Monthly Archives: February 2015

Best Options for Leasing Heavy Equipment for Construction Industry

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With the increase in construction projects the demand for leasing construction equipment has also increased tremendously. Construction industry is labour intensive as well as capital intensive. The contractors also need to use complex and diverse equipment such as Tractors, Excavators, and Loaders etc. Construction activities are numerous and diverse. Contractors have to manage and bring all the factors of production together such as land, labor, capital etc. Cost of all construction projects is an important factor .The contractors nave to control the budget and coordinate competent project supervision. Construction equipment are costly and the maintenance and repairing costs are also high. Specific heavy equipment requires qualified and skilled operators. Smaller contractors face financial constraints to buy heavy equipment since their budget is fixed. Bigger contractors lease or rent heavy equipments to be cost effective and also get the appropriate equipment for construction purposes.

Leasing is a lucrative option for both large and small contractors to cut down their expenses in construction projects. But there are several factors to consider before leasing heavy equipment.

 

Capital: When a contractor, project manager purchases new heavy equipment, they need to find out what are the best options available to them. The heavy equipment tend to decrease in value with daily wear and tear. So instead of making huge investments in buying them it is the best option to lease the heavy equipments to conserve money for unforeseen needs.

Equipment Supervision: Another factor to consider before leasing heavy equipment is equipment supervision. Heavy equipment such as scraper, cranes, excavators, loaders, rigging equipment are very costly. You need proper maintenance as well as dexterous operators to run them well. You may also require utilizing the professional operators to supervise the equipments and legalize their use.

Government Strategy: Government policies are important to consider before leasing heavy construction equipment. The government has laid down certain safety and security instructions regarding the superiority of the machines to be used in the construction site.

In the case of leasing, a contractor can ask for subtraction for the full price of the heavy equipment from the taxable earnings. Capital grants can be asked for the total price of the assets if you are leasing it for a time period of more than 5 years. In certain cases time period of 7 years is mandatory.

Wrap Lease: This leasing contract allows the contractors to merge some lease payments into a single, usual payment. This is an appropriate option for those building contractors who need to lease heavy equipment all of a sudden. Leasing combines their outstanding expenses and they can use it to invest in leasing new heavy equipment. This is extremely useful for those building contractors who are undertaking colossal and complex construction projects with volatile requirements and difficulties.

Fair Market Value Lease: Fair Market Value Lease is an extremely vital factor when you are considering leasing heavy building equipment. This option is beneficial in that case where there will be a fast decline in the value of the equipment due to usual wear and tear as a result of constant daily use. The repairing costs can be high too. These days a number of leasing companies are supplying services of expert workforce at no cost for performing maintenance and repairing work.

So leasing heavy equipment can be can be tricky task. Several factors have to be kept in mind before you make your decision to lease it. The article will give you all the information you need before leasing.

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Keep Away from Compact Heavy Equipment Interval with Industrious Precautionary Sustenance

As a construction business possessor, you know it very well that during the situation of downtime, the income generation graph suddenly stops rising. The poor performance of the heavy equipment makes you frustrated and at time if there is no technician to repair the heavy construction equipment, the matter becomes the worst. To curb out the construction firm owners from this crisis situation, application of defensive maintenance plan is considered to be the best method.

The ability to protect the bulky construction paraphernalia and its durability completely counts on the effective preventive sustenance plan. This maintenance scheme comprises of three chief factors that are increasing the awareness of sustenance trends, ensuing the suggested downtimes and foreseeing wear and evaluate the business requirements appropriately with equipment competences. If the heavy equipment owners give their entire focus on these above-mentioned three elements, then their equipment will never have to face the problem of troubleshooting. Read the following discussion thoroughly and get to know the importance of industrious precautionary maintenance plan for your heavy construction equipment.

Consider Aptitudes

The heavy construction equipment industry connoisseurs consider that the initial step to enhance the proactive introduction to sustenance is examining how you will utilize the loader or compact excavator and scrutinising particular ability ranges. For instance, if you want to use an excavator for digging the ground, first it is important for you to determine the depth of the dig and have to understand the quality of the ground. On the other hand, when you want to accomplish your construction job with loader, you are required to know the weight of the lifting material. When the equipment is owed to task, the operators sometimes have to face an underperforming mechanism which may require recurrent repair.

