Halton Hire started in 2011 with one Bobcat skid-steer, a Ford F-450 flatbed, and a garage off Halton Road that doubled as the office. Fourteen years on, we run forty-plus units across four classes, fifteen people on staff, two yards. We own every machine we hire out. Nothing is subcontracted out from a leasing company three states away.
Frank Halton rents the back lot at 14 Halton Road and parks a single 1998 Bobcat 743. The first job is a driveway pour for a neighbour. The first invoice is handwritten. The Bobcat is still on the yard, retired now to occasional landscaping duty and used for moving snow in the winter.
The yard reaches twelve kits and the first hire — Tomas Reyes — joins to drive the flatbed and run the front desk. The 7am delivery promise goes on the side of the truck, painted by hand. We have not missed it materially in eleven years. The ones we did miss, we did not charge for the day.
The first heavy iron lands on the yard — a 2014 CAT 320 excavator, bought used from a finishing contractor in the next county over. We rebuild the bushings and the cab seal in our own shop. HH-014 is the same unit you see on the kit page today, now on its second engine and still earning every day.
The yard moves the lift class in-house. First telehandler and first boom lift go on the book, both bought new. We open a second yard at Halton Road North to handle overflow on the heavy iron, and hire two more mechanics. The original yard becomes "Yard 2" and runs the compact and tools classes.
Forty-plus kits across four classes, fifteen people on staff, two yards. 3,400-plus customer jobs on the logbook, give or take. Frank still drives a flatbed two mornings a week. The 1998 Bobcat is still in the corner of Yard 2, still starts on the first turn, and is not for hire — but you can come and look at it if you ask.
When you ring the desk, the voice that picks up has either driven the kit you are asking about, fixed it, or stocked the fuel tank that morning. There is no offshore call centre. There is no menu. There is a phone on a desk in a shed and someone is sitting near it.
Bought the 1998 Bobcat. Wrote the first 7am-or-it-is-free promise on the side of the truck. Still drives a flatbed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Knows every customer by their first name and most of them by the job address.
Joined as employee #1 in 2014. Knows which job sites unlock at six and which ones don't. Has the entire dispatch board in his head on a normal Tuesday. Speaks fluent crane operator and fluent English foreman, depending on the line.
Came over from a freight repair shop in 2019 to run the heavy-iron service bay. The reason the CAT 320s have the failure rate they do. Will tell you, with patience, that hydraulic problems are usually contamination problems.