The order was awarded following a competitive tender process and an appraisal of the proposed machines’ life time operating costs.
It will allow the plant business to step up a gear offering machines to other contractors in the region.
In 2007, Yorkshire groundwork and civil engineering contractor Howard Civil Engineering decided to incorporate a plant business to support its immediate plant and equipment needs.
As the firm continues to expand and as part of a long range development strategy, Howard Plant Hire has taken the opportunity to now extend its offering to external hire besides continuing to service the needs of its sister company.
Brain Sharkey, Howard Plant’s Operating Manager, said: “The addition of the new Volvo excavators to our fleet heralds the start of this process and other items of construction equipment will quickly follow such a crawler dozers, tele-handlers and certainly more excavators.
“The Volvo machines weren’t the cheapest we looked at but in our opinion offered us the best value for money in terms of their anticipated fuel economy, general running costs and not least, their exceptional predicted residual values.”
The new machines includes an EC27C, two 5 tonne EC50D’s and four ECR88D reduced swing compact machines. Their larger brothers include three ECR145E reduced swing excavators, two EC140E’s, two EC160E’s, five 22 tonne EC220E’s and two EC250E’s.