Jet Plant Hire powers ahead with fleet investment, nationwide expansion, and a focus on customer service
Jet Plant Hire (Jet), an industry-leading road planing business, is building the scale and capability to support road infrastructure projects of virtually any size. From local patching repair programmes and general hire to major highway replacement schemes and public sector contracts, the business combines a growing depot network with specialist expertise to deliver a responsive, nationwide service.
Established in 1989, Jet remains family-owned and now employs 108 people across its operation. The company’s continued investments in state-of-the-art equipment and strategically positioned depots are supporting an ambitious growth strategy, while its focus on quality, safety, and sustainability is helping the business to respond to the changing demands of the infrastructure sector.
When Construction & Civil Engineering last sat down with Jet in February 2026, we took a deep dive into the company’s history and three strategic pillars of sustainable innovation, business ethics, and process rigour. Now, we revisit the company and speak with Ian Mitchell, Commercial Director, to uncover how Jet has developed over the last eight months.
“Since we spoke, we have opened our new Bradford location, serving our customers’ operations in the North of the UK and expanding our customer footprint, with local personnel serving these customers,” Ian enthuses. “Our equipment utilisation has also improved by several percentage points, and our NPS score has improved to an amazing 96 from an already excellent 88.
“Aside from these developments, we have acquired three new state-of-the-art replacement planing machines and delivered an 11 per cent increase in shift volume compared to the first six months of 2025. Alongside that, we’ve upgraded 50 per cent of our service vans and replaced several HGVs to keep up to date with the latest technology available.”
Enhancing customer experience
Jet’s new Bradford site is now establishing a strong operational base. From there, the business is excited to further expand its equipment offering and build on the momentum already achieved companywide.
“Our new Bradford location, at this time, is operating a 350mm and a 1m machine, as well as an Avant sweeper,” Ian details. “Simon Bithell has taken on the role of delivering the planned development and operation of the site, and we intend to extend the equipment stock even further in 2027. This location will be key in servicing our Northern customers and greater establishing our footprint within the region.”
The strengthened Northern operation is also supporting Jet’s wider growth ambitions, giving the business greater capacity to serve both established partners and a broader customer base. Alongside ongoing large, multi-year projects, the company has seen particularly encouraging growth among smaller users in the first half of 2026 – a trend that’s been underpinned by continued investments and further improvements on its stellar customer service. As such, Jet is now looking to build on these trends through a more proactive approach in the second half of the year.
“We continue to support our key customers on a range of important and valuable projects, including several ongoing large, multi-year tenders that we’ve won over the past 12 months with our partners,” Ian reveals. “Most pleasingly, though, is we have significantly grown our smaller-user customer base in the first half of 2026. A more proactive approach has helped us to achieve this, and we are now targeting similar growth in this segment in H2 2026 and further in 2027.
“With that, we have several planned investments to improve our E2E processes and further drive efficiencies in our back office. This will assist in a faster, smoother customer experience, with enhanced communication all round and even more cost improvements.”
Prioritizing people
As Jet expands its customer base, enhances its processes, and drives greater efficiency, it also remains focused on ensuring that safety and operational excellence is upheld. This strategy is reflected in its latest success at the RoSPA Awards – the ninth time it has been recognised. Commenting on the RoSPA Fleet Safety Gold Medal Award for managing occupational road risk throughout 2025, and the RoSPA Gold Medal for health and safety performance throughout 2025, Ian notes that: “This acknowledgement is continued confirmation that we maintain and indeed improve on our standards to ensure safety in all our operations.”
With its expanding geographical presence, growing fleet, and continued investment in people, technology and processes, Jet is well-positioned to build on the strong momentum achieved throughout 2026. The development of its Bradford operation, combined with increased equipment capacity and a proactive approach to customer growth, is giving the business an increasingly strong platform from which to pursue its wider ambitions. At the same time, its continued focus on safety, efficiency, and customer service ensures that growth remains underpinned by the standards that have helped establish Jet’s reputation over more than three decades. As the business looks towards 2027, it’s clear that Jet is focused on further strengthening its nationwide offering while continuing to deliver the responsive, high-quality service that its customers have come to expect.
“Our prime focus is closing out the final quarter of the year to ensure we that we deliver against our goals for 2026. December and January are typically quieter months within our industry so managing our budgets is always a key focus at this time. As ever, we will look for a fast start to 2027 from the get-go,” Ian affirms, concluding our conversation.
“With a strong team across the whole business – from our operators, drivers and operations teams to our commercial personnel and support staff – we have quality people at Jet who have proven that they can deliver on our challenges and goals. Our people are our greatest asset, so we must ensure that we continue with the best in the industry.”
