R H Davies is a civil contracting business based in Moree in Moree Plains Shire in Northern New South Wales. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains.

The company works in roadworks, construction projects and also complete a lot of work for the local shire.

R H Davies was founded by Howard Davies in 1990 when Howard moved from England to Australia and decided to start up his own business.

“I bought my first machine – a skidsteer, and started taking on work for the local farmers in the area. My second machine was an excavator which lead to work in civil construction”, Howard explains.

After receiving a contact at the local council Howard started getting more work in the civil space. Two machines turned into three and a few trucks were added to the business to be able to float their own machinery to and from work sites.

The fleet now consists of around 15 machines and 4 trucks and the machinery range includes skidsteers, graders, excavators, rollers and trucks.

10 years ago Howard’s son Harrison started working for the family business.

“After school I jumped into one of the trucks and then progressed to operating machinery”, Harrison explains.

“Recently we were looking to upgrade to a grader after having used skidsteers with grader blades. We had not heard much about Hidromek to be honest but came across the Hidromek HMK600MG grader when we were doing some online research. Onetrak had it in stock so we headed to the Onetrak yard to have a closer look. We started out with the grader in a rent-to-buy agreement to see if it was the right machine for us. When we were looking at the grader we also got the opportunity to have a look at the Hidromek rollers and excavators. They all impressed with their build quality”, Harrison adds.

Shortly after viewing the machines Howard and Harrison decided to purchase a HMK110CS roller and then also purchased a HMK145LCSR excavator.

“The HMK145LCSR excavator has an operating weight of 16.8 tonnes so it’s a bit heavier than other similar machines. It’s definitely well-built with reinforced components on the boom and undercarriage. The excavator is super powerful and operates really well with the tilt hitch, posthole digger and breaker. It’s also very fuel-efficient which helps keep costs down”.

“The HMK600MG grader has outstanding visibility thanks to how they have designed the cabin. We opted to have ours fitted with Topcon GPS which works really well”.

“The HMK110CS is a really nice roller. It’s super smooth to operate and gives a very nice finish. Again, visibility is great thanks to the wide cab angles”, Harrison adds.

“Some general stand-outs of the Hidromeks for us are: aircon – we are definitely putting it to the test as Moree gets very hot. The machine cabs remain nice and cool thanks to the efficient aircon systems. The Hidromeks are very smooth to operate, cabins are very spacious and comfortable which is important when you’re doing big days. In short, they’re designed well and presented nicely”, Howard explains.

“Onetrak has been very good to deal with. Nathan from the New South Wales team is our main contact and he has been super helpful. If he doesn’t have the answer he will find out and gets back to us straight away”.

“When it comes to aftersales support we’re dealing mainly with Brad and he has also been brilliant. We have received nothing but good service which is what you want when you purchase a new machine”, Howard adds.

Harrison concludes “Having the machines on jobs out this way, we get a lot of people who are curious about the Hidromeks and want to know what they are like. Like us they haven’t seen that many around aand when they do they are very impressed with the quality. We definitely recommend Hidromek and Onetrak to anyone asking. The operators we have had working for us have been very happy with the performance and comfort of the machines so it’s all positive from us”.  

If you want to find out more about Hidromek contact Onetrak, your local Hidromek supplier in Australia on 1300 727 520 or visit www.onetrak.com.au.

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