When looking at the striking, flag-lined showroom of Stuart Taylor International in Blackburn, it’s hard to imagine its origins lay in a humble two-car garage. Founded in 2003 by the late Stuart Taylor and joined a year later by his son Tom, the business has grown from an entrepreneurial leap of faith into one of the North West's most formidable commercial groundcare specialists.
Yet, the road hasn’t been without profound challenges. In 2020, the business faced a dual crisis: the tragic passing of Stuart and the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, which completely broke traditional machinery supply chains.
Today, managing director Tom Taylor and his Mum, Jackie, run a highly streamlined, multi-million-pound operation. Serving an expansive commercial footprint that stretches from local authorities to nationwide specialised hire contracts, the dealership has redefined what it means to be an independent machinery business. We sat down with Tom to talk business transitions, workshop architecture, battery tech, and how a plate of chips managed to sell a £17,000 utility vehicle.
Let’s start with the history. You and your dad originally trained as joiners before launching into the machinery trade. How did that transition happen?
Tom Taylor: We started in 2003 from a two-car garage with a tiny workshop, selling used speedboats, lawnmowers, and whatever we could get our hands on. From there, we gradually built the business up step-by-step.
The biggest, most disruptive change hit us in April 2020. My dad tragically passed away right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the machinery auctions dried up, and the supply of used equipment vanished overnight. It forced our hand completely: we had to pivot aggressively away from used machinery and transition into the new machinery sector. It was a massive learning curve, but the business just flowed forward from there.
Stepping into the leadership role under those circumstances must have been incredibly tough. How did you handle taking over the next generation of the business?
Tom: It was very difficult. My dad was a brilliant businessman, but he didn't share his future vision out loud very much. He shared this physical location with us, we put the spade in the ground and dug the foundations together, but he passed away just before it was finished.
Following our loss, my mum and I took over the day-to-day running of the operation. In many ways, we’ve had to map out our own trajectory for what his vision would look like in the modern market, especially as we expanded the commercial and hire sides of the business.
The business originally gained massive momentum through a single used Gianni Ferrari mower. How did that evolve into the premium brand lineup you hold today?
Tom: Early on, the big corporate players in our area already had the traditional, dominant franchises completely locked up. There wasn't much left on the bone for us. But we found a used Gianni Ferrari machine, realised how good it was, and noticed there was very little manufacturer support or parts backup for them in the region. We leaned into it, did incredibly well, and actually became one of the UK’s biggest Gianni Ferrari dealers at one point.
Building this modern showroom changed the game entirely. Once manufacturers saw the professional standard of the depot, they started knocking on our door instead of us chasing them.
Today, we operate on a strict premium brand structure, focusing heavily on top-tier machinery. We’ve deliberately cut ties with high-volume, lower-tier brands that pump out equipment but fail to provide the back-end customer support. Our key clients, like local authorities and estates, demand premium reliability.
Your service vans cover a staggering geographic area for a Blackburn-based dealer. What kind of work are your teams doing on the road?
Tom: People are often surprised by our reach. Our sales territory is well-structured by area, but our service and hire support is truly nationwide. We follow our commercial customers wherever they need us, we currently have machines operating from Cornwall and Devon out to Wales and the Norfolk coast.
Because we specialise in highly technical machinery, we handle incredibly diverse contracts. We look after specialised machinery tasked with detecting nuclear radiation on beaches, all the way to heavy-duty equipment maintaining vital flood defences in Norfolk.
Managing a service department across that kind of distance is a massive logistical challenge. How do you keep the workshop efficient and profitable?
Tom: It is hard, it genuinely feels like spinning plates every single day. But it comes down to having a brilliant team, distinct parts and workshop managers, and setting crystal-clear boundaries with the customer.
For example, on our trade counter, we implemented a strict up-front diagnostic fee for all handheld equipment. We found that out of every couple of hundred small machines left for repair across the industry, around 30% are abandoned on shelves because the customer decides they aren't worth the fix. The dealer ends up completely out of pocket for the technician's diagnostics time. 98% of customers pay the fee happily. It gives our workshop one hour to inspect the machine and report back with an honest quote within a week, completely removing the pressure of a customer standing over a mechanic demanding an instant answer.
You’ve also taken an unconventional approach to communication on the service desk by hiring from outside the machinery industry, haven't you?
Tom: Yes, and it completely transformed our customer service. We recently brought in a service communicator who came from the hospital and healthcare sector, someone who is naturally brilliant at managing expectations and having transparent conversations.
In our trade, technicians often hate being on the phone, or often timelines can vary when a job is delayed. Our new coordinator calls clients before their deadline hits, provides clear updates, and takes the pressure entirely off the workshop team. The volume of frantic incoming phone calls dropped by half almost instantly because the clients are kept entirely in the loop.
Your hire division has become a massive pillar of the business since you formalised the fleet around 2021. How does hiring interact with your retail sales?
Tom: Our hire fleet is strictly commercial and operates on a strict minimum one-week hire policy. From a dealer’s perspective, it is the ultimate sales tool because it completely functions as a 'try-before-you-buy' avenue.
In the old days, dealers would drop off a machine for a free one-week demonstration, and half the time people were just using it to get through a peak workload with no intention of buying. By charging for a minimum week of hire, you immediately weed out the time-wasters. If they are genuine buyers, that hire period almost always converts directly into a sale.
Since opening the new showroom five years ago, what kind of shift have you seen in customer demand regarding battery power and robotics?
Tom: The shift has been massive. We went from receiving a couple of casual enquiries about robotic mowers to handling non-stop, daily enquiries. Traditional pedestrian commercial mower sales have noticeably dropped as autonomous tech takes over.
Because the demand for robotics has escalated so fast, we are currently transitioning a dedicated technical support specialist onto our team specifically to manage autonomous installations and programming.
We are intrigued by your site diversification, specifically the fact that you have a functioning fish and chip shop right on your depot yard. Tell us more.
Tom: Yes, Taylor’s Chippy! My mum has always had a background in catering, and after my dad passed away, she wanted a project she could really pour her heart into. It has turned into an absolute monster, especially on Fridays.
While it sounds unconventional for a machinery dealership, it’s a brilliant asset. It breaks down the rigid, trade-only intimidation factor of a commercial machinery yard. We get a completely eclectic mix of normal public foot traffic coming onto the site who otherwise would never have stepped foot in a dealer depot.
It’s also the ultimate icebreaker. Just recently, a local businessman was sitting outside eating his fish and chips, looked over at a utility buggy on display, and assumed it belonged to another customer. He wandered into the showroom, asked about it, and ended up spending £17,000 on the buggy right then and there. There aren’t many deals here that aren’t done over a bag of chips.
You’ve been BAGMA member since around 2018. How does the association fit into your business structure?
Tom: We’ve heavily utilised BAGMA for our independent safety inspections since 2020. As an independent dealer navigating complex commercial contracts, having BAGMA there as a safety blanket and a source of regulatory peace of mind is valuable. If we ever face an industry regulation shift or a complex operational hurdle, knowing we can pick up the phone and speak to an expert is vital.
Looking ahead, what does the future hold for Stuart Taylor International?
Tom: This past year has been operationally challenging across the whole industry, but our vision is focused purely on growth. Our immediate plan is to expand our physical workshop space here in Blackburn, allowing us to merge our two current operating sites into one streamlined depot.
Long-term, over the next five to ten years, the goal is to take everything we've learned from this build and establish a second premier depot further out. I have a son and a daughter; there's absolutely no pressure on them to join the trade, but my ultimate goal as a managing director is to build the architecture of this business so robustly that it can run flawlessly even without me here.