Since 1937 · four generations
They can copy everything we do: our generators, our quotes, even our website. But there is one thing nobody can copy, and that is 89 years of history. This is the story of four generations of Homan.
It begins in Bovenkerk, a village just outside Amsterdam. In 1937 Grandad Arie opens a small electrical shop there. Electronics in those days means repairing a radio, an iron, a washing machine of the era.
Rental soon follows. First for the local street fair, later for the funfair. What starts small grows into the thread that runs through the whole company: wherever temporary power and light are needed, Homan is there.
In 1961 father Piet takes the helm, and things move fast. Under his leadership Homan grows into a household name in temporary power and lighting, with a fleet of vehicles that turns up all over the country.
The vans and lorries bearing the Homan logo become a familiar sight, from shopping street to funfair ground. Look closely and you will even spot them at the Binnenhof in The Hague.
For decades Homan fills the shopping streets of the Netherlands with festive lighting. The Kalverstraat in 1963, the Christmas tree of lights on the facade of the Amsterdam Hilton, and countless shopping streets from The Hague to Tilburg.
The "light animals" in the Leidsestraat become legendary. The newspapers write about them: "Will the giraffe, the dachshund, the bear and the deer be back next year?" Every autumn the fitters climb the ladders, every spring they take everything down again.
In those days the company goes by "Fa. Homan", and one newspaper headline sums it up nicely: Homan concentrates on an illuminating task.
Wherever the funfair goes, Homan goes. Rides devour power: hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours a season. "The Tilburg funfair always generates some excitement", reads the headline, and that is precisely our trade.
From the Ferris wheel to the dodgems: generations of funfair operators have run on Homan generators and distribution boxes. That world of building up fast, running flat out and moving on again is in our blood to this day.
In 1991 Peter joins the business, the third generation. For eight years father and son work side by side. On 23 December 2005, Piet's 65th birthday, Peter officially takes over the company.
Under his leadership Homan becomes a leading name in the events industry. Sail Amsterdam, Parkpop, the Libelle Zomerweek, Dance Valley: Homan has played a part in almost every major event in the Netherlands.
Today Homan is back at its core: generator rental. The quietest, stabilised, sustainable on HVO50, and recently also the fastest, with quotes arranged in the blink of an eye.
Peter's sons work in the business, the fourth generation. A small team with 89 years of craftsmanship behind it. And with an eye to the future: hydrogen, battery storage and everything still to come.
About frogs in a wheelbarrow, the pandemic, Homan Solar and the course that had to change. Peter wrote down the personal story behind four generations himself.
Today we arrange your temporary power as naturally as we once did the festive lighting.