Our origins date back to 1985 through the establishment of WA Fork Trucks in Welshpool, Perth. This business became a well-known and respected player in the local Perth forklift market offering sales, hire, service and spare parts. The business was soon followed by the establishment of our sister business, WA Access, which was established to create a foothold in the access market and further diversify the businesses product offering.
In August 2005 United Equipment was established and both WA Fork Trucks and WA Access were acquired under this newly created company. This same year several individually operating businesses around Australia were also acquired to join United’s growing portfolio, including NT Forklifts and Western Forklift Services. In 2006 another three businesses were acquired including Sky Master Plant Hire, DFS Holdings and Western Forklift Services.
January 2009 was an important milestone in our company’s history, which saw the consolidation of all these subsidiaries under the newly created company United Equipment Pty Ltd. In November 2010, another significant milestone was reached through the merger of United Equipment with All Forks Australia. This decisive merger established United as Australia’s largest Cat Lift Truck dealer.
In 2012, following the rapid growth of the company, we decided it was time to rebrand the business and changed our trading name to United Forklift and Access Solutions. We felt this new name and modern look clearly represented what United was all about. This same year we opened our first Queensland branch in Brisbane.
June 2015 was one of United’s most historic milestones whereby the company was acquired by the Elphinstone Group. Through the acquisition, United became a 100% privately-owned Australian family business.
In 2018, United opened our first South Australian branch in Adelaide. The following year in 2019, United opened our first Tasmanian branch in Burnie. This was another significant milestone as we had become a truly national company with branches in every state and territory in Australia.
In September 2021, United expanded our operation in the Central Queensland region through the acquisition of ABEC Forklift Industries in Mackay, and CQ Automatics in Rockhampton. This increased our national footprint to 11 branches.
