Monthly Archives: September 2015

Learning the construction business is important before you hop in

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When you are thinking of stepping into a dynamic business, you got to think twice before you do so. It is never easy to be stable in a dynamic business environment as you will keep getting new challenges every now and then and if you do not know how to deal with them, you got to end it there. Construction industry is one such dynamic industry that definitely has a lot to offer but at the same time, when it comes to taking things away, it becomes very harsh while it does that. There are numerous examples of individuals who have started their construction business but could not survive during the hard times. One needs to understand that this is a high competition business and in order to survive and move further in this business, one needs to learn the business well. Experience in running the business does matter a lot. You got to be with someone and understand how the business works. It is only after that that you can think of hopping in this industry.

Learning a bit about heavy equipment is a must:-

If you are in the construction business, it is important that you become friendly with the best friends of this industry. Heavy equipment are considered to be the best friend of the construction industry. You can’t operate a construction business without heavy equipment as you need them to complete your projects. Therefore, it is a must to learn a bit about the different types of construction machines available and used in this sector. Once you learn about the machine, you also need to know how often you need to service them and from where you can get the parts of the machine. Also knowing a good mechanic will always be helpful as you can turn to him for any sort of assistance to fix your machine.

Check the wages people are paid in this sector:-

Knowing the standard salary/wage rate that an employee gets in the construction company is also very crucial. The salary that you pay to an operator can’t be definitely paid to an engineer or an accountant or for that matter to a laborer. They are all paid different amounts as per the salary structure defined by the industry. Once you know that, you will also pay them accordingly. Not knowing that piece of information can lead underpaid operators and overpaid laborers. This will lead to major internal conflict within the company resulting in people leaving the company.

Experience matters a lot:-

In order to learn the business well, you should spend few years working in one such construction company. That will help you to understand how the business works, how to get clients and how to close the deal. A person who is a novice will not have a clue of how to grab a deal. Working in a construction company will help you learn lot than you can expect and then after having spent good number of years, you can think of beginning your own business.

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How to be a successful heavy equipment rental house

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It is not always necessary to get into a construction industry to become a successful person in that domain. You can join other spheres that are quite closely interconnected with the construction sector that has the potential to make you the man or woman you want to become. It can give you the success you have always desired for and prove to be a very rewarding business for you. All that you need to have is good contacts with people who want to give their heavy equipment on rent and then reach out to those segments who want to take those machines on rent. Or work like a company like B&R Equipment.  If you are able to qualify yourself in doing that work, things will become really easy for you and you will start making good sum of money month after month. So you need not have to step into the world of construction and still you get to make a good deal of money.

We will talk about few steps that are required to make it big in the heavy equipment rental house.

Remain in close contact of both the parties:-

In order to sustain in this form of business, you got to remain in close contact with both the parties. The one who want to rent his equipment and the other who want to take the stuff on rent should be in your close reach and you should be in a position to identify the wants of the taker and check if that goes correctly with the giver. It may be difficult for you to remember who wants what so it is recommended that you try to maintain a log or a data sheet that has the name, contact details and requirements of the taker. Then you can try to match it up with the heavy equipment the giver has in his possession. Once that is taken care, you only have to act as a bridge and let the 2 parties meet and decide if they want to go ahead with the deal.

Dealing with the paperwork will make life simple for both the parties:-

Once the deal is through, there involves few paperwork that needs to be taken care of. An agreement that has all the clauses in it should be signed by both the parties and if you take the onus to draft the agreement by charging a nominal price or doing it free of cost will only help you to get more businesses from them. Doing the agreement part is quite a hectic job and the parties involved in the transaction ideally want an expert to take care of this. So you have the opportunity to handle this one and gain the trust of both the giver and the taker.

Going online can be a huge hit:-

This is the internet age and people browse websites for every little thing that they want to know. So if you start up a rental company, the first thing you can do is advertise yourself on the internet and if possible also try to create a website that will act as a platform to both the parties to come and transact on your site.

Caterpillar D10T Bulldozer

Many construction companies get good projects after the giver sees the kind of bulldozers they possess. This only suggests the importance of bulldozers in the construction sector and the kind of impact it can have for getting projects. It has also been seen that big construction companies often outsource their work to small contractors and may lend them their heavy equipment. However, the big companies often prefer the contractors to have their own equipment so that they can use their heavy equipment for other projects. The sole reason of outsourcing their work to small contractors is that they can use their machines to complete the job.

