Cranes & Lifting, Queensland, Rigging

Queensland Rigging Hire: From humble beginnings to rigging hire powerhouse

Queensland rigging hire

Over the past eight years, husband and wife team Ben and Jess Fitzgerald have put their hearts and souls into the family business, Queensland Rigging Hire. Financially, they continue to put everything on the line, firstly to develop and now to maintain their reputation as a successful, highly driven ‘customer service’ business. Ben discusses recent developments, how he and Jess have never forgotten their roots and how they continue to support local communities and initiatives.

“Jess and I started the business with basically nothing, but we soon realised that by working seven days, 60 to 70 hours a week, you can achieve anything. After years of blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice we are as dedicated as ever to making something of ourselves without losing focus on what really matters, and that’s providing the best levels of service, world class equipment, industry experience and knowledge to ensure we provide the right solutions to our customers, each and every time,” said Ben.

Like any new family business, the first few years were really tough, says Ben.

“Jess and I were raising our young family, working in the business full-time and for a long time, we didn’t have $10 to rub together. But we never strayed from our fundamental beliefs of investing in good people, world class equipment and providing customers with the best possible service we could,” he said.

“We’re a service-based business. Our business isn’t just hiring rigging equipment, it’s service. Our customers ring not because they want to use us but because they need assistance, and they need suppliers to be reliable. Providing reliability is exactly what we do, and we do it well. 

“They know they can ring us at the 11th hour, and we will deliver on what we promise. This lets our customers focus on what they need to do and not worry about the rigging element of their project. They know our equipment is of the highest quality, it is well maintained and compliant to the Australian Standards,” said Ben.

Over the last 12 months Claire
has project managed the integration of Queensland Rigging Hire’s hire program Syrinx.

Although the first few years were tough, Ben and Jess’ belief in themselves and the business was unwavering. They continued to invest in new equipment as well as the right people and gradually the business grew. Ben says that everything went up a few gears 12 months ago.

“A year ago, we started thinking about what was next, and how we could move forward. Again, we decided to effectively put everything on the line and reinvest in more people and equipment and ‘super charge’ the growth of the business.

“It was a high-risk strategy with our costs increasing substantially, and there were no guarantees. But the strategy has really paved the way for us to capitalise on the current construction boom, particularly in South-East Queensland,” said Ben.

“We invested in a lot of equipment, and we started saying yes to everything our customers were asking in terms of hiring rigging equipment. Today, there are very few jobs we can’t help with. Because we were saying yes and employing more people, our previous premises could not accommodate the business. 

“We have a few emerging industry leaders developing in our business, with our operations Manager Trey Yee currently studying a Certificate IV in Leadership and Management at the Australian Institute of Management to up his level of skills. We hope at some stage Trey can take over the running of the business. We also have Claire who over the last 12 months has project managed the integration of our hire program Syrinx, which has enabled us to control our assets much more efficiently, including maintenance and delivery scheduling. Claire is quickly becoming a huge part of our business, and we can see a very bright future for her at Queensland Rigging Hire,” said Ben.

“We had grown to a team of nine and we were literally on the top of each other and with so much equipment we were aware that we needed to minimise the Occupational Health and Safety risks and started looking for a larger premises,” said Ben.

It took approximately eight months for Ben and Jess to find the right facility.

“We looked at building a bespoke premises with overhead cranes etc., but we’re self-funded and it is our bank account that has to pay for it all, so we had to find a compromise with a facility that provided a lot more space but was still economically affordable. 

“We’ve moved into a much larger facility in Willawong which is only nine minutes from our old location. It features 1200 square metres of warehouse and we have already added an additional 160 square metres of mezzanine as a part of the fit-out. The new facility provides a much safer working environment and enables us to continue to grow and fill the gaps in the market,” said Ben. 

A recent and significant investment has been in an Enerpac Synchronous Hoist System which provides the operator the freedom to precisely monitor and adjust each lifting point independently.

Jess and Ben are committed to the continued investment in the team and new equipment.

“We have always recognised the importance of training our team and over the next three months, we’ll have another four team members taking their Dogging and Rigging tickets. It’s important for the team to understand who we are and what we do. Training helps them understand how our business works and the challenges our customers face,” said Ben.

