In just three years, Rob Shem has built a company that aims to make a million by 2024. That is a difficult thing to achieve, but to also do it before you're 30 is impressive.

Through his Pivotal Plant Hire business, which is based in Macclesfield, Rob has navigated false starts, pandemics, and a highly competitive industry to now watching his company grow year-on-year.

Pivotal Plant Hire started in 2020 after Rob had felt he had spotted a gap in the market.

"I started Pivotal because I felt there wasn't anyone in our area doing what we do now. It was as simple as that really", says Rob.

Pivotal Plant Hire's external haulage division work across North Cheshire (Image - Nub News)

So, despite already having a full-time job, Rob invested in a digger, moving the machine from one job to the next in the evenings. Eventually, it grew, with one digger becoming two and then growing even more to the point that sustaining Pivotal alongside a full-time job was not possible. So, Rob made a choice. Putting everything he had into Pivotal.

Rob says: "Once it got up to eight diggers, I had to decide what to do, so I decided, at around April last year to put 100% into Pivotal and to be honest, I've not really looked back."

"It is now going from strength to strength" he adds.

It was undoubtedly a gamble but doing it has paid off with Pivotal Plant Hire now hiring out 25 to 30 machines per day across Cheshire and Manchester.

Pushing Pivotal to new heights has driven Rob but he has always had that hunger to succeed.

"I've always been hungry; I've never really stopped, to be honest," he says.

"I used to sell doughnuts at school and other stuff to make some money but that is all part of my drive. I've always put my all into anything I've ever done so I would definitely say that the will to succeed has always been there," he adds.

Rob on site - Pivotal Plant Hire plan to move premises to help with their future plans (Image - Nub News)

Growing any company in the current climate is tough but it doesn't stop Rob's ambitions. Pivotal Plant Hire has increased its turnover each year since it was formed, with the company reporting a turnover of £300,000 last year. They expect to increase the turnover even more with £1m as the target by the end of 2024.

Rob thinks that's achievable. "We want to push forward with our plans, we've come so far, and we want to grow even more, so aiming for that turnover target is challenging but one that is definitely possible", he says.

To diversify the company further, they decided to launch a haulage and low-loader division and invested further in the company. The new division helps move other companies' machinery from site to site.

This division has helped drive growth and helped them work much closer with construction industry heavyweights such as Travis Perkins and CP Aggregates.

Developing these relationships is key to its future, with larger contracts and opportunities available to them and reinvesting in the company as it continues to grow helps with keeping that growth sustainable.

"We want to keep going forward with our plans and anything we make currently goes back in", Rob says.

"But we also want to just take stock for a little while because it has been such a fast journey that sometimes you just want to step back, so that's what we're doing", he adds.

It's been a long but fruitful journey for Rob and Pivotal Plant Hire and taking stock is probably a wise idea now, but as the company continues to go from strength to strength, you wouldn't bet against it hitting that £1m turnover target in the coming years.

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