So before they select the contractor to whom they can render the work, they prefer to check the kind of heavy equipment they possess and if they are quite an outdated piece of metal they would like to look for someone else. These big construction companies give a lot of importance to possessing quality bulldozers as they believe it to be one of the most important equipment required in a construction project. The bulldozers produced by Caterpillar are the most favored ones and there are few specific models that have left its imprint in the overall construction domain.

We would be talking in length about Caterpillar D10T bulldozers and its specifications.

The D10T dozer has a gross power of 646 hp. and a net power of 580 hp. which is quite phenomenal in its class. The power measured is at 1800 rpm and the displacement is 27 liters. The total number of cylinders it has is 12 and the aspiration is turbocharged. The operating weight of the machine is 66451 kg with a fuel capacity of 1204 liters. The cooling system fluid capacity, engine oil capacity, hydraulic fluid capacity and power train fluid capacity is 132 liters, 68 liters, 144 liters and 193 liters respectively. The operating voltage of the D10T dozer is 24 V with an alternator supplied amperage of 95 amps.

The number of forward and reverse gears available with this dozer is 3 and the maximum forward and reverse speed is 7.9 miles per hour and 9.8 miles per hour respectively. If we check the undercarriage of this machine, the ground contact area is 7326 in2 with a standard show size of 24 in and the total number of shoes per side is 44. The total number of track rollers per side is 8 and has a track pitch of 10.2 in. It has a hydraulic system pump type which is gear driven. The relief valve pressure is 2725 psi and the pump flow capacity is 107 gallon per minute.

Taking into consideration the standard blade, the width and height of the blade is 15.9 ft. in and 81 in respectively. The capacity of the blade is 24.2 yd3 and the cutting depth is 26.5 in. The length of the machine with and without blade is 30.4 ft. in and 17.5 ft. in respectively and the height of the machine till the top of the cab is 13.4 ft. in.

It is overall an ideal machine for small construction companies as well as for contractors as it is not a very expensive machine and moreover if you are lucky enough you can get further discounts resulting in paying less for it.

Looking for a stable and economical excavator – You should try Gradall

The one heavy equipment without which it would be unimaginable to work in a construction site is an excavator. An excavator is such heavy equipment that can be used for several purposes like its core work of excavating the earth, lifting the dirt and moving it from one place to the other and doing a lot of other things for which you may require some other equipment. If you have a big project in hand, you can’t think of doing it without the presence of an excavator. You need something very strong to dig the land and move all the earth to some other place. You can’t also afford to install another machine just to pick the dirt from the site. An excavator becomes really handy when it comes to performing dual work of excavating the land and taking the dirt away.

When we talk about an excavator, we also have to identify which company’s excavator should a person go for. There are several companies who are manufacturing wide range of excavators that meets the demand of the buyer But as every different person has a different need, they should understand that not all kind of excavators can fulfill their needs and therefore they should possibly do some research before coming down to the excavator they want to buy. People who are looking for a stable yet economical excavator can find Gradall as their best choice. The XL 4300 III model of Gradall can give you both stability and solid rock performance. The best part in this model is that the operator can work the machine in the front as well as in the back without using the outriggers. The option comes as a boon to the operators who are using conventional excavators as it needs to stop working to lower the outriggers.

The overall weight of the machine is around 43,580 pounds and has a horsepower of 173. The tilting boom and the telescoping capabilities of this model are indeed unparallel to many other models manufactured by other giant companies. It also does not go down on boom end power when it is working on jobs that require high productivity like removing the pavements, excavating a good piece of land, trenching and demolishing objects covering a huge area.

The tail swing of Gradall XL 4300 III is short and avoids unwanted traffic while it is working on highways making it a blue eyed candy machine for contractors. Other than this, it also offers loads of features to the man working inside the cabin of the machine. The cabin in fully air conditioned with a front window that is removable and also provides a switch to select the joystick patterns of Deere.

The machine can dig to a maximum of 21 feet which is pretty deep if you are working for a project that’s requiring you to build big buildings. The customer service of Gradall is better than most of the heavy equipment manufacturing companies. You won’t be waiting for someone to fix your problem if you have any. Someone will reach you sooner than you may expect.