Predict Wear

It is sensible for the operators to be acquainted with the sustenance section of the equipment’s function and maintenance instruction booklet. If any machinist has no manual with him/her, she/he gets the chance to read the digital format of that guidebook by ordering it online. This e-instruction booklet informs the drivers of the heavy equipment about the sustenance intervals. In majority of the instruction booklets, the operators can see that the maximum time duration is 8 to 10 hours. This routine maintenance plan helps the operators to keep the features of the equipment in proper conditions like filters, lubricants and fluids. Usually, wear happens on field-engaging pieces and the technician should change it with the new ones when productivity begins to decrease.

Improve Knowledge

The owners of the heavy construction equipment should attain knowledge about emission policies and the allied maintenance needs. Nowadays, most of the bulky construction apparatuses are equipped with varied echelons of emission acquiescent machines. Therefore, it is very much significant for the equipment possessors and operators to know about the provisional Tier 4 and Tier4 tools. The need of lubricant in the modern heavy equipment is different from the old versions. The other components that vary from the outdated heavy construction equipment are diesel particulate filters, diesel oxidation catalysts, high pressure common rail fuel injection method etc.

Finally, it can be said that prevention is better than cure. The more effort the heavy construction equipment owners give for evaluating the capability of the apparatuses, pursuing suggested sustenance downtimes, foreseeing wear charges and grabbing modern trends directly, the more business productivity they will experience.

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Advice for young people starting their career in construction industry

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Construction industry is like any other industry where people do not want competition. It is only because if you have more people getting into this industry, the chances of the people getting projects becomes slimmer and therefore when you see a new guy making his way in, he will be welcomed with many obstacles. Creation of obstacles is obvious as others see him as another competitor and therefore tries to make things difficult for him. However, if he decides to keep his foot firm on the ground, then he may get someone who would be ready to help him with advices on how he can establish his business in the volatile market.

Few pointers one must keep in mind before he decides to set his foot in the construction domain.

Overall knowledge about the industry:-

It is absolutely not advisable to enter an industry without knowing anything about it. It is almost like entering inside a dark cave without a torch in your hand. You never know what will apprehend you next. Therefore, it will be prudent if a person works his way out and understand how the industry works and few tricks of the trade if not all. Other than this, it is very difficult to determine when you are ready for the job. You may have not know much about the domain but with the available knowledge you may feel that you have learned a lot and are now ready to take the plunge. But when you indeed take the plunge, you may find yourself in the middle of nowhere. Hence, it is very important to take time and learn things patiently. Get to know as many things as possible and ask people questions. Not everybody will be in a position to answer all your questions but you should not stop till you get your questions answered.

Try to gain some experience by working with a construction company:-

Sons and daughters of construction company owners who want to make a career in the same industry and like to carry on with the legacy that their father has left for them, they prefer working in their company and gain some experience out of it. But not everyone can be so fortunate to have born with a golden spoon in his/her mouth. Most of us have to make our own way in setting up our own business. For them, it is advisable to give few years of their life working in some construction company and learning the tricks of the trade. It takes time to learn things for which people have to patient enough. If you spend enough time and learn most of the things needed to open a company of your own, you have cleared the most difficult level.

Check your financial stability:-

While you are establishing your business in the construction industry, you just can’t ignore your financial stability. Setting up a new business requires lot of money to be invoked into it. Therefore, knowing your financial position is another important criteria that you can’t afford to miss.

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Boost Your Career with Heavy Equipment Operating Jobs

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Are you looking for a heavy equipment operating job? Have you done any course on weighty equipment function? If the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’, then here in the following the readers will get to know the detailed information about the responsibilities of a heavy equipment machinist. Heavy construction paraphernalia operators utilize hefty machineries for instance cranes, forklifts and bulldozers on the construction site.

Due to the augmentation in the number of construction and mining industries, the recruitment of the heavy equipment machinists has increased a lot. It is an excellent opportunity for the youngsters who have just completed their training course on heavy equipment operation. The mining and construction firms always want to hire that applicant who has the capability to run the mechanism effectively and safely.

Opportunities for the Heavy Equipment Operators

The heavy equipment machinists get various types of mechanisms to exhibit their aptitude like snow blowers, compactors, graders, dozers, front-end loaders, trucks etc. They should have not only the capacity to employ a mechanism safely, but also have to sustain, unsoiled and secure all paraphernalia as fixed by the strides, legislation and guiding principles of the heavy equipment manufacturers. The drivers must have the talent to handle the residents and the members of the public in a reverential and chivalrous style. This also involved tackling the grievances about agendas and levels and quality of the amenity. In this type of situation, the operant should note the complaints properly and respond to the customers in a respectful manner.

