Family Business with a Twist

Taking a lookback at one of my articles previously featured in Earthmovers Magazine, un-edited with alternative photos and video.

Based in Helston in Cornwall, family run firm MH Groundworks Ltd is a multi-faceted business which was first established over 18 years ago by Managing Director Matt Hendy, just before his daughter Daisy, who now runs their social media channels, was born, Matt is also supported in the business by wife Catherine and son Tom.

The business was a bit smaller in those days, and generally revolved around doing a bit of landscaping, groundwork and small ‘one off’ builds. Since then, the company has grown steadily and today they run a groundworks division, a 10-lorry haulage fleet and an agricultural division, employing around 50 employees across all the sectors.

Talking about the business Matt said, “We kind of mix things right up and get involved with everything, and we still do quite a bit of work for farmers. This work includes a lot of mass poured concrete laying, for industrial units, slurry stores, silage pits and concrete lanes, this kind of work is a big passion of mine, as I previously worked in the USA where I was involved in a lot of concrete work, and when I came back to the UK, I continued to do that kind of work, as I find it very satisfying”.

Matt actually moved out to the States at the age of 19, on a J1 agricultural visa with an ambition to go out and run combines and trucks, having previously been out to stay on his aunties ranch at the age of 16, which was when the seed of the idea was initially planted.

Matt continues, “So basically, I went farming out there for three and half years, then I moved from farming to commercial contracting up in Michigan, where some of my relatives were big developers, so I was involved in construction of basements, concrete works, high rise properties and everything in between really. I then set up a company called Hendy Co Excavators to try to attain a full American visa, couldn’t get the visa, so came back home and stayed here ever since”.

We caught up with Matt and Daisy on a private housing development at Connor Downs, near Hayle, Cornwall where the MH Groundworks team are undertaking all the groundworks. This is a typical job for the company these days, but they still undertake things like a small patio, or a house extension so a bit of everything really, no job too big or too small and a great variety of work keeps things interesting.

Machines have become increasingly important in the business, Matt’s first ever excavator purchase was a Hitachi ZX30 which was an iconic model in the Hitachi range of mini excavators. They ran that machine for several years, and later purchased a ZX33U and ZX55 to add to the fleet. Matt has nothing but praise for the Hitachi excavators and he is still running a number of them on the fleet including a ZX 130LCN, ZX55U with a Rototilt tiltrotator, and a ZX33U.

The pandemic presented a few problems for sourcing machines as Matt explains, “When Covid came in machines became harder to purchase due to supply issues, so we ended up having to purchase several Sany machines, of which we are still running five now, we are also running a couple of Kobelco’s and several JCB’s, so it’s a bit of a mixed fleet right now”. All JCB's on the fleet have been supplied by local dealers Holt JCB.

Flying somewhat below the radar down in Cornwall, Matt and his team have been long term adopters of tiltrotators, Matt is clearly a guy who understands and can see the long-term value in these attachments. Matt said, “I think for me with a tiltrotator, the first unit is quite a leap you know, thinking blimey it’s a lot of money, but when you look deeper into it, we have the ZX55 on the fleet with Rototilt on it, with five and half thousand hours on the meter on its original tracks, and to me, that kind of speaks for itself, with the tilty you are not constantly tracking into different positions.

The stats tell the story, 33% fuel burn saving, up to 60% less wear on the undercarriage and 40% more productivity with a good driver due to less base machine movements. There’s the odd time when you don’t need it, but we have got quite a few direct mount units that simply never come off the machines, the JCB 86 C-2 machine you see here, has over 1100 hours on it, and the tiltrotator has never been off”.

As a sideline to the business last year just before the Royal Cornwall Show, MH Groundworks became regional dealers for Rototilt, and as end users there could be no finer ambassadors for the product.

Matt continued, “The biggest problem we find is trying to talk to people and to convince them of the benefits they can bring you as a business. In the past we have had potential customers who work in back gardens where it is often tight quarters working, and you want to cause minimum damage to grassed areas, to us it makes perfect sense to have a tilty as you can dig a hole, for let’s say, a septic tank, effectively from one position and then backfill efficiently all around from the same spot, it’s a no brainer really.

