Matthew Terry, director of Tipmaster, said the body builder would carry out 450 conversions this year, but admits this number will be “less than last year and less than the year before that”. Three years ago the figure was closer to 1000 conversions.

Terry puts the fall in volume entirely down to the economic downturn. “The recession has altered the business,” he says. “Orders have lowered, the same as for manufacturers.”

However, he points out that while the slump has heavily hit orders from the building trade, Tipmaster has been able to fall back on other well- established areas of the business.

“We’ve supplied tree surgeons and waste management conversions for donkeys’ years.” And from these parts of the business “we’re still seeing the same order amounts coming through”, he claims.
Terry says Tipmaster’s focus on undertaking specialist bodywork for low-volume operators means it has largely escaped being hit by the growing trend for manufacturers to factory-fit tippers.

One trend he has noticed this year is a growing demand for dropside tippers from customers with specialist requirements that cannot be met by standardised models. As an example, he says: “People who build hot tubs need longer dropside conversions”.

Terry says Tipmaster employs commercial bodybuilders to fit cranes, bin lifts and tail lifts, and balances the business between production line conversions and more customised jobs: “We’ve got a nice, even mix. The bulk is low-volume builds of one-to-10 conversions. You have to cater for what’s available but we’re not reliant on one or two customers. We’ve weathered the storm reasonably well.”
According to Terry, the firm has maintained its reputation for high- quality conversions during the downturn and stuck to its guns by refusing to lower prices, to the extent that he has walked away from deals if he thought standards might be compromised. As he says of the strategy: “It’s competitive, we’re still here.”

Tipmaster’s conversions start at £1500 for a tipper with a crane and grab and can cost up to £20,000 for a full stainless steel refuse body with a bin lifter, axle weighing system and LED warning lights. Terry says aluminium bodies are becoming increasingly popular as they lower aconversion weight by 25%, which can increase the payload on a 3.5-tonne caged tipper from 800kg with a steel body to 1100kg. The 10% price premium for aluminium can be recouped quickly, Terry argues, by, for example, a local authority being able to use the increased payload to reduce the number of trips it needs to make to the waste disposal unit.

Tipmaster advises operators to opt for lighter conversions to avoid overloading. It also offers on-board weighing systems that cost up to £2500, but this is “very marginal with hardly any mark-up for us”, Terry says.

He believes Tipmaster’s provision of a three-year warranty appeals as much to one man bands as larger operators and adds that the strong brand name has enabled its website to attract body-building work to its HQ in the heart of London’s East End from as far afield as Scotland.

Peugeot and Merc

Ingimex specialises in the design and volume manufacture of LCV bodies for 3.5-tonne vehicles. It supplies its Titan Tipper for manufacturer schemes and as post-production conversions, and has recently teamed up with Peugeot for the launch of the manufacturer’s dedicated one-stop shop UK conversion programme for the Boxer.

Tipper and dropside conversions of the Boxer are available with single and crew cab versions. The tipper range starts from £21,995 excluding VAT. All conversions come with the three-year/100,000 miles parts and labour warranty commonly offered with the Titan. Two tipper models are available – the 335 L2 120 and the 335 Crew Cab L3. Equivalent dropside versions are also offered.

“The choice of these versions…will help reduce lead time for standard versions but still provide the flexibility to offer other conversions where required,” says Peugeot.
The manufacturer is also offering a range of contract hire and finance leasing rates. For example, the 335 L2 120 Tipper is available on a 36-month contract hire agreement for £330 per month and on finance lease for the same period with a £2000 down payment followed by monthly payments of £280 plus a final balloon payment of £5880.

Mercedes, too, has teamed up with Ingimex for a Titan rear tipper conversion of its 3.5-tonne Sprinter. The model is available with three 2.1-litre diesel units delivering 95hp, 129hp and 163hp respectively and a 3.0-litre engine with 190hp, and the maximum payload is 1160kg. The Sprinter 3 series Chassis cab 3.5-tonne starts from £22,350 with the tipper bodywork costing an additional £2390, excluding VAT.

Earlier this year Southwark Council took on a fleet of 35 310CDI Sprinter cage tippers for refuse collection duties in the south London borough on a five-year contract hire deal. The council says it chose the Sprinter for its environmental credentials – all engines meet Euro5 emissions standards as well as the voluntary Enhanced Environmentally friendly Vehicle standard. The vans are also fitted with the manufacturer’s stop/start ECO-start system.

Meanwhile, market leader Ford launched the Phase Five version of its Transit Tipper in August. Part of the brand’s Ford One Stop Shop scheme, prices for the new derivative start at £26,726. The manufacturer exclusively designed and tested the vehicle and the conversion was carried out by Hampshire-based VFS. Both body and chassis are covered by the same three-year/60,000-mile warranty. Ford claims there are 35 changes to the new Transit Tipper improving productivity, safety and cost of ownership. The manufacturer proudly boasts the Transit Tipper remains the only one in the marketplace with TUV accreditation, the renowned independent certification body, for safety and production conformity.

Body weight for single and double cab variants has come down by 51kg and 40kg respectively, increasing payloads to 1046kg for the single cab and 2099kg for the double cab. The loading height has been reduced by 40mm to 995mm.

Ford has redesigned the control gear to provide a more intuitive joystick operation. The tipper controls are now all to the offside adjacent to the driver’s seat, giving access either when seated or from outside with the door open. A sequenced hydraulic cam now holds the body in the stowed position. This helps stabilise the body under adverse loading conditions such as incorrectly loaded payload or when loaded by mechanical handling equipment. The device is fully automatic and requires no intervention by the operator.