What a year at Hopkins Estates Concrete

As we pass a year since Hopkins Estates decided to re-enter the aggregates, concrete and muck away market, it is only right that we cover what a phenomenal year it has been for the growth of the company and the local area.
Rewind back to March 2022, 5 used steel-bodied tippers arrived at our Wincanton yard awaiting their new drivers. We had been advertising for professional drivers for a couple of weeks prior to the arrival of these trucks, and after careful consideration, we had recruited the drivers needed to kickstart our re-entry into the aggregates and muck away sector.

April 2022

Due to the great success of the 5 trucks that we started with, in April 2022, a further 3 trucks were sourced from a reputable company near Ipswich. We carefully considered these trucks, as we wanted to ensure that our drivers had the right trucks for the long days that they spent in them, as well as ensuring that safety was one of our top priorities.

These trucks had 360-degree cameras, low cabs to help with the visibility of vulnerable road users and Euro 6 engines to ensure our trucks met the clean air standards that many local councils are enforcing. Our marketing department worked hard to ensure that our trucks weren’t the usual boring white trucks with sign writing on; our trucks needed to stand out to ensure that our trucks were recognisable in a crowded sector. After several ideas, our marketing department designed our ‘urban camo’ design, and we chose Goodwin Graphics to bring the design into reality.

These three trucks proved a hit with the drivers that were chosen to pilot them, and due to the reliability of these trucks, we sourced a further 12 trucks from the same company. We had these vehicles wrapped with Goodwin Graphics, with one truck going in and another coming out at the same time. This then meant that the downtime of the vehicle was minimised, ensuring that we could serve our customers without any delay.

During the year, we also celebrated our 50th anniversary, and to commemorate this, we decided to commission a gold ‘urban camo’ truck, and Toby Hopkins was chosen to drive it.

As we were looking to the future, we needed to ensure that we had the best and most reliable fleet in the South West to service our growing customer base with the reliability they need. We reviewed several vehicle manufacturers and the lead times on the trucks. After careful consideration, we decided that Volvo Trucks would be our manufacturer of choice to move our company forwards and therefore, we ordered 30 8-wheeled trucks and 2 Volvo FH 540 tractor units with Globetrotter cabs on to ensure maximum driver comfort for any nights away that they may have. This is a large investment made by us to ensure that we offer the best trucks to our drivers and our customers.

Since we re-entered the aggregate and muck away sector, we have retained nearly all our original drivers that we selected at the start. This is a great achievement to us as a company, as it shows that the retention of our skilled workforce is paramount in helping us achieve our goals as a company to the number one choice for aggregates and muck away in the South West.

We have also set up an apprenticeship scheme in tandem with a local company. We previously used the apprenticeship program when we owned Hopkins Concrete until we sold it to Tarmac in 2018. Our first apprentice, shadowed several of our skilled drivers over several months, learning the ticketless system as well as several drivers’ regulations, to ensure that when the time came that he passed his test.

Autumn 2022

After much deliberation and after several customers asking, we decided that we would re-enter the concrete sector in Spring 2023. Having been involved in the concrete sector for nearly 45 years, our customers knew that we had the know-how and the drive to re-start batching and delivering concrete again throughout the South West. As a result of this decision, we altered 4 of the Volvo chassis that we had ordered earlier in the year to be fitted with a mobile volumetric concrete plant. In easy terms, this means that the concrete is mixed onsite, on the truck to the specification that you require. There are several benefits for using volumetric concrete, such as only paying for the concrete that you require, no wastage of materials due to only mixing what is needed, controlling the mix onsite (wetter or drier) and all our concrete meets BSI regulations. We are producing the usual concrete mixes but also offering coloured concrete using colour pigments in the mix, this is especially good for exposed aggregate concrete. Samples of the colours will be available to view at our Wincanton Head Office.

In line with re-entering the concrete sector, we have started manufacturing concrete Betonblocks. Beton blocks are a Lego-style block which interlock. The sizes of Betonblocks which we offer are:

• 160x60x60 SLOPE
• 160x80x80
• 180x60x60
• 120x60x60
• 150x60x60

These blocks are perfect for creating retaining walls, storage bays, and much more.

Re-entering the concrete sector is a big step for us as a company and again, another significant investment.

February 2023

We decided to purchase a smaller vehicle for the domestic delivery enquiries that we were receiving. After researching several vehicles and shortlisting a few, we decided to purchase a multi-use vehicle which can be used as a tipper or a crane offload vehicle. We chose this type of vehicle as we receive regular enquiries for bagged aggregates as well as loose ones. This was the ideal vehicle for us to ensure that we could supply both our domestic and commercial customer base.

We also offer a wide range of bagged aggregates and decorative gravels for collection from our yard or delivered on this truck.

We stock the following products in our yard for collection:

• 40mm Limestone Scalpings
• Recycled 6F5
• Type 1 Limestone
• 4/20mm Limestone Chippings
• 10/20mm Dorset Gravel
• 10/20mm Cotswold Gravel
• 0/12mm Cotswold Path Gravel
• 0/4mm Washed Dorset Grit Sand
• 0/4mm Yellow Dorset Building Sand

May 2023

During May 2023, as a country, we were fortunate to witness the coronation of King Charles III. To commemorate this occasion, our marketing department designed a ‘coronation camo’ wrap to be applied to the first of our Volvo tipper truck order. This truck features a union jack sheeting system and the latest in vehicle safety technologies.

June 2023

So, here we are in June 2023, over a year since we re-entered the aggregates and muck away sector. 2022 was a great year for us a business, and with great expansion, many new faces joined the company, as well as a vast number of new and old customers deciding to use us for their aggregate and muck away requirements. This has continued into 2023 with the addition of our concrete trucks, and we are fast becoming the supplier of choice in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire. We look forward to the year ahead with more tippers joining the fleet, as well as further volumetric concrete trucks to enhance our offering and be the number one supplier of choice in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.

If you would like further information about the services that we offer and how we can help you save money on your aggregates, muck away and concrete, please let us know, and we look forward to hearing from you.