In 2019, Marty Mielcarz, owner of ProCoat Group, made the switch to Cat equipment and never looked back. Marty handles business like a pro, find out how.
In 2014, just before Christmas, Marty Mielcarz was robbed. The thieves took everything – including the kids’ Christmas presents. It was a horrible time, but for Marty, it was the impetus to set him off in a determined new direction. He started his own business.
A car painter by trade, Marty set up ProCoat Group: a fast-growing building and construction group. A quick browse through the ProCoat Facebook page shows the type of business that Marty runs: diverse and meticulous. Marty mainly works on residential projects – levelling and clearing land, digging trenches, prepping sites. He does it all. “You never knock a job back,” Marty says. “When the music’s playing, you’ve gotta dance.”
No matter what the job, Marty will take it on. “One time I got a job working at a pet boarding house, basically shoveling sh*t out of a hole with a machine,” Marty says with a wry chuckle. “Heaps of other companies turned it down, but a job’s a job.”
Marty built his business up over many years through sheer hard work and determination. By 2019, he was a one-man-band with six machines, employing a contractor to help him out from time-to-time. Starting out his business he went with different branded machines – but he always had an aspiration.
“I’m was often driving out past the airport and I’d always see Cat machines on site. Every time I saw them I vowed that I’d replace my entire fleet with Cat equipment one day.”
In 2019, he started building that dream, one machine at a time. Marty knew of WesTrac and called and spoke with Adam about some future options – doing some forward-planning. Then, one day, one of Marty’s machines broke down. “I called Adam and within 30 minutes he was on site talking to me. I bought my Cat Skid Steer and haven’t looked back.”
Since his first Cat experience, Marty has built up a great relationship with the team at WesTrac. “Everyone at WesTrac is great to deal with,” Marty says. “The service is great, I just can’t fault it.”
“I had a breakdown once, out at Freeman’s Reach, which is ages away. I didn’t expect it, but they came out within an hour and a half and they got it fixed.”
It’s this type of service that keeps Marty’s relationship with WesTrac flowing. When you’re a sole-trader business owner every minute you’re not able to work is money you’re not making – and a customer you’re not helping.
Never saying no to a job means taking on things that others won’t. Like a job Marty worked on in 2019. “I dug out a basement with really tight access. The house was on stilts and there was no room for error. I took a big risk on that job, but I’m so proud of how it turned out.”
“I love my job. I deadset wake up every morning and get up with a smile on my face.”
Having the right equipment for the job helps. Knowing that accessibility is never a problem is one of the keys to Cat equipment. And for Marty, appearances count too. “I like to present myself looking 100% and a Cat machine stands out in the crowd,” Marty says. “When you rock up to a job with a Cat Next Gen Excavator, people are impressed already, before you've even broke ground."
And it doesn’t just look good, it does a great job too. “With the Next Gen, when we dig trenches it’s easy to change the digging speed and make adjustments as you go.” Technology’s as big a factor as design when it comes to choosing the right machine for his business.
Owning your own business is a challenge, and Marty hasn’t been immune to most of them. “Things like the weather, people paying their bills on time and breakdowns are a factor. So I’ve spoken to the team at WesTrac about options like scheduled servicing for my machines. When you work for yourself you’ve got to take advantage of anything that saves you time.”
Marty’s not only a keen WesTrac customer – he’s one of our greatest advocates and a passionate member of #TeamYellow. “I’ve already sent about five people to buy machines from WesTrac. I think they’re fabulous. I’d really like to thank the whole team.”
“The team at WesTrac will bend over backwards for you. That’s why I’ll keep buying Cat equipment.”
