Major expansion for Brookton ag dealer

A new service centre, including a covered washdown bay, taking shape off Richardson Street, immediately behind the H Rushton office, sales, parts and service workshop in Robinson Road, already dwarfs the existing operation as work to complete it and get it into operation progresses.

Depending on the weather - either this week or next week - 3650 square metres of concrete, 150 millimetres thick to take the weight of the biggest combine harvesters, tractors and low-loader trucks bringing them in or taking them out, will be poured as the next step to completion.

Two 8.5 metre high, clearspan drive-through sheds, each with 500m2 of floor area, built end-to-end with a cross-braced open-air gap between them, were completed by Price's Fabrication & Steel, Williams, in January.

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"They did an awesome job and, compared to the other prices I was quoted, their price was good too," said H Rushton & Co managing director Damien Rushton, who designed the sheds himself with Price's Fabrication's help.

He has also done most of the extensive site preparation himself - up to 1.6m of fill was needed across the back of the block to level it, with local Main Roads and CBH Group earthworks providing suitable material - using a borrowed excavator, a small loader and a bigger front-end loader.

"I've had a bit of help, but I've done most of it myself with the little Cat loader and the excavator," Mr Rushton said.

"I got a bulldozer in for a day and later a grader and roller in for a day.

"The first shed will have doors either side, with up to 12.4m wide drive-through access to the huge washdown area immediately behind it.

"It will be used as the main workshop for day-to-day servicing and repairs."

Mr Rushton said they were replacing the existing three service bays, built in 1974, where a big tractor with dual wheels will just fit, provided there are no other big machines in the other bays.

"The (existing service workshop) was too small for Chris (32-year employee Chris Rayner who is a qualified mechanic and now parts manager) and me (Mr Rushton is also a qualified mechanic) when we were working in there," he said.

The second shed is a similar layout, but with a six metre wide drive-through truck bay for unloading deliveries or loading machines undercover and the ability to have up to 18.3m wide door openings front and back.

It will be used for assembling machines and equipment and pre-delivery servicing of some of the larger machines.

"I'll be able to drive a header with 50 foot front on it or an airseeder bar opened up through the door and then straight into the undercover wash down area," Mr Rushton said.

"The boys (H Rushton's five technicians) literally won't have to work outside again.

"The washdown area will have an underground concrete tank beneath it to catch whatever is washed off machines and the oils, greases, detergents, dirt and plant material will be filtered out by a separation unit so it can be disposed of appropriately.

"The old days of having three tanks in the ground - which is what we've got at our existing workshop - to catch everything are long gone."

Mr Rushton said the original plan had been to build one massive 1680 square metre floor space shed.

But Department of Fire and Emergency Services and local council regulations would have required him to install a fire hydrant with booster pumps connected to the town's water supply.

"The hydrant system would have cost more than $250,000 just for it, and in 77 years in business we have never had a fire, so how do you justify that sort of expenditure?," Mr Rushton said.

As it stands, the new service centre will end up costing more than $1 million - an investment in the future that Brookton townspeople and farmers from the surrounding region have already acknowledged, Mr Rushton said.

"There's been a lot of very positive comments around the town about what we're doing, also from farmers around the district - and not just our customers either," he said.

"I've even had competitors comment on it and how good it will be.

"I'm pretty proud of it.

"It's been 12 years in the making.

"We haven't really had any bad years in that time, but there's been some average ones in there.

"But I've managed to be able to afford to put money away for it (new service centre) and to pay cash for it.

"We didn't have to take a loan out - the only portion we've had to take a little bit of finance on is the concrete, because that's almost half of the total cost."

Mr Rushton grew up in Brookton.

His father Peter started H Rushton & Co in 1946 after he returned from World War II and bought the business from an uncle - and his wife Brooke is a local girl.

They and their four sons, Rhys, 14, Tyler, 13, Lachlan, 8 and Fletcher, 6, live on a property just out of town and Brookton is close to their hearts.

The business, now an AGCO dealership selling Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Gleaner, Challenger, Valtra and Shearer brands - among many others - had originally specialised in and grown on hay equipment.

"I've been to Darwin to service balers, to Margaret River and Esperance - all over the place," Mr Rushton said.

"We support what we sell and we rely on word of mouth as the best advertising.

"But it has diversified and continues to grow.

"We've been appointed Fendt RoGator (sprayers) dealers and we are selling the tracked tractors, there's new equipment coming through which the boys get to work on, there's more diversity.

"We've got a 670 horsepower (495 kiloWatt) Fendt Vario 1167 tractor coming in towards the end of the year, a RoGator (self-propelled sprayer) coming in towards the end of the year.

"H Rushton & Co is also working with AgriCAD, a South Africa agricultural equipment manufacturer, on a joint venture to bring in and assemble 34 cubic metre chaser bins.

"They import it and we assemble it and get it into the paddock.

"At the end of the day, we might have to buy some more land and continue expanding.

"It can be a stressful business, but we're pushing forward and as long as we're having fun doing it, we'll keep doing it."