by Jon M. Casey
By the time you read this article, it will have been one year since Hard Hat News visited Finke Equipment in Selkirk, NY when they were beginning site prep and foundation work for the company’s new $9 Million Headquarters facility. Today, Finke’s new facility is open for business as the finishing touches are under way for the upcoming May 29-31 Grand Opening Celebration. Be sure to mark your calendars!

According to Don Fiacco, general manager, plans for the three-day event feature everything from food and live music to a grand finale of fireworks on Saturday night. (See details in Finke Equipment’s full-page ad elsewhere in this issue.) This extraordinary event is the company’s way of saying “Thank You” to their customers and friends who have helped make Finke’s family-owned business a success since 1977.

“There will be an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 11:00am on May 29,” said Fiacco during our tour of the new facility. “We are planning for this to be a major event since the local and regional community has been so supportive of our business throughout the years. We have come a long way since Robert Finke started his business in 1977, by selling pumps and generators from the trunk of his car. Mr. Finke plans to be here for the official grand opening!”

Exploring the 63,000 square foot facility, we had the opportunity to see the many innovative features that help make Finke’s Headquarters a very special facility. “We have heat in the floors,” said Fiacco. “There is a 200KW solar panel array on the roof that supplies electrical power to the facility. We also have a backup, emergency generator that is capable of completely powering the entire facility in case of a total blackout. We will be able to operate, even in the worst of weather conditions.”

There are 8 drive-through service bays, outfitted with overhead cranes to help make the big jobs easier. They have a completely outfitted paint booth and a wash bay that sees plenty of use as workers prep the equipment before bringing it in to work on it.

On the “front end” of the operation, there is a training room facility that has seating for 60 and is wired for Wi-Fi, audio/visual presentations and other high-tech training capabilities, designed for manufacturer and dealer events. The front of the training area has access to the outside through an overhead door that allows equipment to be brought inside for technical instruction and hands-on training.

A new retail sales area and company office areas, will help provide ideal conditions for sales presentations. More importantly, aftermarket assistance including financing, equipment documentation and other important “paperwork” items will receive the utmost of attention in the new administrative office accommodations on the building’s second floor. On the service-after-the-sale side of things, Finke Equipment’s new parts warehousing area, will have an optimum supply of replacement parts to take care of most any service or repair situation.

Don said that the new facility provides for plenty of future growth. He said there is room for the company’s rental fleet of excavators, pavers, compactors along with the tractors and lowboy trailers that they use to deliver them to their customers. There is also parking for customer equipment that has be brought in for service or repair.

He encourages everyone who is able to attend the grand opening celebration, to be sure to stop in to take a tour around the new facility. He also invites visitors to enjoy some of the food and refreshments, and entertainment planned as well. There will be company representatives on hand from each of the many companies that Finke Equipment represents including Doosan, a recent equipment addition to the other familiar brands that include Kobelco, Kleeman, STIHL, Hamm, Wirtgen America and Bobcat to name a few.

Speaking of Bobcat, Don Bauer, Finke’s sales manager, added that during the celebration, a new Bobcat Special Edition S650 skid steer loader, the one-millionth loader manufactured by Bobcat, will be given away as a special door prize. “We were very fortunate to be able to secure this loader for our special door prize giveaway,” said Bauer. “As one of the largest dealers in the Bobcat organization, the people at Bobcat were extremely considerate to provide this unit for our celebration.”

Open House activities are scheduled for Thursday May 29, 10AM-6PM with the ribbon cutting ceremony at 11AM. Friday May 30 from 10AM-8PM, and Saturday May 31 from 10AM-10PM. For more information, visit www.finkeequipment.com or give them a call at 518-767-9331.