Killard Group’s Managing Director discusses a 20-year relationship with Pickles, and how to achieve longevity in the rapidly growing civil construction sector.
Pickles and Killard Group have worked together across a range of different sales over the course of the last 20 years. The relationship has been so long and prosperous, that neither party can quite remember the details of how the partnership began, only that collaboration has paved the way forward. It is due to several successful long-term business relationships such as with Killard Group, that Pickles is able to maintain Australia’s leading marketplace for used assets, selling over $672M in gross sales of Industrial Equipment alone in FY22.
COVID-19 proved disastrous for many civil construction companies at the turn of the decade, and forced many businesses to pivot direction. Some accomplished being able to turn business around, while others were not able to move forward with much success. For the industrial businesses who weathered the storm, it became apparent that propping each other up and creating an industrial brotherhood was the only way to uphold the sector. Killard Group and Pickles have long known the value of these connections, with the MD Jerry Daly noting it as the only viable path to industry longevity.
“It’s all about relationships. We won’t survive without each other. It doesn’t matter who you deal with, you have to have respect for each other and prop each other up. It’s a big industry, but it’s always a close-knit one,” he said.
Jerry Daly is a much-respected gentleman among insiders of the Australian industrial sector. A salt-of-the-earth man who began his career pipe laying, Daly launched Killard Group in 1999. The company has gone from strength to strength over the years as Daly capitalised on his industry knowledge and utilised his strong relationship management skills. Today, Killard is a frequent champion of private and government projects that revive water and infrastructure throughout Australia, predominantly along the east coast.
Regional revival is a passion of Daly’s, who speaks proudly of the company’s commitment to upskilling local workers for future management of infrastructure once fixed. This practice allows Killard to train rural workers with trade experience, who then have the ability to take over the maintenance of their local infrastructure. This method is strategic in the ongoing upkeep of rural spaces – areas that are not always easily accessible to city-based workers and sometimes lack the facilities to train local workers. To date, this resourceful move has resulted in over 150 locally employed tradespeople who are now in charge of maintaining their local infrastructure.
The expanding infrastructure of Australia’s major cities, too, calls for Killard’s services frequently. The huge boom in Sydney urban expansion alone will be enough to keep Killard busy well into the next decade, Daly says. The astonishing growth in cities has made a huge impact on civil construction businesses, who have witnessed a flood of requests for infrastructure building and repairs in the short period since COVID-19 restrictions eased.
This boom across the industry impacts many businesses. For remarketing specialists like Pickles, the industry growth has created more opportunities to market and sell assets as Australia’s largest industrial marketplace. As many Australian businesses leveraged the value of their assets to free capital, a great deal of used assets were made available to Pickles to sell on behalf of various clients – assets which became invaluable resources in a time of slow international production that coincided with huge growth demands. By upholding a strong marketplace and maintaining solid partnerships within the sector, healthy industrial relationships played a critical role in creating and maintaining circularity to keep Australia in business.
Pickles continues to prioritise business relationships by providing expertise, flexibility and tailored solutions to partners. For a business like Killard Group, who have unique asset needs, Pickles can meet their needs through offering the ability to purchase goods via multiple sales channels and providing access to a range of remarketing and valuations experts across Australia. Pickles has an excellent industry reputation for upholding partnerships thanks to this level of care, detail and service.
Daly says: “Professional, transparent and trustworthy, Pickles always steers me in the right direction. It doesn’t matter who you deal with – or what department – Pickles always shows support to Killard in big and small actions. They will host a BBQ to celebrate our success and show appreciation. Even for a big business, Pickles creates one-on-one familiarity.”
With business plans for both Killard and Pickles foreseeably expanding over the next decade, it is anticipatable that the partnership will continue to grow and flourish. The future looks bright and the civil construction sector has never been stronger, thanks to businesses who know the value of working together to pave the way forward for a bigger and stronger Australia.
For more information on Pickles, head to Pickles.com.au For more information on Killard Group, heading to Killard.com.au.
16 Nov