Stafford Tractor Co. has recently moved to a new location at 540 Hosea Road in Lawrenceville, GA, just off of Highway 316 near the Gwinnett County Airport.
The company, which was started a year and a half ago, according to Dick Kelly, vice president and general manager, is the sister company of Reliable Tractor, of Tifton, GA, a John Deere and Hyundai dealer. Reliable Tractor has three facilities throughout Georgia.
JCB was looking for a premier dealer in the Atlanta area and the manufacturer chose what became Stafford Tractor to do the job.
Within a few months, the fledgling company got the account and operated out of a trailer while a facility was being built. Employees of Stafford Tractor moved into its 15,000-sq.-ft. facility in July 2001.
Kelly is quick to note that Reliable and Stafford Tractor are two different companies, running under the same parent company. “The facilities run by Reliable Tractor specialize in agriculture equipment but have construction equipment as well. Stafford Tractor will only handle construction equipment,” he explained.
Built from the ground up, the $2.5-million facility is situated on 4 acres (1.6 ha) of land.
The new facility offers quite a bit to the young company. From working out of a trailer and working on equipment in the yard or nearby field, it can now perform the necessary maintenance in its state-of-the-art shop that boasts six bays and a 10-ton (9 t) overhead crane. “We have facilities that steam clean and wash equipment as it comes in. It’s a typical building for a construction equipment dealership,” Kelly said.
The facility also houses management and office space as well as ample parts stocking space.
Stafford Tractor has two field and two in-house mechanics to provide state-of-the-art service to customers. Kelly said that the company is looking to hire additional service employees as the operation grows.
“We are currently stocking $500,000 in JCB parts and plan to increase that amount as we grow,” he added.
The staff, according to Kelly, is trained regularly. Mechanics are sent to the JCB factory in Savannah on a regular basis for training. Currently, Kelly noted, the company has three of its salesmen at the factory for product training.
It also holds monthly sales and product meetings at the facility, he said. “We can’t exist without training in this business. The price for what we charge for labor to come out and fix a machine should be backed up with training and your people better be qualified. It is a cornerstone of the business,” he said.
Stafford Tractor also plans to hold seminars for training and maintenance for its customers. “We have a JCB day where we bring in owners of backhoes and lifts and have a training seminar. We also offer OSHA training on trench boxes from the manufacturer,” he explained.
Stafford Tractor, which provides sales, parts, service and rentals of heavy equipment and trailers, is the authorized dealer for JCB, Vibromax compaction equipment, Pro Tec compaction equipment, GME trench boxes, Eager Beaver trailers and Trailmaster trailers. It is also in the process of signing up with Stanley/LaBounty tools and attachments, Kelly said.
It also has a large supply of used equipment. The company actively buys and sells used machinery, Kelly said.
As for rentals, Kelly added that the company doesn’t necessarily have a capitalized rental fleet but rents out its existing lines, mostly on a rent-to-buy basis.
Other than Kelly who took over as general manager four months ago, other key employees of the company include David Crockett, senior vice president, and Lamar Jones, product support manager, both of Reliable Tractor and Stafford Tractor.
As for the future, Kelly noted that “we would like to see it [Stafford Tractor] grow to a point where we can add several additional facilities in the Atlanta area. We would like to serve that area as well as southern Georgia.”
Stafford Tractor Co. was started in 2000. It, as well as Reliable Tractor, are the fully owned subsidiaries of the Stafford Development Co. based in Tifton. Stafford Development also is involved in the hotel and shopping center business as well as in commercial real estate and real estate development.
For more information, call 770/822-9050.
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