By Christine Graf
United Ag & Turf and United Construction & Forestry are now located under one roof in a brand-new facility located at 20 Deere Lane in Clifton Park. The 27,000-square-foot retail store is located just a short distance from Northway Exit 10.
Prior to relocating, United Construction & Forestry was located at 14 Crossing Boulevard in Clifton Park. The store operated as Nortrax before being acquired by Fernandez Holdings in 2021. Fernandez Holdings’ portfolio includes both United Construction & Forestry and United Ag & Turf.
Before moving to Deere Lane, United Ag & Turf was located on Route 9 in Clifton Park, the longtime home of Hudson River Tractor.
Prior to selling the company in 2020, Hudson River Tractor operated five stores in the Capital Region.
Headquartered in Fairfield, Maine, United Ag & Turf has 42 locations throughout the northeast. In addition to offering a full line of John Deere equipment dealer, they sell and support other brands including Stihl, Honda, Western Plow, and Ariens.
United Construction & Forestry is headquartered in Scarborough, Maine, and has 14 locations throughout the northeast. That side of the business sells new and used forestry and construction equipment.
“You can buy everything from a weed wacker to a big 1050K (John Deere) bulldozer,” said store manager Patrick Mullahey. “We also have over $1.5 million in parts inventory on hand to keep everybody up and running.”
Construction & Forestry is geared toward contractors. Although they do offer rentals with purchase options, their focus is on sales and service.
The Ag & Turf side of the business caters to homeowners. The store’s product offerings include weed wackers, string trimmers, leaf blowers, riding lawn equipment, compact tractors, and push mower. They also offer parts and service for the equipment that they sell.
The stores have a total of 34 employees including four road technicians. All but two of these employees were on staff before United Ag & Turf and United Construction & Forestry were consolidated into one location. Finding qualified employees continues to be problematic, said Mullahey.
“We are looking at hiring an inventory control specialist because we have so much inventory. We’re also looking for another road technician—a mechanic,” said Mullahey. “The labor shortage has made things tough for the last couple of years. It’s hard to find good people that want to work.”
Although the labor market remains tight, he said supply chain issues have improved.
“We’re starting to have a lot more machines on the property which is great. Going through COVID, we couldn’t get machines, and since we couldn’t, we basically sold out our whole rental fleet.”
“And on the parts side, parts were hard to come by. It was a rocky couple of years. The business was still there but being able to capture it and deliver was very difficult. Things aren’t back to 100 percent, but we are definitely taking a step in the right direction.”
Mullahey said sales for equipment remain strong, especially with larger customers in the areas of heavy road work. Demand for forestry equipment has declined slightly as has demand for equipment form smaller excavation companies.
“It depends on the company. Some people are still buying and working hard, and others are holding their cards and seeing how the economy plays out.”