ENGINEERING
Open day – pictured at an open day at CJ Leonard & Sons( from left) Tim Rice, Max, Michael, Charlie, Joe and Lee Leonard and Dan Kitching.
Family values and strategic investments drive C J Leonard & Sons’ success in the construction equipment market
SELLING
SPECIALISTS
PICTURE: CHRIS BOOTH
For more than 60 years, C J Leonard and Sons has built a reputation for quality, reliability and expertise in the civil engineering and construction industries.
Based in Guisborough, the family-owned business has evolved from its origins as a commercial vehicle dealer into a trusted supplier of construction equipment, commercial vehicles and attachments across the UK and overseas.
Established in 1964, the company has continually adapted to meet changing market demands, with its latest milestone being its appointment as Europe’ s first certified Sumitomo excavator dealer.
“ The business was founded by my grandad, Charles Leonard Snr, who started out dismantling commercial vehicles and selling the parts before moving on to selling the trucks themselves,” explains Lee Leonard.
“ In the mid-to-late 1980s, he then went into construction and plant equipment. Today, my two uncles, Charlie and Michael, own and run the business, with myself and my cousins Joe and Max Leonard working alongside them.
“ Our sales manager, Tim Rice, who has been with us since 2003, is an extension of the family and was instrumental in helping us secure the Sumitomo dealership alongside Michael and myself. Charlie and Joe head up commercial vehicle sales, while Michael, Tim, Max, Dan and I look after plant sales. It’ s a real family business and everyone pulls together.”
The Sumitomo dealership marks the latest step in the company’ s long history of growth and diversification.
“ We’ d always been in contact with Sumitomo because we were a Case dealer for them from 2003 until 2019,” Lee says.“ We approached them about a dealership in late 2019. The process started in 2024 and the dealership was finally awarded to us in 2025.”
The response has exceeded expectations.
“ We received 51 units in our first batch at the end of November and they had all sold by the end of February 2026,” Lee reveals.“ We then took delivery of another 98 machines in April and they’ ve all sold too. We’ re expecting another 80 in September and most of those are already spoken for.
“ A large percentage have gone to existing customers, but we’ ve also attracted a lot of new business thanks to our new plant sales specialist, Dan Kitching.”
Supporting that growth has been major investment in the company’ s Guisborough headquarters, creating facilities designed to improve customer experience and strengthen aftersales support.
“ We’ ve been developing the site over the last 18 months,” says Lee.“ We’ ve added a huge concrete display area with new fencing and lighting and started work on a new warehouse for parts distribution and service. We’ ve also completely refurbished our offices to give them a fresh, modern look.
“ Altogether we’ ve invested more than £ 2m in the site, along with more than £ 300,000 in Sumitomo spare parts.”
Despite the investment, Lee believes the company’ s greatest asset remains the values that have guided the family business since its beginnings.
“ We aim to be transparent, honest and straightforward. We’ re not here to pull the
wool over anyone’ s eyes,” he says.
“ We want to be known for selling good, clean new and used equipment. We’ re all hard-working and available whenever customers need us. Our grandad brought us up with strong family values and no job is too big or too small for anyone to roll their sleeves up and help.”
That customer-first approach continues to underpin the company’ s ambitions.
“ At the moment we’ re in a really strong position,” Lee says.“ We’ re grateful to be selling plenty of equipment. There are economic challenges, but you just have to keep moving forward.”
Looking ahead, Lee hopes to see the Sumitomo brand continue its expansion across the UK while C J Leonard builds on its recent momentum.
“ I’ d like to see Sumitomo become recognised right across the country so more people understand the quality of the machines as much as we do,” he says.
“ We want to remain in the strong position we’ re in now, supplying machines to happy customers and perhaps even adding another dealership that complements the Sumitomo range.”
More than six decades after Charles Leonard Snr founded the business, C J Leonard continues to combine family values with long-term investment and a willingness to evolve. With a thriving Sumitomo dealership, modernised facilities and a growing customer base, the company is well placed to build on its success while remaining true to the principles that have defined it since 1964.
cjleonard. co. uk
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