A major restructuring of Power Equipment Co. has taken shape over the past year and will culminate on Oct. 30, 2025, when it hosts a "Grand Reveal and Open House" at its new headquarters in Brighton, Colo.
"The new facility represents a significant investment in building, technology, and service capabilities for a headquarters that would properly represent the company's new vision and commitment to growth," Marc Dowdell, president of Power Equipment, said.
The 52,000-sq.-ft. building sits on 20 acres at 1575 County Road in Brighton — about 20 mi. north of downtown Denver. Another 8,000-sq.-ft. building is under construction and will be dedicated to additional parts storage. Power Equipment combined three existing facilities (PECO Denver, PECO Greeley and Powerscreening Henderson) into the new Brighton facility.
Among the features visitors will see are three Kardex Vertical Storage Automated Parts Management Systems; a centralized field service dispatch center, 12 25-ft.-by-80-ft. full-service bays, a heated wash bay, a clean/tool room under construction and a complete auto-lube system.
More than 40 OEM representatives will attend the reveal to discuss the latest productivity and technological advances from brands like Volvo, Superior Industries, BOMAG, Cedar Rapids, Powerscreen, Evoquip, Lippman and others.
Company officials said they are in discussions to become the certified rebuild facility for the western United States for key OEM partners.
Power Equipment, or PECO, as known in the Rocky Mountain region, will turn 90 next year. The company represents the Volvo Construction line of equipment in Colorado and northern New Mexico, but its reach extends well beyond the two states.
With five branches in Colorado (Brighton/Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Grand Junction and Durango), two in New Mexico (Albuquerque and Farmington), plus Casper, Wyo., Kansas City, Mo., Salt Lake City, Utah, and Calgary, Alberta (Machinery Supply Canada), PECO has a large presence in the aggregate industry representing Superior Industries, Cedar Rapids, Powerscreen, Komptech, Lippman and Evoquip, plus heavy construction lines BOMAG, Takeuchi, Link-Belt Cranes, Exodus Global, Shearcore, Connect Work Tools, Etnyre, SnoGo and Bearcat.
PECO also recently absorbed another ML Holdings entity, the former Powerscreening LLC, the Powerscreen dealer of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, southeast Idaho and Nebraska
PECO is part of ML Holdings — a private family office owned by Robert Matz, chairman, and son Dave Matz, president. The company also owns McLung Logan Equipment Co., Crane Service Inc. and Viably (Komptech North America.)
Along with its impressive new facility, PECO welcomed the following additions to its executive team: Mark Kuhn, vice president of construction sales; Brad Bown, vice president of product support; Cade Seeley, director of aggregate parts; and Graham Lambert, director of centralized field service dispatch.
Customers Will Benefit
Dowdell said part of PECO's ongoing mission will be focusing on quicker response times for customers' service needs.
"For the front range of Colorado, for instance, we'll house a centralized dispatch at the Brighton headquarters," he said. "All calls will come into dispatch, where the necessary skill set will be identified. We'll send an aggregate tech out on an aggregate call, while we might identify a top Volvo mechanic for a Tier IV final issue. Ultimately, the process will quantify the call, diagnose the problem utilizing telematics, and then send the right tech with the right tools."
Dowdell said that "brick and mortar" is a somewhat antiquated business model, and that centralization is the future of the equipment business.
"When was the last time a contractor sent a piece of equipment to a branch to be fixed," he said. "Almost never, as most are always a repair in the field. We are a logistics and finance company — right part, right application, right machine, right finance structure, right tech, right repair… right now."
The facility also features modern training facilities, which Dowdell said will be important for the customer base.
"Everywhere I go and ask, ‘What more can PECO do for you,' the answers always revolve around training," he said. "Be it training on articulated truck operation or training on selecting the proper screening application in the aggregate world. We'll provide the training and also offer the training space to our customers to use as they want."
Dowdell said PECO bought 16 new service trucks this year to further increase support capabilities and decrease response time.
Results are encouraging, according to Dowdell.
"We've seen our market share increase by nearly 25 percent year over year. Sales are up 20 percent year over year and rental volume is up over 40 percent."
Dowdell said the upside in Denver and the surrounding markets is huge.
"The market is great," he said. "Plenty of federal funding, lots of heavy civil and heavy highway work. Obviously, we have a ton of rock, so material processing is critical for us. And then, of course, we have growing communities. This business has tremendous organic, as well as acquisition, growth opportunities.
"We have the right product lines and the right people. And we also have the capital necessary and the support of private ownership. Bob and Dave Matz are great owners."
