Meet Matt House
Hydraulic Service Engineer Hydraquip Hose & Hydraulics Ferndown
As I lived approximately an hour away from the Pirtek Swindon branch, my goal was to build up business within my home town area which meant I only really travelled up to Pirtek Swindon when I needed stock, this could be once a week. One of the last jobs I worked on whilst still at Pirtek Swindon was for a logistics company who operate the heavy equipment transporter service for the MoD. The job involved manufacturing 112 hoses and fitting these onto the trailer as well as supplying four hydraulic accumulators, the job took about a week from start to finish. I also remember working on another really interesting job for a renewables company. They required engineering work to be carried out on a set of powerpack units. The job required the manually operated powerpack units to be changed to electronically operated which was carried out using cetop 5 valves. I worked on seven powerpack units, three at the company’s handover branch and four at their Scotland branch, now that was one road trip in a transit van!
To be honest when I joined Pirtek Swindon I walked in blind as I really had no idea of what to expect. Though being the ambitious type, I was quick and eager to learn. I am self-taught in hydraulic repairs and with ten years experience I would consider myself as a senior hydraulic engineer. I would often receive calls from my colleagues asking me for advice or to assist them with a job, which I would do to the best of my ability over the phone. My skillset and experience allowed me to carry out training sessions for new engineers for both of Pirtek’s Swindon and Westbury branches.
I really enjoyed my time spent with the Pirtek Swindon engineers, they are a fantastic group of lads to work with and also very experienced, as they too are time served engineers. I’ve made some really good friends and I’m glad although I have moved to another company we still keep in touch and are really good friends.
Having worked at the Pirtek Swindon branch for ten years, I had Hydraquip Hose & Hydraulics in the back of my mind for the last eighteen months. It was only recently that I managed to pluck up the courage to contact Hydraquip’s Managing Director Duncan MacBain directly and have a discussion about the possibilities of joining their team. As soon as I spoke with Duncan, I knew I had made the right choice, the company resonates professionalism. After working at a company for ten years, the decision to move on doesn’t come easily. Though I knew the goals I had set out for myself could only be achieved with those who were willing to listen and invest in me. I joined Hydraquip on 1st April 2016, I made a trip down to the South East and met Hydraquip’s team at their Strood and Rochester branches. I was so pleased to see that everyone had such a professional and positive attitude. The best thing to see was that all the staff got on extremely well.
On this visit down, I collected my brand new Mercedes sprinter workshop. I will spend most of my time working out of this workshop so I was so pleased to see the efforts Hydraquip had gone to ensure this was to the highest standards before handing it over. It’s superior and looks the part, it was really above my expectations. I know even my customers will be keen to have a look around in my new service van. The drawer system is very handy, at least I know my stock is being well looked after and kept in one place when I am driving around. My goal is to build up Hydraquip’s customer base within the South West area and promote the 24/7 hydraulic repair service.
On a personal level, I am married to my wife Kim, we have four children and two grandchildren. Kim and I married two years ago in Gretna Green, Scotland and enjoyed our honeymoon in Aruba. It was really good as we told no one and just went ahead and did it. Kim and I enjoy our holidays, we spent a week in Gran Canaria in February, and have holidays booked in the Isle of Wight and Fuerteventura this year. We also enjoy our walks and often go down to the Coast and do several trips down to the New Forest as it is nearly on our doorstep.
Wednesday 13th April 2016
Meet The Team