A broken hose can spell disaster for many businesses. A machine breakdown at a job site or factory can cause work to grind to a halt. And sometimes it can take days or weeks until the proper replacement hose can be obtained and the machines repaired. In purely economic terms, a $20 broken hose can bring a $3 million crane to a standstill - not to mention the paid employees who are idly standing by.
This is where Pirtek, a 24-hour, on-site hose and assembly replacement service comes in. The franchise, founded in Australia, offers hoses and fittings for machines in industries like construction, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and engineering among others.
Ken Adair can handle any of those hose needs in the Chicago area.
He says each of his 12 fully equipped mobile service vans is staffed by qualified, trained technicians. The vans are stocked with a full range of hoses (1,000 feet each of variable sizes) and more than 700 different fittings and adaptors (as many as 2,000 parts), along with a crimping press and cut-off saw to manufacture hose assemblies on site.
Adair says his biggest challenge in the beginning was the lack of name recognition and the need to change old behavior patterns. “People have always just gone offsite, ordered and purchased the repair hose, and then had the repair done. But what we can do is much more efficient.”
He says training and support from the franchisor are ongoing and of the highest caliber. Looks like he knows his hose.
Logo from Pirtek USA.
Scott Layer on August 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
If you are interested in Pirtek please do your research carefully. Most centers are not making much of a profit, many Pirteks have closed, currently the Pirtek San Diego location is for sale, the same broker for this business auctioned off the Pirtek in Ontario, Ca. as well. Be very careful. If Pirtek was a good business the San Diego location would not be struggling after almost 10 years of business. Do NOT get duped by this franchise. Many Pirteks have closed down, they sell one and close one, refranchise one, close one, open one, it struggles for 3 or 4 years and then is closed either because of termination or excessive debt. This is a bad business because PirtekUSA charges to much and requires franchisees to buy product from them at inflated prices and charges fees on the labor. Contact me if you have any questions. I will share with you the for sale listing for Pirtek Miramar. If its such a great business how come one of the other franchisees don’t buy it? Pirtek has been around in the US for about 10 years, currently they have about 39 locations, maybe 40, or 41…Thats an average of 4 franchise sales per year. The interesting part is they have sold maybe 60 or 70 locations, Pirtek sure seems to havel a problem keeping up with their competitors. Good luck Scott, fixxme@aol.com