Tractors transformed into taskmasters

Across the Tasman, the Neilo range has become a common site on roadworks right across New Zealand, with its products also reaching into Australia.

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Neilo takes well-proven Kubota platforms and adds Neilo-designed grader frames, broom decks, stabiliser units and optional cabs/ROPS, such as this M7040 grader. Images: Neilo

Neilo, the small but widely respected specialist manufacturer of compact graders and tractor-mounted road brooms, was built around a simple idea: using reliable Kubota tractors as a base and adding rugged, well-engineered implements that suit the realities of road-making and civil construction.

Born in the mid-2000s and rooted in Palmerston North, New Zealand, the business has grown from a one-man engineering sideline into a brand used across New Zealand and Australia by contractors, councils and asphalt crews.

Neilo traces back to 2005 and the workshop of Neil O'Fee (the company name is a play on "Neil O'Fee" – "Neilo").

The first machines were engineered as practical ways to extend the utility of small landscaping tractors that were already on hand, with early Neilo units created to solve day-to-day grading and sweeping tasks more cheaply and flexibly than full-size graders or purpose-built sweepers.

From those grassroots beginnings, the product line expanded to include several purpose-designed grader frames, broom attachments and stabiliser units.

The business went through an ownership transition in 2019 when Neil sold it to the Hart family of Palmerston North in New Zealand's North Island – a move that accelerated the brand's transformation and formalised its product catalogue and dealer network.

As Neilo General Manager Larry Hart explains, the company is so well regarded now that civil engineers, rental companies and contractors alike trust no one else to support their investment in site cleanliness and finishing.