HAGI 

Nail guns, drills, jigsaws and jigsaws are close examples of common accessories for most craftsmen. In order to ensure the utmost safety in the handling of such devices, they are often tightly stored in specially designed bags with the brand of the manufacturer in a prominent place. One of these familiar brands is HILTI, which takes its name from the German mechanical engineer Martin Hilti, who in 1941 founded a small workshop in his own name in the city of Schaan in the small state of Liechtenstein. The development of the operation then became such that HILTI transformed into a large-scale manufacturer of a wide range of power tools and today has operations in almost all countries.

Since the early sixties, the HILTI agency in Iceland has been in the hands of Óskar G. Sigurðsson's family. Today the company is run under the name HAGI ehf. and is based in a spacious building at Stórhöfði 37 in Reykjavík. There is a shop, machine rental and workshop. The company has seven full-time employees.

The beginning

Óskar G. Sigurðsson was born in Reykjavík in 1939 and grew up in Þingholt. His wife is Sóley Sigurjónsdóttir (1938) but they married in 1959. Their children are Ragnhildur, Birna, Sigurjón, Óskar and Kristján Ingi and they have all worked for the company for a long or short time. Today, Kristján Ingi is the managing director of HAGI ehf.

The beginnings of organized import and sale of products from HILTI can be traced back to the year 1962. In the same year Óskar G. Sigurðsson established an agency and wholesale business with his stepfather Björn G. Björnsson (1905-1999) but he had a successful career as one owner and CEO of the Swedish-Icelandic cold store at Arnarhóll. Agency and wholesale of Björn G. Björnsson sf. was at Skólavörðustígur 3a. The business consisted of importing, repackaging and wholesale of household utensils and gift items from Japan.

In June 1963, a small advertisement appeared in Morgunblaðið to the effect that the Danish company Nordisk Trading wanted an "agent to sell, for percentage points, some good production items for the wood and construction industry". The father and son struck and thus marked the beginning of the rapid spread of electrical equipment from HILTI in Iceland. The business became very prosperous at an early age and soon shook the Japanese household utensils. At the beginning of 1968, Óskar and Björn decided to focus exclusively on HILTI and moved their operations to a specially equipped garage at their home at Freyjugata 43. The first imported electrical appliances were simple drills and new-fashioned nail guns, which in those days were advertised as "fast-moving". and concrete "but the company's main slogan was this catchy phrase" It all starts with HILTI ". The increased activity of the business in the seventies would then make its way out of the garage and into a specially designed commercial building by Ármúlinn, first in house number 23 and then in number 26.

The progress

At the beginning of the eighties, Óskar G. Sigurðsson bought the share of his stepfather, Björn G. Björnsson, and his mother, Ragnhildur Kristjánsdóttir Björnsson, in the agency and wholesale store. With these asset changes, the company's name was changed to Hilti hf. and its operations moved to Skeifun 3, where the residence was for 12 years. At that time, the company operated the largest machine rental in the country.

In 1993, the company HAGI ehf. founded by the parents Óskar and Kristján. As a direct consequence, housing at Malarhöfði 2 was rented and later purchased.

High quality products - Reliable service

The current headquarters of HAGI ehf, at Stórhöfði 37, was taken into use in 2006. There is a very spacious exhibition hall there, which houses the cross section of HILTI's diverse product range, as its installation is according to the parent company's standard. The hall has a huge selection of tools that are designed to work their way through concrete, steel or wood in one way or another. These are, for example, nail guns, screwdrivers, core drills, grinding wheels, jigsaws, diamond saws and jigsaws, to name but a few. There are also various related products such as general carpentry tools, masonry, pipe hangers and building angles. All devices from HILTI are marked with "Lifetime service". This means that the user is entitled to 1-2 years of free maintenance and a lifetime factory warranty, in addition to which he does not have to cover the full repair costs in the event of a serious failure. A free loan on a similar device is offered during the repair. HAGI ehf. offers, in addition to the aforementioned products from HILTI, products for fire seals, laser measurements, industrial vacuum cleaners, battery drills, etc.

In addition to the HILTI product line, HAGI ehf. opened a 260m² workwear and safety goods store next to the HILTI store. It offers workwear and safety products from world-renowned manufacturers such as Honeywell, Snickers Workwear, Hellberg, UVEX, Miller and many more.