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Growth in the world of heavy equipment

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The technology of heavy equipment is growing rapidly nowadays. No one can deny the fact that this development of science extremely useful in detecting any kinds of damages in the equipment regularly. By using the technology of global positioning satellite, one can check the condition of the constructional heavy equipment even if it is placed at a great distant from the observer. Picking out the right equipment for the construction site is becoming a great challenge with so much new models coming out in the market every year. The sellers are offering lots of options and interesting features which ultimately make this troublesome task quite interesting.

Equipment used in construction sites

Among the many heavy equipment available in the market, backhoe loaders are gaining a strong hold in the constructional site as they are used in small tasks of demolitions, breaking down of the asphalt, digging or excavating the holes, to power the building equipment, little transportation of material building and paving of the roads. To smash up rocks and huge chunks of concrete, many people use breaker tools in place of backhoe bucket. To get rid of the loads efficiently and quickly, some of the loader buckets contain a retractable bottom. This retractable bottom of the loader buckets are useful in scratching and grading off the sand. The front side of the bucket has some devices which is either permanently seated or can be removed whenever needed. Most of the times, other constructional tools replace the bucket. The backhoe loader must have a tool coupler to get various types of fastening to the loader.

Bulldozers are large sized heavy equipment and they can easily go over a course terrain because of the mobility and a strong hold of the ground provided by the big trucks. Bulldozers have swamp tracks which are only extra-broadened tracks.

Compressed hydraulic excavators have three unique collections of undercarriage, workgroup and house. The arm and the boom along with breaker and buckets comprise the workgroup of the hydraulic compact excavator. All of them are attached to front portion of the structure of the house of the excavator through an oscillating frame which will allow the workgroup to be pivoted hydraulically right or left to do balance digging needed for trenching.

Today, the harvesters do all the tasks related with commercial felling in Finland and Sweden. They clear their ways by cutting down the forests and can work more easily on smooth terrain. To thinning out the debris, small harvesters are used particularly in the Nordic countries.

Pile drivers also do a lot of work with two rods of metal containing a cylinder between them. This design makes it move freely with the up and down sliding. To remove the cylinders, workers make use of a pulley system. It also involves the use of hydraulics or steam. To lift the cylinders, small explosions are also sometimes made in the chamber.

All of these heavy equipment have their own applications. So, one has to choose the equipment carefully deciding what kind of job he is going to do.

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Practical experience is highly important when it comes to becoming an operator

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No wonder a formal education is an important aspect of everyone’s life but is that enough for us to learn everything that we want to or does that help us to become what we wanted to. Let’s say you want to become a doctor and nothing less than a heart specialist, will the bookish knowledge that you go through during the years of your study will make you a good heart specialist. The answer for this is most definitely a big NO. Though the subjects that you study in school or colleges always helps you in becoming what you want to but there is something more that needs to be done in order to achieve the goal of your life.

In order to become an able heart specialist, he need to do quite a lot of practical surgeries, of course under the guidance of senior doctors and then only he can see himself as a good heart surgeon in some day of his life. In the same way, if you aspire to become a heavy equipment operator gaining practical knowledge is very important to get a better understanding of the subject and to eventually shape up your career in becoming a competent heavy equipment operator.

Join a reputed training center/institution:-

First thing first, get yourself enrolled with a reputed training center that holds a good status of teaching students the “Everything” of heavy equipment. Well, if you want to become an operator, you may not need to learn everything but can select your zone. Once you have selected the area of your interest that is becoming an operator, you start taking lessons on it. It is important to check the admission criteria of the training center as they have set up different guidelines and you got to see if you fall fit in those guidelines. May be they might conduct a test checking if you have the competency to become an operator.

Co-relate the study materials with videos on internet:-

It has found that going through learning videos on internet can help you learn things quickly. All you have to do is study from the book and search for videos pertaining to what you have read in the book. In this way, you co-relate it with the teachings from the book which will help you to learn things quickly and in the most effective manner.

Make optimum use of site visits:-

The training centers/institutions do take their students on site visits where they can see people working on heavy equipment. This is the time when you can learn the most by asking direct questions to the operators working in site. If possible, you can also sit beside them and see how they are operating the machine. Be a keen observer at that point in time and feel free to ask any sort of question. Remember, no question is a dump question and you ask it because you do not know it. Therefore, keep on shooting questions and get your facts clear. If you are allowed also try your hand on the machine but under the strict guidance of the operator in charge.

