Construction Equipment Guide
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National Equipment Dealers, owned by the Taylor family, has merged with J.J. Taylor Companies, expanding to become a leading heavy equipment dealership. With plans to double in size, they aim to offer exceptional service and open new facilities in Texas, Georgia and Florida. Family values drive their vision for growth.
Wed June 18, 2025 - Southeast Edition #13
While a beer distributor and heavy equipment dealership might not appear to have much in common to many, it's a perfect match to John Taylor, chairman and CEO of J.J. Taylor Companies and Zack Kavanaugh, CEO of National Equipment Dealers (NED) and president of J.J. Taylor Companies Inc.
In 2023, J.J. Taylor Companies Inc., the largest beer wholesaler in Florida and a third-generation, family-owned company based in Jupiter, Fla., purchased National Equipment Dealers. National Equipment Dealers was the result of merging together a handful of local, family-owned dealerships including May Heavy Equipment, Rob's Hydraulics, Four Seasons Equipment, Earthmovers, Richardson Service, Grove River Machinery and L&N. Kavanaugh now describes NED as "one large family business."
Today, NED is a large heavy equipment dealership with a mission to be the ‘first choice' dealership for its employees, customers and manufacturers. NED offers new and used equipment sales, rentals, parts and service across 20 (and counting) facilities with more than 450 employees. As the largest Hyundai Construction Equipment and Bell Truck dealer in the United States, NED spans across five states including Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. NED serves customers involved in numerous industries including residential and commercial development, infrastructure, mining, forestry, governmental and more. At its core, NED is a provider of "best-in-class service to customers in need of large heavy equipment," according to the company.
While heavy equipment was at first unchartered territory for the Taylor family and J.J. Taylor Companies Inc., Taylor and Kavanaugh have worked to learn the business and to support a group of experienced and outstanding leaders at NED, including, President Jesse Beasley; EVP of Service Donnie Denton; and EVP of Asset Management Will Blackerby; long-time NED veteran leaders like Vaughan Phillips in Texas, Scott Woody and Jason Wainwright in North Carolina, Richie Ambrose and Phillip Hilton in South Carolina and Brad Brousseau and Bob Wilson in Florida as well as Corey Rogers. From the time spent with these leaders as well as NED's customers and manufacturers, Taylor and Kavanaugh have learned the industry and become even more excited about NED's opportunity for future growth.
While Taylor and Kavanaugh considered many options when first expanding beyond the Taylor family's long-time wholesale business, it was the partnerships, family-owned businesses and people of the heavy equipment industry that stood out.
National Equipment Dealers photo
"John and I believed in the earthmoving business," Kavanaugh said. "The team that the founders of this company brought together were smart, young, energetic, committed folks who we thought could run this business for years to come and had a shared set of goals. We would not have made this investment if we didn't have the right team in place."
Kavanaugh acknowledged their great manufacturers for their incredible products and support, and add it's the family nature of these businesses that stand out, he said.
"John Taylor is as pure a family business leader as there is and we pride ourselves in being family-owned and a family-run business," he added. "Both Bell and Hyundai are also family-owned and operated. We have these three family businesses and, to us, that's part of our story."
Within the next year, National Equipment Dealers (NED) plans to expand, build, renovate and open eight facilities within three of its states including Texas, Georgia and Florida.
"Our long-term goal is to double the size of our business," said Kavanaugh. "We intend to do it the right way, by building the best group of leadership, service and salespeople in the industry and by providing the best customer service in the construction equipment space."
Recently, NED broke ground for a new state-of-the-art, 12,000-sq.-ft. facility located right outside Savannah in Bloomingdale, Ga.
National Equipment Dealers photo
"Our team in Savannah was doing very well operating out of a couple thousand square feet on one acre, but when they tripled the business, NED realized it needed to build a new location in Bloomingdale," said Kavanaugh. "With this new facility, these guys are going to be able to triple that business once again. [Georgia] is one of the places that we are most excited about. Our business here is still relatively small, but the state's growth, including in the greater Savannah area and in the Atlanta Metro region, is enormous and we believe we can be a part of the solution here as the market continues to expand."
When discussing the Bloomingdale facility, Kavanaugh also highlighted the commitment of the NED team.
"Nobody works harder for this company than Jesse Beasley, the president of National Equipment Dealers," he said. "This guy takes incredible care of the suppliers and our teams every day, and we would not be as successful without him. In addition, Wes Hester, the general manager of NED in Georgia, was responsible for helping bring this team together, including Drasien Carey as vice president of sales and Craig Chaffin as vice president of service. Together, the leadership team running the state of Georgia for NED are doing a wonderful job. We're excited to give them a real facility in which to operate this business and grow."
Up next is another substantial 12,000-sq.-ft. sales and service facility that will open in Apopka, Fla., just outside of Orlando this month.
After that, the Taylor family plans to open new locations (after light renovations of recently purchased facilities) in Ft. Myers, Fla., and Willis, Texas. Later this year, the company will be opening two new locations in brand new 16,000-sq.-ft. facilities in Caddo Mills and Krugerville, Texas, on the northeast and northwest sides of Dallas-Fort-Worth, respectively. Finally, the company also is breaking ground on new facilities in Austin, Texas, and Jefferson, Ga., on the northeast side of Atlanta. In total, NED will add six entirely new locations and renovate an additional two within a year's time.
As NED continues to experience tremendous growth, Taylor and Kavanaugh hope to continue to instill the family culture and values that have helped to make J.J. Taylor Companies successful for three generations. CEG
(All photos courtesy of National Equipment Dealers.)