Brisbane-based Altequip launched in January 2024 with a clear goal: to give Australian contractors direct, local access to Socage’s full range of elevated work platforms (EWPs).
The Italian brand, backed by more than 40 years of experience in aerial access equipment, found a like-minded partner in Altequip. “We’d already spent six years working directly with Socage, and both sides knew we shared the same passion for the product,” said Curtis Morley, Director of Performance Tower Hire and Altequip.
Curtis’s background operating truck-mounted travel towers through Performance Tower Hire shaped the Altequip business model. Instead of a pure sales outfit, the company built a distribution business that thinks like an owner: cost of ownership, field downtime and operator confidence that drives every decision. The company’s North Brisbane base now houses a dedicated EWP workshop, a growing parts warehouse and factory-trained technicians, backed by direct support from Socage’s engineering centre in Modena, Italy.
An unmatched range
Altequip’s catalogue already spans Socage’s key lines:
• Raptor spider lifts – 18 metre (m), 21m, 24m and (imminently) 35m.
• Ute-mounts – 14m units in country, a 19m variant is currently in engineering for Ford’s new 4.5-tonne Ranger Super Duty chassis.
• Truck-mounts – DJ 32m and 37m on 14t and 16t chassis, plus TJ / TJJ designs at 35m, 47m, 54m and 75m.
Not many brands in Australia can offer that spread, Curtis said. “Our Australian range now spans 14 to 75 metres, covering everything from ute-mounts to the Raptor spiders,” he said. For special projects, Socage can engineer units to 100m, but Altequip promotes those only on a case-by-case basis.
The diversity lets Altequip serve customers as varied as family-owned signwriters, arborists and electrical contractors to councils and utility companies through to energy and wind-farm contractors. “Because the machinery sits on common cab-chassis variants, a council workshop already comfortable with vehicles, such as Ford Rangers can integrate a ute-mounted platform without altering its fleet maintenance program,” Curtis said, pointing to the separation between vehicle and boom hydraulics.
Italian engineering you can DEVELOP
Socage’s willingness to customise remains a decisive advantage. “I literally took an A1 print-out of the machine, sketched the changes I wanted, and their engineers turned it into reality,” Curtis said. That collaboration has already delivered machine enhancements, such as longer stabilisers for the Australian terrain and a 40m side-reach on the 54m TJ platform – unmatched in its class.
The manufacturer’s vertical integration helps. Over the past two years, Socage bought its hydraulic and electrical-harness supplier, giving it complete control of core components and the freedom to re-engineer quickly.
Service built around uptime
Every Socage unit ships with an IoT module that lets Altequip and the factory connect via 4G. “We can log in from Brisbane, and if it’s midnight here the engineers in Italy can still connect and help a customer on site,” Curtis said.
Uptime is reinforced by inventory. “Because we carry the consumables here, most parts reach customers in a day; even unusual components from Italy usually arrive inside a week,” he said. Filtration kits, sensors, rubber tracks and electrical items sit on the shelves in Brisbane, while access to Socage’s European hub covers structural or bespoke items.
Altequip augments its own workshop with service partners in Sydney and Melbourne – legacy relationships from the access-rental sector – and is recruiting support on the west coast ahead of an expected surge in mining and renewables demand.
People who speak the operator’s language
Altequip’s team brings decades of real-world experience to the table, offering practical insight and support that only seasoned EWP operators can provide.
Curtis brings 16 years’ hands-on EWP experience; National Sales Manager Robbie English comes with 19 years’ experience in the industry; and Service Manager Dylan Vickery, 15 years on the tools. That depth matters when fleets ask nuanced questions about design registrations, wind loading or road limits. Altequip supplies the equipment along with compliance paperwork, can organise finance through a panel of brokers and delivers machines with a tailored operator-training package.
Early wins and what’s next
In July, Altequip delivered its first Socage 14m ute-mount – evidence that the market was waiting for a compact EWP on a car licence chassis. Interest is equally strong in the forthcoming 35m Raptor spider.
Curtis sees Socage becoming “the biggest name in self-propelled and truck-mounted platforms within five years”. Altequip is putting the local footprint in place now – growing headcount, expanding spares and investing in its own future.
The domestic lifting sector has long relied only on a handful of truck-mount suppliers whose catalogues skew to 50m-plus machines. Socage’s range fills the gap above and below, giving hire businesses and contractors a factory-backed option across the mid-sized working-heights that dominate day-to-day work. Altequip’s service ethos, born out of rental operations, removes the risk traditionally associated with importing niche lifts.
With major infrastructure and renewable-energy projects slated through to 2032, demand for flexible access gear is warming up. Altequip’s strategy – comprehensive product coverage, rapid parts, remote diagnostics and user-driven customisation – positions Socage as a household name on Australian sites.