B & K Hume: A Family Business at Heart

B&K Hume Groundworks Ltd recently took delivery of their one of a kind JCB 4CX Backhoe Pro with a pearlescent orange paint. We caught up with Bob, Paul, Kenny and Andy Hume to find out more about their business and their relationship with Scot JCB.

Third Generation Family Business

B & K Hume Groundworks Ltd is a third-generation family run business based in Greenlaw, Scottish Borders founded in 2004. They provide a wide range of groundworks services in Edinburgh, the Scottish borders and surrounding areas. All of B & K Hume’s work is carried out to the highest standards and they always provide quality workmanship.

80+ Years of Groundwork Experience

B & K Hume was founded as a partnership by father Bob Hume and son Kenny Hume. Son Paul Hume returned from North Wales with 20 years experience in tarring to join the family business and the limited company was founded, making the father and two sons directors. Paul’s son Thomas and Kenny’s son Andy are also involved in business.

Between Bob’s 55 years of groundwork experience, and Kenny and Paul’s 25 years shared experience, B & K Hume have a combined 80+ years of expertise in the groundwork and civil engineering.

B& K Hume work on a variety of projects throughout the year, Paul explained “It’s a bit of a mix between large civil engineering projects and smaller home based projects, there’s just not very much we wouldn’t turn our hands to. We work on all sorts, from dropping curbs at somebody’s house, to drainage between six and eight metres under the ground, house foundations, concrete slabs, and a bit of tarring.”

“We’re conscientious as a company, all of us are still working. We think as well as a family business at heart, there’s quite a few folk involved behind the scenes, mothers and wives who do a lot of the paperwork that keeps the business flowing”, Andy added.

B & K Hume and Scot JCB – Here to Support Each Other

B & K Hume have a 20+ year relationship with Scot JCB and within that time Paul said “If we’ve had any problems with machines, Scot JCB has sorted them out. If we do have problems, you get an engineer to us straight away. We’ve had a good working relationship. It’s about the backup, service, and helping each other, hence why we’ve been supporting each other for 20 odd years.”

Paul added “ It’s about being able to pick up the phone and have a chat, we would rather speak to Scott than go through email or computers and Scott is always available for a chat, even if someone texts me I always call them back!”

I’d like to thank B& K Hume for their continued business over the last 20 years, they are a great company to work with and I look forward to working together again in the future. The latest purchase is certainly going to get a lot of attention!” Scott Logan, Sales Engineer, Scot JCB.

Industry Challenges

Health and safety regulations and obtaining new workers were two of the main challenges B & K Hume face in their business.

“We constantly keep up with new training to ensure our workers are equipped with the knowledge to work safely on site. It can be time consuming at times, as there are a lot of hoops to get workers through such as tickets and tests before they can actually come on site.” Paul went on to say, “Getting the younger element of society interested into working in this industry is hard because you want them to get what you experienced. When we were 15 or 16, we were brought to work with our Father when the site was quiet to have a feel for the work and the machines used, whereas nowadays you need tickets to do the work. In general, I think the whole industry struggles to get operators and labourers.”

JCB Finance – A Slick Operation

JCB Finance is available from Scot JCB, Andy described B & K Hume’s relationship with their JCB Finance contacts, “Jack from JCB Finance always has good crack on the phone and makes everything hassle-free. In this day, especially for my father, if you can pick up the phone and speak to someone, it speaks 1000 words, whereas some companies don’t do this.”

He then went on to say, “JCB Finance is always a very slick and easy operation which we’ve used since we started the business. It’s also not just JCB products the finance team can help with, they can facilitate other things such as our vans.”

New JCB 4CX PRO –  One of a Kind

When talking about JCB backhoes with the Hume family, Paul said “The JCB 4CX Pro is the second one we’ve had, we had the JCB 3CX before. The 4CX’s big extra wheels just ticked a few more boxes for us and it doesn’t make half as much of a mess on the soft ground we normally work on. The amount of material you can push with it is great. We can jump it from here to Edinburgh between sites and back!”

B & K Hume’s JCB 4CX was painted with a pearlescent paint which changes slightly in the sunlight. The machine’s unique colour has caused such a stir with people as it’s the only one in the UK to be painted this way, and Lord Bamford himself went to see the machine in the factory!

The family described the JCB 4CX as a “proper workhorse that can play a variety of roles on site, instead of having two or three machines. If we need it on site for two or three days, then we can just drive it to a different job if it’s needed there.”

B & K Hume upgraded the spec on their JCB 4CX including a front quick hitch which allows them to drop the front clam shovel bucket off and use the forks on their own, giving them more lift capacity if needed and the option to use additional attachments.

The family added “it’s just another added benefit to the JCB 4CX.”

Thanks to the team at B&K Hume for letting us come down and spend time with you on site!