Excavator an Effective Heavy Equipment used in Demolition, Clearing and Grading

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All construction sites need to undertake three activities in the development process which are considered to be quintessential. These three activities include Demolition, Clearing and Grading. With technology evolving drastically Excavators has proved to be reliable and effective heavy equipment in conducting the three activities of demolition, clearing and grading.

Demolition is the process of tearing-down of structure and buildings in a construction sites with the help of manually driving hydraulic equipment such as excavators.

Clearing is the process in which dirt, debris, vegetation cover and excessive materials are removed from the building site to make it conducive for development.

Grading involves construction work such as making improvements on roads, laying foundation for railways and land etc.

Excavator in Demolition Process

Excavators are used to collapse two stored buildings by a deterioration process. The plan is to involve destroying the building while controlling the method and direction the building collapses. The whole demolition task is undertaken by a project manager who decides where damage is essential to enable the building to be pulled out in the desired direction. The walls of the building are damaged at the foundation of the building, but this depends on the design of the structure which totally dictates the demolition process. Factors such as protection and cleaning activities are taken into considerations while demolishing that particular building.

Excavators with high reach demolition are more frequently used for collapsing lofty buildings since it is not suitable for explosive demolition. Excavators equipped with shear accessory are normally used to pull apart a structure made of steel. To bring dust under control fire hoses are used to sustain a demolition of a wet building. Hoses are used by the workers which are attached to lifts to increase height.

 

Big buildings may require the application of the wrecking balls which are found to be more effective against building material, but controlling the wrecking balls can be a complex task for the workers and a lot of time it is found to be less competent when compared to other demolition methods. Innovative methods make use of the revolving hydraulic shears as well as rock-breakers which are fixed to the excavators for the purpose of cutting and breaking through wood, solid and steel material. The application of shears becomes useful when flame cutting would become hazardous.

 

Excavator in Cleaning Process

 

Excavators provide housing and commercial land clearing services and removal of debris dirt. As we all know clearing the land of the construction site is one of the foremost steps for constructing our home and offices, so first of all you need to get rid of all dirt, debris and other excessive dust. With Excavators clearing becomes an easy task without consuming too much money and time.

Excavator in Grading process

Grading a construction site does not merely refer to pushing filth around. By grading the building site with the help of Excavator the contractors ensure the location is at the accurate level to guarantee proper flow of the water. Grading helps in making right base of the building.

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Caterpillar D9T Bulldozer

The role of a bulldozer is quite eminent in the construction and mining industry. It is needed more at sites where there is an existing structure that needs to be demolished. You need a big dozer to maul that down and a company that has been producing dozers for years can make a big difference when it comes to manufacturing big heavy dozers. Caterpillar is one such company that has pioneered in making bulldozers and is known for making real tough machines. It is not just known for high quality dozers but is also renowned for manufacturing other forms of heavy equipment that is required in day to day construction activities. Having said this, they simply specialize in manufacturing dozers. They try to know the changing needs of the customers and give their shot in producing as per the customer’s expectations.

CAT has introduced D9T dozers which has achieved accolades from millions of people from all over the world. Talking about its specifications, it is a C18 ACERT model having a gross power of 464 hp and a net power of 410 hp. The power is measured at 1800 rpm and has a displacement of 1106 cu in. The operational weight of the machine is 47900 kg and the fuel capacity is 889 litres. The cooling system fuel capacity, engine oil capacity, hydraulic fluid capacity and power train fluid capacity are 104 litres, 38 litres, 89 litres and 164 litres respectively. The operating voltage of this piece of metal is 24 V with alternator supplied amperage of 95 amps.

If we check the transmission we see the type as Power Shift with 3 forward and reverse gears. The maximum forward speed is 7.3 mph and maximum reverse speed is 8.9 mph. The ground pressure of the machine is 16.1 psi and the ground contact area is around 6569 in2 with a standard show size of 24 in. The number of shoes it has on each side is 43 and the total number of track rollers it has on each side is 8. The track pitch is 9.4 in and the track gauge is 7.4 ft in. It has been fitted with hydraulic pump system that has a relief valve pressure of 5875 psi and the pump flow capacity is 101 gallon per minute.

The total width of the standard blade is 14.3 ft in, height is 6.4 in. It has a capacity of 17.7 yd3 and a cutting depth of 23.9 in. Moving to the dimension of the machine, the total length with and without the blade is 21.8 ft in and 16.1 ft in respectively. The total height of the cab is around 12.5 ft in and the length of the track on ground is 11.4 ft in with a ground clearance of 2 ft in.