“We treat our team like family, and it is no coincidence that in our eight years only one member has left us, and he came back! We look after them, we organise barbecues and lunches, celebrate birthdays and go on camping trips together. We attend social events and have big Christmas parties, we try to make it feel like a ‘work family’.”

Investing in the latest technology remains a key business strategy for Ben and Jess. A recent and significant investment has been in an Enerpac Synchronous Hoist System. The Synchronous Hoist System is a below-the-hook sling adjuster (hydraulic turnbuckle) which typically includes multiple specialised hydraulic cylinders mounted directly in-line with the rigging which provides the operator the freedom to precisely monitor and adjust each lifting point independently. The system enables a single crane to precisely position heavy and unbalanced loads.

“This system will open up so many doors around in the engineered heavy lifts space, where accuracy is absolutely essential. In a nutshell, they’re hydraulic turn buckles that can be extended or retracted under load, so that you can adjust your rigging weights up to a metre and a half before you position your load. You can get things balanced, and more accurate, which is really important to square things up,” said Ben.

“We’ve also invested in a 40m lattice beam spreader bar which is the first in Queensland available for rent to the open market. It’s taken me many years to finalise the design and the best part about it, is that it’s designed to fit in an open top 40 foot shipping container and can be transported on one single trailer. No other lattice beam spreader bar in Australia can do that. It is Australian designed and Australian manufactured by Maxirig in Geelong. 

“We’ve also added some more JDN air hoists in 16 and 20 tonne capacities and they’ve all been converted to wireless remote control, in-house by our own technicians. We’ve also added a couple of Ingersoll Rand five tonne air winches to the fleet,” he said.

Social responsibility and local community engagement remain high priorities for Jess and Ben. Because they come from humble, working class backgrounds, ‘battling’ is in their DNA and wherever possible they will help out and ‘give back’ to local communities and deserving causes. An example of this is the support they offer Justin Clements, a Masters boxer who works on the Cross River Rail project.

“We see Justin a lot through business and he’s competing in the Pan Pacific Masters Boxing next year. We’ve sponsored him over the last three or four years, basically since we’ve known him, and we’ve provided a healthy donation to help pay for his costs and enable him to concentrate on his training. 

“He’s 53, and he gets the gloves on, and pushes hard. He’s actually fighting later this month for Men’s Mental Health raising money for charity. He’s bloody upstanding, decent person and it’s easy to get behind someone who’s a likable fella and good person. He always wants the best for people and wears his heart on his sleeve, and we are very happy to get behind him,” said Ben.

Jess and Ben have just renewed their sponsorship relating to the Beaudesert Kingfishers Rugby League Club footy shirts. Beaudesert is a working-class country town, where little things go a long way. The footy club is an important part of the community, says Ben.

Queensland Rigging Hire moved into a larger facility in Willawong which features 1200 square metres of warehouse, with an additional 160 square metres of mezzanine added as a part of the fit-out.

“A few years back, we donated over 400 training shirts to the club so that every single kid had one to train in. It was a really big success. As a kid personally growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money, so when I played footy, and we got a shirt, that was the only shirt that I wore for a whole year, because you valued it so much. You’re part of a club, part of a team. I think it’s really important for kids to have that feeling as well,” said Ben.

“For the last couple of years, we’ve sponsored three age groups with jerseys including the little fellas, the juniors, and we’re going to sponsor them for the next couple of years. We also sponsoring the under-16 girls, and couple of the other teams. They’re the ones that are the underdogs and coming up in sport and we want to give them a hand as well,” said Ben.

Sailing program Sailability is another cause close to Ben and Jess’s hearts.

“One of our best mates’ family is part of the Warwick community (about 130 kilometres south-west of Brisbane) I doubt there is anyone in that community who would not know his brother Leigh, he’s a bloody legend. Leigh has Down Syndrome and their family have been strong advocates for disability support for the 25-plus years we’ve know them

“We were talking one night and he mentioned the charity Sailability and how it was designed to get people with disabilities onto the water, and teach them how to sail. He explained they needed shipping containers to store the boats in. We instantly organised and paid for one, had it painted to their specifications and had it delivered to the Leslie Dam near Warwick.

“Sailability is a national program with lots of different locations and having one in the bush on the Leslie Dam provides a lot of people with challenges, who live nowhere near the ocean, the opportunity to learn to sail. we think it’s a great thing,” said Ben. 

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