Dixie Holdings has built a reputation by providing quality customised machinery and excellent customer service, as its recent dealings with Perth-based Kais Hire proves
Getting heavy machinery across the country is no easy task – especially with the added requirements of doing so quickly.
For Dixie Holdings, which also specialises in customising machinery to meet the individual needs to its clients, this is all in a day’s work.
Dixie Holdings is based in the southern Brisbane suburb of Woongoolba and recently took a call from Perth-based Kais Hire, a company that it had previously dealt with.
Kais Hire fleet manager Jordan Kais called Dixie Holdings director Tom McDonald seeking a dozer – and the next step was for Dixie to do what it does best.
“I went to Tom and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a challenge for you’,” Jordan says.
“Can you deliver me a dozer in three weeks? If you can deliver it to me in three weeks, I’ll buy it off you.
“He said ‘I like a challenge’ and then said ‘I’m a man of my word – so let’s do it’.
“Three weeks later, the machine was here. I had no stress. It was just easy.”
Not only can Dixie Holdings deliver machinery across the country, but it is also a multi-faceted company that is on a continued growth pattern.
The simplest definition would be to describe it as an earthmoving equipment dealership, albeit one with crossover to the agricultural industry through multi-purpose machines customised for some of the nation’s most remote farms.
Its biggest point of difference comes from its desire, and ability, to do everything in-house: from its engineering and manufacturing of attachments, to its workshop rebuild facility, machine sales and machine rental plus heavy haulage offering.
This latter category is one in which Dixie has invested heavily in the past year, taking delivery of new trailers to bolster its haulage capabilities.
With these resources behind it, plus the knowledge and experience gained from having been part of this process many times before, it was no surprise that McDonald and Dixie could successfully deliver a dozer across the country to Kais Hire on short notice.
Delivering a dozer from Brisbane to Perth in three weeks was just part of the challenge though.
With the machine itself destined to be a long-term rental for a Tier 1 company in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, it needed to be fitted out to the client’s needs before hitting the road.
The Cat D9 Next-Gen dozer was fitted to full mine specifications – including automatic GPS, fire suppression, isolators and emergency stops.
Dixie Holdings has been a family-owned business since its inception in the 1970s, with Tom’s brother Charlie currently running the heavy haulage division.
Kais Hire is also a family-owned business and is celebrating 20 years in operation this year.
These parallels flow on to their respective approach to business and all signs point towards the relationship growing even further.
“Everything about Tom and their business pretty much aligns with us as a business too, so it’s a no-brainer,” Jordan says.
“Like our business, Dixie has family values and everyone that works for them is like a mate – they’re not just a number for a corporation, and they put their clients first.
“Customer service is the biggest thing. Picking up the phone and having an answer, and someone answer the phone first time, is the most important for us. With Tom it’s the same.”
When a company has been in operation for as long as Dixie Holdings, it is no surprise that a positive reputation has been built and these word-of-mouth recommendations lead to new business.
This is how the association with Kais Hire first formed.
Seeking to branch out nationwide due to their needs for buying and renting machines not being fully met by local suppliers, it was a word-of-mouth recommendation that introduced Kais to Dixie Holdings.
“The deal was done by email and then followed up with a phone call, because everything was clear and concise from the first inception,” Jordan says.
“I think we had more trust in Tom from the start, because of word-of-mouth from people that put us on to Tom.
“If it was anyone else, we probably would have done it face to face.
“The word-of-mouth was strong enough for us to do the deal via email and by phone call.”
The first machine purchased by Kais was a certified and rebuilt Cat D9T dozer.
All this work, essentially a full rebuild, was done by Dixie Holdings to meet the required specifications before it was transported west.
This ability to have the rebuild done seamlessly and as a ‘one stop shop’ was cited by Jordan as one of the biggest advantages of dealing with Dixie Holdings.
“When we usually use local OEMs to purchase machines, there’s a certain list of specs they can put on the machine,” he says.
“Most times, you have to bring the machine to our yard and do the final things here – we’ve got to organise logistics and we’ve got to organise the vendors.
“The process with Tom however was easy – it was one purchase order, one phone call, and Tom did the whole lot.”
After such a positive experience, it is little surprised that Kais went back to Dixie for another machine about 12 months later – which was the D9 Next Gen dozer that Dixie turned around in quick time.
Since then, Jordan has travelled to Queensland to meet Tom and the wider Dixie Holdings team in person – and the relationship continues to thrive.
“It’s got to the point now that we’re growing – we’re buying more and more gear,” Jordan says.
“I’m now potentially looking at a third dozer within the next few weeks with Tom.
“For us, acquisitions need to be easy. It’s a process that for so many years has always been a hard process.
“The more times I can buy a machine through one phone call and know that it’s going to meet my deadline, it works for me.
“When I pick up the phone and call Tom, he’s clear and concise.
“He doesn’t hesitate. He gives you a deadline of when he’s going to have something done, and he meets it.
“If someone needs earthmoving equipment, I’d 100 per cent recommend Dixie Holdings because they’re open, honest, have family values as a business and they deliver on time.”
Dixie Holdings is located at 1343 Stapylton Jacobs Well Road, Woongoolba and can be contacted on 07 5546 2881 or via www.dixieholdings.com.au