We have had a few older drivers join us in the past and I guess somewhat set in their ways, they say I don’t want that tilty thing, I’d rather have the ZX130 with rigid bucket, but as time goes by you catch them using it, and they eventually come round to realizing it’s a great piece of kit!

Some of their work is undertaken for high end builders, who are building luxury properties with stunning sea views on difficult to access cliff tops. Once again tiltrotators come into their own on such jobs. Another tool in the arsenal for such projects is a Cat tracked compact loader which has proven to be a really useful machine on those awkward jobs. The adoption of a skid steer is clearly inspired by Matt’s time in the States where skid steers are widely used for a whole range of tasks. Matt said, “Its amazing what we are able to do with that machine, we have a wide selection of attachments for it, which makes it so versatile, the thing will go anywhere, in the past we have had on 45^o banks spreading topsoil, its just incredible!”.

Matt continued, “We do a lot of work for the National Trust too, every year we are engaged in tidying up car parks around the Lizard Point, and if I’m laying up an area with 803 that skid steer will beat a 13-tonne every day of the year, it’s a 5 tonne machine and will track at 12k so it’s a very capable piece of kit, we also have a power box attachment with tungsten tips which is a great for chewing up old lanes and relevelling them.

We also run the JCB 3CX Pro, which is like our Swiss Army Knife, its not the best at everything, but there are so many jobs you can do with it, we like this one in particular because its got the 50k box on it, for instance if you need to shoot somewhere to load a lorry it’s a lot quicker all round, I feel that in the right hands, they are still a great and versatile machine to have in the arsenal”.

Matt is also fortunate to have his father working for him, Colin Hendy who is an incredible 82 years young has a whole lifetime of experience in the machinery game and can turn his hand to any machine on the fleet but on this project, he was running the JCB 86 C-2 with the Rototilt R3 tiltrotator.

Asked about his early working life Colin said, “I spent much of my early years working on farms and general farming, but when I left farming a few years ago I started doing a bit of groundworks, fencing, Cornish hedging etc, but eventually Matt said why didn’t I come and work for him and to help him with the business, so I moved from being self employed working for whoever, to working for my son.

Over the past 20 years I have done a bit of everything from drainage up in the mines, working beside rivers where the banks have given away, to digging for and installing big septic tanks, I have done it all really.

I love the challenge of all the different jobs we do, its mentally stimulating every day and I absolutely love it”’

Colin recalled that the first machine he drove was a Fordson Major tractor with a backator and a weight on the front, that was probably about 60 years ago when he was installing land drains across a field of heavy clay.

Colin spoke about the changes he has seen in machinery over the years, “Well, the machines have improved immensely year on year, since those early crude days. I often used to hire from a local business called Acland Plant, who are still in business to this day, you noticed with each new model they were becoming much more sophisticated, and I suppose I have just grown with them. We had an old Massey on the farm, which had a manual gearbox and multiple levers for the digger”.

Times have definitely moved on and now Colin is embracing the tiltrotator, “I’m really loving the tiltrotator, it just makes the job a lot easier, for instance if you are landscaping a garden for somebody and they want the bank sloped up its just a quick flip of the thumb roller and drag the bucket along, even pouring concrete in foundations is a work of art, just slew round to the truck, rotate the bucket to receive the concrete from the truck, and pour into the trench, without any fuss and no waste, just brilliant. But I’m happy driving anything really whether it’s a 1.5-tonner, 13-tonner or a wheeled digger, I just enjoy them all”.

Asked if he had any advice for youngsters coming into the plant and machinery industry today Colin said, “My advice would have to be, stop, listen, don’t think you know it all, you might be able to use the controls but you have to do it steadily to learn how to drive properly, in addition, be safety cautious of everything around you, ultimately listening to other experienced individuals will get you further, somebody once said to me years ago, you have two ears, two eyes and one mouth, use them in that order!”.

It was inspiring to meet the three generations of this Cornish based family business, who have been trailblazers for the tiltrotator concept in the South West.