Educational Qualification Required in Heavy Equipment Driving Jobs

The heavy equipment drivers ought to take lessons on motorized drawing, science, automobile mechanics, and high school computer knowledge so as to prepare for the task they might have to perform on the site. In the apprenticeship course, they get to know the procedures of operating specific machineries. Furthermore, there are some automobile mechanical engineering institutions where associate degrees or certificate programs are proffered to the trainees. This certificate helps the candidates a lot in their interview sessions. In United States and Canada, loads of engineering colleges provide official classroom teaching to the heavy equipment drivers. Besides offering training, they also give knowledge to the apprentices about the safety and precaution guidelines.

Responsibilities of a Heavy Equipment Operator

The job of the heavy equipment operator is challenging and physically arduous. Their duty has to control, pull and elevate the parts of the heavy equipment. It is essential for them to have the capability to work in any climatic condition. Here are some of the responsibilities that an operator must inherit in him/her.

  • The equipment driver should maintain and check the machine regularly.
  • He/she should counsel the Public Works Foreman in repairing any parts of the bulky apparatus.
  • The drivers should carry out maintenance service of the equipments in pre-winter, winter, spring and summer season.

Furthermore, the heavy machinists should have knowledge about the snow removal devices. They must employ equipments that are used for levelling roads and ensuring apposite drainage. Stress management, time management and problem solving skills are some of the qualities that the interviewers want to see in a heavy equipment operator. So why waiting? If you have all these qualities, then immediately apply for the heavy equipment operator jobs.

Use equipment tracking system to protect your site

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Are you going to start your own company? If yes, then you must be aware with useful strategies that help you to run your business. Without following the important as well as essential strategies you cannot get success. Well, in case of construction sites, it is really important to give your full attention on your site. You should always be very careful about your machines, workers and other related things of your site. It is your responsibility to take care of your heavy equipment. It is not easy to work with such heavy machines. It takes huge time as well as money. So, you should know all those things that can reduce your profit margin. If you cannot maintain these machines properly then the machines can face many problems. These small damages can turn small issues into major fault. Therefore, check the machines properly and remember wrong billing, unnecessary idling can make you huge fuel cost.

Well, when you are going to do business then you should always be aware with your profit and loss. It is very important to manage profit for business to establish it properly and take it to the next level. There are many easier way that can help you to increase your productivity and help you to get more profits. If you can manage to give you 100% attention and full concentration on your job then it is not so difficult to choose the right equipment tracking system for your business. It is your responsibility to find out the proper devices that can help to track down and monitor solution for the business. If you are going to work with forklift then it is very important to know how to work with it and efficiently it can work for you.

You need to track the usages of useful equipment. As you work with a number of machines then may be for sometimes you do not use one of them and keep it aside. Then it becomes very difficult to track for how many days the equipment is not in use. However, by following a continuous monitoring over equipment give an idea of such things. It also allows you to reduce the fuel costs and assure that the proper and prolonged maintenance is not missed for a single day. You can get the information on fluid levels, error codes and temperatures by using the equipment tracking system.

As many workers work in a construction site, so there are high risks of theft and other similar things. If you stop using a machine for a while then you can lost it as well. Therefore, if you can use the equipment tracking system then it can track down the records of all your machines. Equipment tracking helps to track down the detail of the equipment that is in use and not in use. To protect your site you should definitely take help of such system

Winters may cause immense health hazards to construction workers

Places where it snows are not conducive for construction industry to flourish. But it does not mean that the construction industry will not flourish at all at such places. If it snows throughout the year then it is a grave concern for this industry to set its foot in. However, if it is only during the winters that it snows and for the rest of the year, it becomes conducive for the industry to thrive then that will really help. We all know how immensely difficult it is to take care of heavy equipment and also to work on a project during the cold weather but less care has been given to the fact that it also takes a toll on the construction workers who find it all the more difficult to work in a rough weather and with very limited help from machines.

During winters, heavy equipment tend to stop working which means that the construction workers will have to put their efforts and try to get the work done. At times, it may not be possible for them to finish a job without the use of equipment. In such case, it becomes a loss to the company. In situations like these, companies tend to risk the life of the workers by pressuring them to work overtime in difficult work conditions. The workers have to work on snow or ice and have high risk of slipping while working. They may cause severe damage to themselves. It is therefore very important for the construction companies as well as the workers to follow the correct safety parameters while working in snow. By following these parameters, they will only save their as well as their colleagues lives.