Caterpillar has made sure that the price of the dozer should be within the reach of most of the customers and that they should not find it unaffordable to buy. Therefore, if one is looking for a bulldozer, they should definitely check the specification of this machine and check if that suits their requirements. Most it will fit in their budget and should not be hard for them to buy it.

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Hassle a newbie encounters for setting up his construction company

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Establishing a business of any form has never been easy for a newbie especially when you do not know anybody from your family doing it or anyone who can probably help you in setting up your business. Guys who inherit the businesses of their fathers may not have to go through a great deal of ordeal than people who have absolutely nobody and will be do everything on their own. Apart from this, life gets tougher when somebody ventures into an industry like construction where there is too much of cut throat competition existing and people are eying to snatch away whatever little project you have got.

We will be talking in detail about the different kinds of problems a newbie can encounter during his journey in setting up his own construction company.

In absence of knowledge, people may take you on a ride:-

If you are dealing with something that you do not have much of an idea, there are high chances that people will take you for a ride. It is quite evident that you may not know everything related to your business and at times you have to depend on an expert to help you on an issue. But it is important to know a bit of everything so that in case if someone is trying to play nasty with you, you can get a hint of it and play wisely.

Have a concrete strategy:-

When you are in the phase of building your construction company, it is very important that you lay down a strong strategy and then take relevant actions to walk on it. It will be equal to walking in the dark without a solid plan and often you may encounter troubles. Apart from this, the one who gives you’re the projects are also keen to know about any sort of plans that you have laid down to complete the project.

Getting the right sort of heavy equipment:-

Heavy equipment play a crucial role in building your construction company and possessing the right sort of equipment will help you to complete your projects on time. So it is important to know which construction equipment is needed by you for a given project and how can you acquire it. Construction equipment are highly expensive materials and you can’t simply afford to invest your money in buying something that may not be useful for your existing project. Alternatively, if you can manage to know the estimated duration a project may take to complete, you can just rent the machine rather than spending a fortune in buying them.

Make sure your financial position is not weak:-

You can set up your construction company if only your finances are in place and you can spend money to buy stuffs that are essential to carry on a project. In case, you see that you may not be able to afford for something that is vital for your business, make sure you will be able to manage to avail loans from some financial institution. Knowing your financial status is a must as it plays a huge role in shaping up the future of your business.

Two Ways to Differentiate Your Service Contracting Business from the Competition

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As the Information Technology has made the service contracting business reach the mass at a rapid rate, it has become very important for every owner of service contracting business to stand out in the competition. Only providing top-notch quality service is not enough, one has to become a good learner of the market strategies to globalise his service contracting business.  The two most important ways to differentiate your service contracting business from the competition is to use the social media like Facebook, Twitter and Linked In and listen to your customer with great care.

This article will define the above said two points to improve your service contracting business.

  • Use of Social Media:- Social media is the best source to reach the people. By using social media you can share the views of your customers and also tell them about the services which your company offer. You can use this media to inform the people about your service contracting business and why should they opt for you. A survey on the number of users of social media shows that nearly 1.7 million people use Facebook (leaving aside the surveys on other social media). Social media sites give opportunity to the users to communicate with other such service contracting business owners. And if the owners add you in their circles then you can also get some latest information about how they are trying to satisfy the customers by delivering services. This will definitely help you a lot. Account with more number of likes always attracts more traffic. If you have more number of likes, then people will visit your website and if they require any kind of service they will contact you either through email or phone. The increase in the number of likes in a social media makes the customer believe that it is trust worthy.
  • Carefully listen to your customer: In order to attain success in service contracting business, you have to listen carefully to your customer. Find out in which field they need your service. Ask them the deadline of delivering that service. Don’t delay in providing customer service and try to give them some offers or discounts to attract the customer. Try to give the customer quality service. If you give them quality service and that too within an affordable price the customer will definitely stay with you in the long run. Give good training to the customer service provider personnel isn’t a bad idea. If they are properly trained then they will make no faults while servicing. Even when your contract period with the customer is over, call them (though less frequently) to know the condition of the product. And if they make any complaints regarding the service then try to fix it and assure them that it will not happen again in future and you are really feeling very sorry for it.

 

Apart from this building an attractive website, giving online and offline ads, and an arrangement of weekly fun staff meeting where you can discuss about various steps required to take your service contracting business to the top are some other points which cannot be ignored.