Well I wasn’t planning that. It’s like the unexpected birth of a small child. And now I have to nurture this new venture like a newborn. Well you get my drift. I have to say that, carrying on the metaphor, this was an unplanned pregnancy! The opportunity simply presented itself and it was too good to miss.

We have been running an ever expanding, successful, plant and tool hire business in Swindon for a little over six years now. G A Plant and Tool Hire has gone from strength to strength and we know what it takes to make a business work. The key to our continued rapid growth is great customer service. We are still an owner led single outlet tool and plant hire shop which still retains its same core values and we can now diversify our business allowing for even more growth.

Around the end of April 2022 a large yard became vacant in Cheney Manor and it was just 100yds from our tool and plant hire shop. The location in Brindley Close, Cheney Manor was perfect for us and we jumped on it straight away. It’s fair to say we had not even worked out exactly what we were going to do with it but space for us was at a premium and this was an opportunity not to be missed.

This sand and gravel yard was literally conceived in one afternoon. It’s fair to say more than two of us were involved in its conception. It was more a conversation between the whole team. How could this fail? We already have a large, happy band of builders, property developers, landscapers, parish councils, the local authority and domestic customers using our hire services. By the nature of the business the plant and tools they are hiring are frequently being used with aggregates that they are buying from elsewhere. The writing was in the sand.
Conversations with various aggregate suppliers went well. They visited our evolving sand and gravel yard and could see the vision. This was an opportunity they were not going to miss. 

So what do you stock an aggregate yard with? I certainly don’t know, but my team does. With several members of the team having spent years working in builders merchants we already had all the answers. Who knew there were so many types of sand? Building sand, soft sand, Faringdon sand, sharp sand, 60/40 mixed sand, yellow sand, red sand and no doubt more I have forgotten. And then you have decorative Cotswold chippings, 20mm gravel, pea shingle, Newbury flint, plum slate, top soil, crushed 4mm limestone, ballast, MOT Type1 and more! You also have all the other bits to go with the aggregate such as cement, postfix, kerb edgings, mortar dye, plasticiser, the list goes on. The key is to stock the right products in the right quantities. 

Oh, and then it needs to be loose, bagged, half bags, 25kgs bags…. So next we bought a loading shovel with a weighloader and a bagging hopper and… you get the drift. But we have done it! One month and a lot of sweat later and we have a well designed sand and gravel yard open for business! In less than two months we have built, opened and turned over our entire stock in sales! How? Simple… A fantastic, dedicated, hard working team all of whom understand the company ethos and carrying on with our same great customer service! It’s that simple!

I believe we have the best sand and gravel yard in Swindon. Like any new business we did our research. We looked at our competitors. We visited places like Buildbase, Kellaways, AWBS, B & Q, Sansums, Travis Perkins and others and learnt from them. We saw what they were doing well and we also saw how we could do better. We then went away and carefully planned out our own better sand and gravel yard for Swindon. Going back to our roots, we know customer service is key. Our aggregate yard is built around fantastic customer service. It is Swindon’s only drive-thru sand and gravel yard. You pull up to the office window, place your order, park in the bay and wait for our driver to load you. Then you simply drive out of the other end of the yard. It really is that easy! Of course you may not be able to collect so we also offer a delivery service for all of our products either loose or bagged.

So there you have it. We think it is probably Swindon’s fastest sand and gravel yard and we would welcome you to come and see for yourself. We welcome trade and domestic customers and we offer fair pricing for all.