Leading south coast landscaping company Dorset Design & Build finds that its tracked mini-dumper not only sets it apart from the competition – but substantially increases productivity.
For Peter Jenkins, founder of Dorset Design & Build, his tracked mini-dumper is an integral piece of site equipment. DBB invested in a Hinowa HS1100 stand-on mini-dumper in 2015 and has seen significant efficiency benefits ever since. The self-loading machine is regularly used for the major garden and landscaping projects that are DBB’s speciality.
“We have had the dumper for about a year now and it makes a huge difference to our productivity,” said Peter. “It is narrow enough to travel from the rear of a property to the front.
“This means it can take away spoil from a back garden, deposit it at the front, then come back with aggregate, sand or topsoil. So it is doubly useful as it very rarely travels empty.
“For example, we were installing a soak-away recently and the Hinowa was extremely helpful, carrying out soil and bringing back in gravel on its return trip. The self-loader is excellent, as this saves on manual loading or having to
use a second excavator. It’s also far more efficient to use the self-loader than it is to jump on a digger and load it.”
The 850kg capacity machine makes quick work of moving materials such as sand, gravel, earth, or shingle from one work site location to another. Less than 760mm wide, it is designed to pass through doors or gateways, down the sides of properties, and to work in confined spaces.
As a tracked machine it has very low ground pressure, minimising impact to lawns and paved areas, while also delivering excellent rough terrain capabilities. The hi-tip mast feature provides elevation of the dumper to enable tipping straight into skips or onto the flatbed of a van.
DBB recently completed one of its biggest ever contracts, a £300,000 complete garden overhaul at a property in the village of Lilliput on the Dorset coast, overlooking the picturesque harbour and Brownsea Island.
Along with extensive groundworks, the hi-tech project involved erecting a curved frameless glass balustrade and a back lit, laser cut, cor-ten steel sculpture.
Peter’s team also installed vertical planting, water harvesting and automated irrigation, a sound system, remote control RGB lighting, a boat house with log burner, and a £10,000 state of the art barbecue.
“Access to the rear of the property was just 850mm wide. The only piece of kit we had that would fit was the dumper; we had to hire in a crane to lift the rest over a wall. The fact that the Hinowa could easily travel back and forth was vital to the project; we would have really struggled without it.”
The HS1100 is part of the manufacturer’s growing range of high quality tracked dumpers and fork lifts. Hinowa produces a wide array of options, so that customers can tailor the machine to their specific requirements.
Manual start or electric start Honda petrol or Yanmar diesel engines, fixed or hydraulically-widening tracks, oscillating undercarriage for extra traction and ride comfort and a high-speed drive option with automatic transmission are all possible.
DBB purchased the machine from Access Platform Sales (APS), the exclusive UK dealer for all Hinowa tracked compact plant machinery. It is part of IAPS Group, a leading UK distributor of powered access platforms and 
compact site equipment.
Hinowa customers benefit from the dealer’s comprehensive after-sales support services, including an award-winning replacement parts service, a UK-wide network of mobile service engineers, and refurbishment or part-exchange of old machines.
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
The HS1100 is a compact tracked mini-dumper. Uniquely, the undercarriage is designed to accommodate a wide range of attachments that are interchangeable with the dumper bed. These include a farm bed, self-loading concrete mixer, winch, mini-excavator, and spray kit. The machine is classed as pedestrian controlled, but is fitted with a fold-down plate that enables the operator to stand on the machine to drive it. With an all-steel construction and simple hydraulic controls, the unit is designed to be robust and reliable.
Load capacity: 850kg
Dumper capacity: 0.29m3
Gradeability: 20˚/36.4 per cent
Hi-Tip max elevation: 1.52m
Engine: Honda GX390 petrol or Yanmar L100AE diesel
Construction: All-steel body
Controls: Hydraulic
Options: Hydraulically widening tracks
From dotcom entrepreneur to Dorset’s leading landscaper, Peter Jenkins founded Dorset Design Build 14 years ago after deciding on a major career change.
“I had an internet development company that was a casualty of the dotcom boom and bust years,” he said. “Losing that company actually gave me an opportunity to pause and reflect on what I wanted to do. I decided I wanted to grow a business that delivered something tangible rather than something online.”
Peter underwent extensive training in CAD software as well as passing courses in landscaping and garden design. “We started off on very small projects, just elements of landscaping, and are now winning major landscaping design and build contracts.”
Today the company has six employees. Peter has also made a conscious decision to own his plant machinery rather than hire it. “We got to the stage where we were spending ten grand a year on equipment hire, so we took the decision to buy instead and have never looked back.”
Along with the Hinowa dumper, DBB owns three excavators, as well as distance and rotary lasers for ensuring highly accurate measurements on site.
“We do still hire in kit where it can make a real difference, like when we used a Hinowa tracked fork lift to create a veg plot and outdoor classroom for a primary school. When you have 10 tonnes of Indian sandstone to transport across site, a tracked forklift is invaluable.”
For further information on Hinowa click here.