Check if the brakes and other vital parts of the equipment are in order:-

Before you start with your day, it is very important to check if the brakes, horn and other important parts of the equipment are in order. Once the operator is sure that everything is in place, he should carry on with the work. In case if he finds any issues, it is advisable that he get that sorted first and then starts off with the day’s work. Any negligence on his part can cost the company as well as the worker dearly.

Ensure that all the workers wear their safety accessories:-

In many of the occasions, workers skip wearing their safety accessories assuming that they will be safe and wearing those stuffs will be time consuming. Calamity does not knock the door before arriving. It just strikes you and workers should understand this important part. More importantly, the supervisor on the construction site should take the responsibility that all the workers are equipped with complete safety accessories and that there is an emergency team active at the site. Just in case, if there is an emergency situation, the team will be able to deal with it.

Report anything that you find to be dangerous:-

Construction workers should report anything that they find to be dangerous. This will help to save the life of many other workers who may not know about the danger on the site.

Forums on Heavy equipment can turn out to be very helpful

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Heavy equipment in itself sound to be a heavy word and is more complex if one gets into the skin of it. It is not that one will not be able to understand it completely but it requires good deal of patience and determination to understand the subject completely. It is therefore people take up just one subject out of the ocean of knowledge and master it. They have simply come to know that it is not practically possible for them to go through all the stuffs and know them all. As a result of this, they choose to take a leaf from the tree and study it all. It has been often seen that individuals have to go through an entire blog just to understand some simple concept. They may not require reading the entire article but having to do so in order to search the answer they are looking for. What may come handy in such a situation is to put their question in a forum and wait for someone who knows about the subject to answer it. Instead of going through the entire blog or article, just putting the question on the forum can give you as many answers that you may have not even imagined to get.

What kind of people can make use to these forums? Well, it seems we all are imperfect in some way or the other and though we may master in a subject but practically we still may not know everything about it. Hence, we all need forums and especially for a complex subject like heavy equipments we definitely need one. However, the magnitude of help may differ from individual to individual. For instance, a person with zero knowledge of heavy equipment may ask all sorts of questions under the sun to quench his/her thirst for learning. Simultaneously, a person who may look for specific answer also will find it immensely helpful.

Let’s talk about how forums can turn out to be helpful to newbie. People who have the zeal to learn about heavy equipment should ideally explore the internet to know few basic things. No one likes to answer basic questions. People ideally have the belief that forums are meant for amalgamation of views from people possessing specific knowledge about the subject. In other words, they want to answer complex questions which cannot be easily found on the internet. Though forums are not meant to answer complex questions and readers have the right to ask any question that they seek an answer to. So people with little or no knowledge can also join a forum and check number of questions posed by different readers and upgrade their knowledge.

Forum is also a medium to connect people across the industry. Right from a heavy equipment operator to an engineer everybody gets the opportunity to come under one roof and talk on a given subject. They can all share their ideas and views pertaining to the question. Forums can make life really simple for everybody who is related to whatever fields.

Heavy Equipment safety topics

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Heavy equipment is considered as one of the most important component in the construction industry. It not only termed to be important because of its utility in the construction arena but also it is far safer than the traditional ways of working in a construction site. When we talk about safety, there are 2 types of safety that comes in our mind. Firstly, the safety to the equipment and the second is safety to the people around. A construction company does not want to take any sort of risk on the site pertaining to the safety of the people and also wants the machines to work without any glitches.

We would be talking about what are the general steps that a company or an individual can take to ensure that the machine is in order.

Maintenance is the key:-

You just can’t expect the equipment to work all day for you without you bothering to service them once in a month. There are lot of things that needs to be checked in a machine every day before you start your work. There are some very basic things that you need to pay attention. Things like if the brakes are functioning properly, check the levers are in order, check if the engine is making noise before it starts and things thereon. Apart from that, you also need to keep a note on when was the last time you gave the machine for maintenance. Check if the engine oil was changed then and if all the parts were well lubricated. These are again few basic things that you need to keep in record while dealing with the safety of the machine.

Hire experienced operators:-

If you are a novice and are required to operate a machine which you do not understand a thing, please do not lay your hands on it. It is recommended that you hire an experienced operator who understands the equipment and can get the work done for you. If at all you feel that you know how the machine works but need little guidance, then you can always refer to the training guide that will direct you to use the machine properly. Don’t hire operators who are not confident with the equipment or have never operated on the machine before.

