Heavyweight in heavy machinery rises a spot
BIG things are big business for Leslie Doggett Industries, something the heavy equipment and semitrailer seller’s namesake founder sees getting — predictably — bigger. “The way you grow is you have great growth in your stores,” Doggett said, noting that even as the number of Doggett-owned stores across the Southeast U.S. has increased, so have sales at all those
shops.
Doggett, a familiar name to anyone who drives Interstate 45 regularly, rose one spot to No. 9 on the Chronicle 100 list of privately held companies, with $1.33 billion in revenue, a 16 percent increase from last year.
The company has 17 heavy-equipment dealerships, mostly aligned with John Deere products, including three Link-Belt crane dealerships in Louisiana. In addition, Doggett controls seven Freightliner truck dealerships and seven sales locations for Toyota forklifts and other warehousing equipment.
A handful of those showrooms, notably the Arkansas side of the Freightliner stores, are newcomers to Doggett’s portfolio, which was already the largest John Deere Construction and Forestry dealer in the nation. The company announced the purchase in May.
In heavy construction and over-the-road trucks, Doggett said the trend has been fewer dealers with bigger territories.
“They want consolidation,” Doggett said of the manufacturers like John Deere and Daimler-Benz, which owns Freightliner. “You get this critical mass so you can survive the downturns.”
Meanwhile, Leslie Doggett Industries also detoured into consumer vehicle sales earlier this year, buying Lone Star Ford, his neighbor along the freeway.
Doggett said much of the decision was based on land and redesigning his current lot, but this has also come with some benefits. Now, he said, someone looking for a small-wheel loader can walk in the door and Doggett can sell him the loader, the trailer and the pickup that will tow it to the job site.
It is also critical that dealers handle maintenance and repairs, Doggett said. When he built a new Houston dealership, Doggett made sure it had a large maintenance bay and that mechanics had a “ballplayer-style” locker room so they’d have the room to work and accommodations to know they’re valued.
“It is all about keeping equipment up and running,” Doggett said.