b'CHAPTER 03THE KENNARD BROTHERSWORKING WITH WALLY, EVEN AS THE BUSINESShad an American mentor, Sam Greenberg of Sams GREW, NEVILLE FELT DISSATISFIED. I think it was aU-Drive-It, Andy reminisces. Sam was often considered sense of lack of respect from those in the business, hethe father of the US rental industry and took Andy said in a video for the companys sixtieth celebration.under his wing. Andy says he listened to Sams lecture That I was just a boy, the bosss son. 101 Ways to Make Money in Rental on repeat, soaking up all the information. He told us that of all his trucks, In 1962, as Wally was pushing sixty, Nev bought histhe red ones always went out first. So we decided father out. He and Dad had a few disagreements,right then that we would adopt red as our colour, Andy says of the grief that twenty-five-year-old Nev wasand it became our corporate branding, he says. Not 1960sgiving his father. Dad in his wisdom said, Well, hereslong after, the company commissioned the first ever a young buck thats got more energy than me, and heKennards Hire logo in a distinctive red box. wants to take it a different way, so Ill let him do it. In 1967, nearly two decades after Wally hired out his It wasnt long before Nev needed some help in thefirst mixer, Kennards expanded, opening a second business, and he turned to his younger brother, Andy,branch in 1967 at 257 Victoria Road, Rydalmere. Two for assistance. (Joan, the middle child, had no interest inyears later, they followed with a third location in 1969 becoming part of the hire business, but she had plentyat 200 Botany Rd, Alexandria. The design and layout of achievements of her own.) Andy had been travellingwere inspired by the trips Andy and Nev made to the overseas after spending some time in the family business asUS. They hired staff and it was no longer a two-man a yard worker and then a year at Qantas. He had begunoperation. Instead of buying second-hand gear, they to feel a bit aimless, so when he received a letter fromadopted an approach of buy new, buy lots. Nev asking him to join the business, he readily agreed.Andy took care of the machinery and procurement A year or so later, in 1965, Andy acquired a 50 per centwhile Nev handled the sales, administration and stake in the hire business, making the brothers truedebt-collecting. Noticing the differences between partners. Nev retained the other 50 per cent, as wellthe Artarmon and Rydalmere branches, the brothers Opposite Nevilleas the roof rack business. Under Andy and Nevillesintroduced quality-control checks to establish and Kennard, late 1960s. direction, the business started to boom. Although theremeasure standards. They didnt know it at the time,were other hire companies in New South Wales, thosebut they had just planted the seeds of Quality of companies mainly focused on servicing the constructionOperations Management (QOM) (more about that later).industry. Nev and Andy were the first to realise the potential of the domestic market and subcontractorAndy and Nev worked well together, and theyhire. Each individual hire may have been for a smallersoon saw that the business had real potential to grow amount, but there were thousands of DIY enthusiastsfrom ahodgepodge backyard operation into a viable and solo tradies who needed a constant stream of toolsconcern. The two brothers agreed to just try to say yes and equipment.to everything, a strategy that would prove successful for them. They may not have had the fancy uni degrees, They introduced trucksFalcon utes, Ford 350 vans,but they had bucketloads of innate business sense and and a 2-tonne Daihatsu tip truck that could be drivenwere able to bounce ideas off each other. It was, they with a regular car licenceinto the business. Werealised, the right business at the right time, and they were ready to capitalise.'