A long-term Toyota Material Handling Australia (TMHA) customer has used the excellent reliability and performance of Toyota forklifts to help steadily grow its business over the course of nearly two decades.
Garage Door Solutions, based in the Launceston suburb of Prospect, first opened its doors in 2006 as a single-man operation run out of the garage of owner Paul Crisp, and has grown over the years into a thriving Tasmanian business employing 12 people.
Providing services for both residential and industrial customers, Garage Door Solutions has long been a proud TMHA customer, with Mr Crisp purchasing his first Toyota forklift second-hand in 2013 and has stuck with the brand ever since thanks to the exceptional reliability and performance of the machines.
“Naturally, as a young business starting out, I bought a second-hand Toyota, a 1.8 tonne,” Mr Crisp said. “I think it had about 8,000 hours on it. I’ve still got that one, it’s never missed a beat – it’s been really reliable.”
Seeing the long-term durability of his Toyota forklift meant that when the time came to expand his business further, Mr Crisp went back to Toyota to purchase a larger, new 2.5-tonne 8FG25 unit to help with the on-site installation of taller and heavier industrial garage doors.
“A couple of years ago we bought a 2.5-tonne Toyota with a 5.5-metre mast, so that’s to do high roller-shutter doors,” Mr Crisp said.
“Getting that one fitted with a bigger mast helps us do our doors, and the 2.5-tonne machine takes care of the weight side of things.”
However, the new unit presented something of a logistical challenge for Garage Door Solutions, as taking the 8FG25 to on-site installations required the hire of a tilt tray truck, adding additional logistical legwork for the company.
To come up with a solution, Mr Crisp worked closely with his local TMHA branch manager Rob Cornwell to find the ideal machine which could continue to help managing on-site door installations while providing an easier logistical arrangement.
After extensive consultation together, Mr Crisp settled on a new 8FG15 forklift which was specified to continue the on-site installation of doors while making travel significantly easier.
“I worked with Rob Cornwell because I wanted to be able to tow a forklift behind our ute and keep it under 3.5 tonnes,” Mr Crisp said.
“So I got a 1.5-tonne fork with a 5-metre mast, he kept the weight down for me, and we had a trailer built so we can actually tow it for our smaller roller doors and industrial projects that we do, and we don’t have to get a tilt tray truck like we do with our 2.5-tonner.
“We had a trailer specially built as well, so the 1.5-tonner goes on the trailer, and we can tow it behind our 4WDs which have the towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes, so we have it pretty well covered now. Only for our bigger jobs we’ll have to get the 2.5-tonner on a tilt tray.”
“It keeps us more competitive as well, by the time you add the tilt tray and freight, it makes more sense if we can do it ourselves.”
Mr Crisp said working with Mr Cornwall and his team helped make the purchase process easier, working together to find the exact spec that would work for the business.
“It was good, he worked with me on weights and things like that. Masts, heights, weights of masts, what I can take off to keep us under that 3.5 tonne, things like that. So, he was great to deal with.”
The three Garage Door Solutions forklifts are not only used for remote installations but also work at their warehouse to unload and store the doors, as well as loading them onto their fleet of utes to send out to job sites.
Mr Crisp said that it was crucially important for his business to use products which provide consistent and reliable performance, which is why Toyota has been his first choice for equipment.
“I’m someone who doesn’t mind spending extra money to buy good gear that I know we’re going to have trouble-free operation.
“We’ve never had an issue with a forklift and the whole buying process with Toyota and the communication with Rob has always been good.”
“It just comes down to buying a good quality machine and knowing I’ve got a person I can contact and build a relationship with and if I have any issues I can go back with.
“That’s the biggest thing in business, everything is going well when things are good but if there was an issue, I know Rob and the team would help me out and those are the things I look for with anyone I deal with in business.”
Garage Door Solutions has plans to expand its business with a second warehouse, where their original 1.8-tonne unit will continue to provide the business with years of dependable use.
Garage Door Solutions owner Paul Crisp with his new Toyota 8FG25 Forklift