When Hayley and Byron Whiteside set up Southeast Static Trader in July 2017, the original plan was to bring their knowledge of on-site and off-site static caravans into the static caravan and leisure homes trading industry. Little did they know just how much their particular brand of expertise, combined with their ‘customer first’ approach, would be in demand.
Byron has a professional background in static caravan sales, having worked on holiday parks in the South East for over a decade. In 2017, seeing an opportunity to share his expertise in all aspects of static caravans, transportation and siting to off-site customers and other traders, Byron and wife Hayley decided to set up their own trading company. With plenty of industry contacts and a team of expert contractors ready to work with them, Southeast Static Trader was born.
Initially working from the corner of an industrial yard, with six statics plus an old, cold static converted into an office space, Byron, Hayley and their small team set out to build a business with a different kind of foundation, creating a business which makes the most of the team’s industry knowledge and prioritises customer care.
There are decades of individual knowledge within the team: take Dean and Lee with their understanding and expertise in siting and levelling; Hoddy’s knowledge of wide load and heavy goods transportation, and of course Byron, Hayley and salesman Sean’s collective and extensive product knowledge – of manufacturers and the wide range of static caravans available at any given time, plus the in-depth logistics of site surveys, movement and siting of statics. All of which means Byron and Hayley have built a formidable collective knowledge base “a team of professionals around us where we’re able to overcome any scenario and, importantly, to keep our customers happy.”
As individuals, everyone on the team has an area of specialist knowledge to contribute, something Byron recognises as “experts within who 
we are as people”. But it’s the way they’ve come together as a team that has developed Southeast Static Trader’s position of strength in the industry and “why” Byron points out, “we’ve been able to grow our business from nothing to practically 300 deals within the two years since we started.”
Indeed, from their original handful of used static caravans, trading in a small corner of the South East coast, Static Trader’s sales yard directly reflects the stellar growth the company has achieved so far. The company’s Rye Harbour sales yard now accommodates around 80 used static caravans at any given time, plus 8 brand new static caravans thanks to dealerships Static Trader has secured with brand leaders Atlas, Carnaby and Regal.
The Rye Harbour are also now home to a fleet of vehicles delivering in-house transportation and siting services across the UK, available to Static Trader’s customers. All of which has resulted in a subtle change of branding; whilst Static Trader has an active presence in the South East, the location label has been dropped from the brand name to reflect UK-wide growth.
“How we have grown has been about how we have approached what we’re doing – from the services we’re offering and the statics we are trading in. It’s all about delivering professional standards and going the extra mile for our customers, whether they’re buying from us, or selling to us. The reason we’re a breath of fresh air in the industry is because at Static Trader we’re actually a set of people who care about what we’re doing – and about what the customers want.”
All of which is something Static Trader have proved to be very successful at, gaining positive feedback for both buying and selling. “I can’t recommend this company highly enough,” shared customer Rachel in the company’s five-star Google review. “We received excellent service when viewing and choosing the caravans, and did not feel under massive pressure to buy. The transportation crew were absolutely amazing – we loved them!”
This level of service is mirrored in Static Trader’s purchasing service. “Having never sold a caravan before, I felt well supported,” customer Sadie stated after Static trader purchased her on-park static caravan. “I was pleased with the price and transportation which was all dealt with for me. Payment for the van was very prompt.”
Sadie’s experience also shows that, when it comes to customers, Static Trader is just as much a presence onsite nowadays as offsite. As well as selling and purchasing, Static Trader has a specific trade arm to its services, trading directly with leisure parks and static caravan sites, as well as other leisure home traders. This professional trading is something Byron values greatly as part of the company’s continued success:
“With the support of people around us, we’re only going to grow from here and we’re ready to open up our front doors to professional contacts. With our manufacturer dealerships as well as our wide network of contacts, we pride ourselves on finding the right caravans for the right parks, marrying up our stock with their needs based on our discovery and relationships with the parks, finding something which is the right fit for them within our extensive list of contacts.”
In all of the industry spaces – onsite, offsite and online, Static Trader is developing an authority presence which promotes professional standards and customer care at all levels of practice. All enquiries are welcome, from trade or private customers and whether static-specific questions or general how-to research, someone on the Static Trader team will have an answer to give or a solution to offer.
For more information, visit Static Trader at www.statictrader.com.
