t want to cannibalize their existing diesel fleet. This is obviously something we don’t have to concern ourselves with.”
Reactive Hire’s ability to offer a clear point of difference within the marketplace has been typical of its approach in recent years, as has its customer-led focus. “During Covid the demand for welfare units was obviously astronomical, so everything we had was out on hire. Many of our competitors were therefore buying more units to meet demand, which at the time seemed a little short-sighted because normality was always going to return at some point. We therefore didn’t really buy anything ourselves during this period, preferring to just cross-hire anything that we needed over and above the usual demand. The main objective was to look after our existing customer base that we knew would be coming back to us time and time again.”
This loyalty has also been reflected in the success that Reactive has had in converting its customers to go down the generator-free route. “We’ve been slowly turning our customer base onto solar powered cabins and a growing number are turning their back on diesel. Yes, they are a little bit more expensive, but the fuel savings and the environmental benefits are clear.
“Our vision is to be the greenest, most environmentally friendly cabin business out there. I’m extremely proud of how far we’ve come but there’s still more progress to be made. As part of this process, we will build further on our relationship with Boss Cabins, and we continue to have a strong pipeline of products that they’ll be delivering to us in the months ahead. We’re certainly committed from an investment point of view.
“More importantly, we’ve got such a fantastic team here that we’re able to cater for all our customers’ needs and beyond and deliver nationwide. We’ve got 24 employees, so we remain small enough to really have that personal touch with customers. They don’t have to go through a call centre or customer service centre. I still look after many of our customers personally and they’ll phone me directly when necessary. My team all know our customers by names and will bend over backwards for them.”
The strong progress that Reactive has been making is all the more impressive given the challenges that all companies have to contend with in recent years, such as rising prices and increased utility costs. “It hasn’t been the easiest situation, but we’ve got an extremely savvy finance manager who’s fantastic and is very scrupulous when it comes to controlling overheads. If anything, the rising cost of energy has helped underline the importance of sustainable power and the savings that can be made. We’re therefore keen to further promote the benefits that our range can offer. Obviously, there are pressures on all businesses at the moment but we’re confident that we can provide cost-effective and reliable cabin solutions.”
As it rapidly approaches its tenth anniversary next year, in the meantime it is clear that Reactive Hire is keen to keep the momentum going. “We’ve got some exciting additions to the fleet coming as we strengthen our relationship with Boss Cabins as we develop further into a truly eco-friendly business,” says Mr McClure. “Some companies are perhaps guilty of greenwashing but we are 100 per cent committed to providing the most sustainable solutions available in the marketplace. The customer base is building nicely but I would like to get more Tier 1 contractors onboard if possible, although it can be tricky when you’re relatively less well-known in the industry. That said, we’re more than happy with our existing clients and they will always be our main priority and we will continue to ensure that we don’t let them down. With this in mind, we will keep developing our infrastructure, our range and our team. It would be great if we were able to add another depot to the business within the next 12 months too. We want to keep growing but it has to be manageable. We certainly wouldn’t want to overstretch ourselves and risk compromising the quality of service we offer.”
It is this customer-led approach that has served Reactive Hire so well, coupled with its total commitment to providing sustainable cabins. It therefore looks like it will increasingly become the first port of call for businesses searching for truly eco-friendly solutions.