Wear safety accessories before you start your work:-

Many people simply skip wearing their safety accessories. They find it to be unnecessary and endanger their lives. Fatality does not knock the door before arriving and you can’t be so sure that you won’t commit any mistake that will lead to an accident. The safety accessories are a must to the operators. They should wear things like work gloves, sturdy shirt trousers and footwear that is primarily meant for doing such work, reflective vests etc.

Hand signals are a must:-

This is applicable when there are ground workers on the site. Extreme care needs to be taken to ensure that you do not bump off with any worker on site. Therefore, the operator as well as the worker should know the hand signals.

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How does your heavy construction equipment handle the cold weather?

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Heavy construction equipment are usually tough machines and they are able to work under tremendous hostile weather conditions. But at times, especially during cold weathers, they come across a lot of complications that result in nonperformance of the equipment. Construction industry is a billion dollar industry and nonperformance of the heavy equipment for a single day means a lot to the industry. They may incur huge loss if the machines cease to work for a day or two. Therefore, it becomes very crucial to keep the machines in check throughout the year and when it is winter time, pay extra care to it.

We would be discussing as to what care an owner should take to protect its machine from cold weather and keep it working throughout the year.

Regular oiling to keep the machine lubricated:-

Heavy equipment majorly work in rough terrain and external dust particles are bound to enter the machine through various entry points. It may not be possible for anybody to keep a check on those entry points and fill them up so that the dust particles do not find a place to enter. Understanding the situation, it is imperative that the machine is kept lubricated all the time. This will not allow the dust particles to stay at the place for long and will easily slip away. Having said that, it is also important to clean the machine once or twice in every month. Apart from this, during cold weathers, the oil gets condensed and finds it difficult to flow inside the engine valve. In such a situation, regular changing of engine oil will help to keep the machine in good health. So, during winter, we may have to change the engine oil and also lubricate the machine more often than we used to do it in other seasons.

Ensure that the brakes are in order:-

Most of the times we pay a lot of attention to important things and skip stuffs that we believe are not so important. Same goes in the case of heavy equipment. We may give lot of importance to the maintenance and servicing part of the equipment but at times, we fail to check the brakes of the machines. According to experts, checking the brakes is the first thing to be done before you begin your work. Majority of accidents happen due to brakes not functioning properly and at the right time. It not only causes damage to the machine but may also become fatal to the workers working on the site. Checking if the brakes fluid is at the proper level should be considered as a priority. Only when you are sure that the brakes are in good condition that you should start your work.

Check if the electrical systems are in order:-

Checking the electrical system is also an important part to ensure that the machine is in good health. The battery should be fully charged and the connections should be proper. It should not happen that while you’re working with the equipment, you press the button and it cease to work. It may only lead you into trouble.

 

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Safety norms can’t be ignored in a construction site

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Construction industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and like every big industry it also has areas that can create trouble for the owner of the business. This industry has many such areas but it seems that people have learned how to tackle them effectively and continue running the business. However, there is one such thing that recurs in spite of several steps taken by the governing body. The area is “Safety”. When we talk about Safety, it is not only limited to the safety of the people working in the site but also relates to the heavy equipment that are working along with the men. There have been several safety norms laid by companies but still accidents are bound to happen. At times, it is beyond our control but most of the time, it is within our reach. So how can something that we try to avoid safety happen so often. It is perhaps we tend to get over confident on ourselves and somehow believe that nothing is going to happen and therefore see no use of following the safety norms. This is where we lose our focus from one of the most important aspect that this industry relies on.

Wearing helmets while inside the construction site:-

We may skip to do something as simple as wearing helmets inside the construction site. While we enter the site, we probably do not see any danger but danger does not give a call before coming. A small piece of stone falling from the 20th story building can drill your head leading to serious injuries and you never know if the accident will happen to you or not. Therefore, skipping the most generic part of safety is for sure asking for trouble.

Hire qualified and experienced operators:-

We all want to save money but certainly not at the cost of our or someone else’s lives. What happens when you hire an operator who is not qualified to operate the equipment you want him to work on or for that matter you yourself want to see how it feels to be inside the cab. A wrong push of the lever and a major accident is on its way. You are not supposed to play around with things that are of so much importance. If you want to learn things, learn it from the right person. Hire a qualified and experienced operator. Even if you have to pay more to him, please do so. At least you will be assured that your men and machines will be safe.

Don’t allow the operator to do overtime:-

You may have lot of work to finish on the site for which you need the operator to work overtime. A couple of occasions of overtime are fine but do not make it a habit. Remember, operators are humans and not machines and they need proper sleep or else if they go drowsy at work.

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