We are so pleased to have a double page feature in ACR News for February 2024; check out the full article below.
Jake Revell, sales and marketing director of Celsius Hire tells the tale of the companies meteoric rise in just three years.
Taking the plunge and starting Celsius Hire … 3 years ago, 3 colleagues and I decided to take the plunge and leave all security behind to embark on a business journey together.
We had all worked in the cooling and heating hire industry for years; each bringing incredibly strong knowledge. Our goal was to come together and build from scratch a business that complimented our combined ethos, experience and mindset.
With a business plan in place, and a private investor secured, we founded Celsius Hire in January 2021. With a partnered approach to our client base, our mission is to offer a turn-key, minimal hassle solution with a professional and fast response. We aligned ourselves with companies in the trade – Industrial refrigeration, M&E and facilities management to name a few. Being a hire only business with technical experts in house, made Celsius Hire an appealing partner for these companies. It allowed them to add value to their existing offering and create an additional revenue stream, without the risk or conflict of interest that working with some of our competitors would create.
The HVAC and process cooling and heating rental market was growing faster than ever, with economic uncertainty caused by global issues such as COVID19 only benefiting the hire market, as businesses looked to retain cash and button down the hatches. Less money spent on service and maintenance caused more breakdowns, leading to emergency hires, and many businesses’ were even turning to long term rental as a viable alternative to capital purchase.
Weather conditions were getting more extreme, with warmer summers putting pressure on installed systems designed for much lower ambient temperatures, and increased awareness of health and safety in the workplace meant that companies were under more pressure than ever to ensure their staff are comfortable.
We identified that there was a lack of companies in the market taking this opportunity. Many of the big players had sales and service divisions alongside their hire offering, creating conflict of interest both internally and to their clients who may have offered some of the same services. Others had been swallowed up by large plant and tool companies, de-specialising and no longer able to offer the consultative approach they once did.
3 Years On… Taking the keys to our new depot
As I write this article, we have just taken the keys to our new 52,000sq ft facility in Eastleigh, Southampton. A proud moment for us all, and a transformative step for the business.
Roughly six times the size of our previous location, and with a 50/50 ratio of yard and warehouse space, it gives the business the perfect platform for our next stages of growth. We have installed a state of the art testing rig to allow us to test our hire fleet of chillers, boilers, AHU’s are more. This, alongside refined quality control procedures, raises the bar on our high equipment standards. This next step for the business has the customer in mind, allowing us to provide better equipment, quicker, for our clients.
From the four of us in early 2021, our team is now twenty strong. The sales and projects team are our there growing the business and managing hire requirements from portable AC units all the way to large multi-megawatt chiller rental requirements. They are supported by a relentless team of engineering technicians who work tirelessly up and down the country, and are often the real heroes in the customers and our eyes.
In the new depot, our office and warehouse teams are much happier to have quite a bit more space than usual! The office staff support the operation of the business and our growing customer base, scheduling jobs and organising all supporting contractors; transport, craneage and cabling packages to name a few. The warehouse team are resilient to the hectic nature of the hire game, with equipment going in and out on a daily basis. They also ensure all hire equipment is fully tested prior to dispatch.
With our customers temporary cooling and heating requirements at the forefront of everything we do, our move to the new depot is looking to streamline our customers experience of hiring with us.
How did we get there? Solving the industries problems
Over the first year our challenge was to build a brand that was trusted. Customers had to take a chance on us to start with, and we are forever grateful for those that did. At that point, there was no proof to show them behind our words. The hire fleet was only a few chillers and portable AC units strong, so we leant on our other companies to support us throughout the early stages of growth.
We were slowly starting to exploit the gap in the market and pull clients from our competitors. Customers enjoyed our personal approach and were starting to see hire as a viable option for them to add an additional revenue stream. Before, it was more of a burden and wasn’t worth the hassle. Our job was to change their mindset and make it easy.
To support our ever growing customer base, we recruited great people. Without them, we would not have been able to support the increasing demands of the business. From our first engineer Chris Brown and hire desk supervisor Niki Thorp in late 2021, to our third sales and projects engineer Sean Johnson in late 2023, every addition to the team has been of value to us and the customer base.
What’s next for Celsius Hire?
With the move into our new depot in early 2024, and the constant addition of brand new chillers, boilers and more into our rental fleet, we are poised to build on our existing success and continue to support the market.
We are looking to expand our team this year with people across all departments and continue to invest in those people.
We look forward to working with our existing customers and welcoming all those new to Celsius Hire.
