Monthly Archives: August 2017

Kevin Cook Heavy Equipment Guy

Mini excavators work efficiently in small projects and smaller space

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A mini excavator or compact excavator is used for digging or demolition works in construction projects or as a part of repair and maintenance. Mini excavators are specially manufactured for comparatively smaller projects but these machineries need expert hands for flawless and safe operation. Mini excavators are available with different attachments meant for digging and demolition. A mini excavator comes with a small cab where the controller sits comfortably for driving and controlling the machine. These days, highly sophisticated electronics devices are used for maneuvering and controlling the machine. Mini excavators either have wheels or tracks.

What kinds of jobs require mini excavators?

A mini or compact excavator can accomplish a multiple of tasks, some of which are as follows:

    • Digging Holes on the ground, walls, or hills
    • Digging ponds, or reservoirs
    • Demolishing a small structure
    • Removing concrete or natural obstacles
    • Removing snow from the road or garden
    • Creating trenches
    • Removing debris
    • Digging irrigation channels
  • Cleaning drains
  • Flattening uneven landscape

 

Mini excavator models possess different benefits and they are specialized in handling different types of projects. Before, buying or hiring such machinery, the user needs to think about the availability of space, and type of job where the machine will be employed.

Types of mini excavators

Two types of mini excavators are available in the market:

Tail swing excavators – These excavators are popular for their greater lifting capacity, and arm breakout force, comfortable cabs, and easy to control option. The rear counterweight is specially designed to provide more stability to the whole system while excavating or lifting theweight. The machine requires some extra space for movement, so it is not suitable for a narrow area.

Zero-tail swing excavators – As the name suggest, this machine is just suitable for a narrow area. Its counterweight moves within the width of the excavator making it adjustable in a small space and keeping thefocus of the operator just on the job. The maintenance expenses of this excavator are also lower than tail swing excavators.

Zero-tail swing excavators have become more demanding than the traditional mini excavators as they are easily operable in urban and populated areas. As the counterweight radius is minimized within the width of the machines there remains less chance of damage to other properties.

Attachments for mini excavators

These machinery are extremely useful as the users can apply these in different works with different kinds of attachments like buckets, chuck blades, rippers, blades, grippers, grapples, and much more. Again, each of these attachments has different specifications which are used in different situations. For example, buckets have a multiple of categories like digging buckets, tilting buckets, tilting buckets, rotary tilting buckets, etc. and grapples have categories like rotating lock grapples, rock grapples, wood processing grapples, etc.

For an efficient use of a mini excavator, the operator needs to be trained on this machine. Otherwise, work hour and quality of work may be lost and damage of property or other kinds of accidents may occur. Mini excavators are optimally expert in multiple jobs where promptness and expenses matter a lot.

 

Nothing can compete the CAT M series Motor Grader

The importance of a motor grader can never be ruled out in a big construction site. You will get to see a lot of debris lying all around the site and it becomes difficult for workers to move around the site amid of those debris. In situation like this, it becomes crucial for the construction company to deploy machines that are capable of moving the debris and load them on a truck. If the debris is lying at a place for good number of days it becomes all the more difficult for heavy equipment to move it. This is where the role of a motor grader comes into picture. With the help of the blade that is attached at the bottom of the machine it can break away the hard mud and carry it to the truck. Moreover it has those claws that are attached to the end of the machine and it exclusively used to break down the mud.

Introducing the M series Motor grader, Cat has brought in a revolution in the construction and heavy equipment manufacturing industry. People who were not CAT brand lovers moved to CAT as they found the extra bit what was missing in graders of other companies. The M-series Motor Grader is not only excellent in terms of performance but is also quite a reliable one and consumes comparatively less fuel. Other features are more or less similar to graders of other companies. The price of the machine is what sets it apart from the graders of other heavy equipment companies. CAT being a branded company also believes in providing quality machines at affordable price. This is perhaps the reason why they are still such a big name in the heavy equipment market. Other companies are already taking the beating due to intense competition but CAT is giving fierce challenge to other domestic as well as international players.

Moving to the specification of most of 140 M Motor Grader which is a part of the M-series grader, the model engine is C7 ACERT VHP. It has 6 cylinders in all and net power with gears 7 and 8 is 183 hp. The operational weight of the front and the rear axle is 8123 and 14950 kilograms and its total operational weight is 23077 kgs. Moving to the fuel capacity of the machine, the total fuel capacity is 416 liters which includes cooling system fluid capacity of 47 liters, hydraulic system fluid capacity of 60 liters, final drive fluid capacity of 65 liters and tandem case fluid capacity of 64 liters.

The total number of gears available is 8 (forward) and 6 (reverse) and has a maximum speed of 29 mph (forward) and 23 mph (reverse). Moving to the dimension of the grader, the height of the machine to the top of the cab is 11 ft in and its overall length is 28.6 ft in. The wheel and blade base is 20.1 ft in and 8.4 ft in. he front and rear ground clearance is 1.9 and 1.1 ft in respectively.

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Construction companies can’t afford to compromise on safety

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The construction industry is one of those industries that do not have any chance of facing a downfall in the near future. This is because of the constantly growing demand of new buildings, offices, residential complexes and so on and so forth, for the growing population all across the globe. However, despite this constantly growing demand, there is always a scarcity of skilled labours or workers in these construction companies. One of the primary reasons behind this is the lack of safety or security for the workers.

Importance of safety in construction companies:

Safety is a major concern not only for the construction businesses, but also for every single business that you run. If there are too many people working together and using tools and machineries, there is always a chance for accidents. When it is a construction business, the chances or exposure to accidents is even higher. This is because, the construction companies use –

  • Heavy equipment and machineries
  • Electronic or power tools
  • Use of fire ad gas cutters
  • Working with concrete
  • Working at an elevated site with great height.

Hence, there is always the possibility that accidents may occur. Hence, it is a must that proper safety measures are taken. Otherwise, this will lead to severe fatal damages or cause lifelong difficulties for the workers.

Safety measures that need to be taken:

As already mentioned, there are so many accident possibilities and health hazards possible in a construction site or for construction industries, they simply cannot afford to compromise on the safety matter. There are a number of things that need to be ensured. These include –

  • Following the rules and regulations:

 

Every state and country has specific safety measure rules and regulations that the construction companies need to follow. Otherwise, conducting the business is an absolutely illegal act. Hence, know the safety rules for construction businesses of your state and country and follow them.

  • Use railings:

 

This is a very basic safety measure that needs to be taken, when your workers are working at a site. Regardless of how elevated the construction site is, using railings is a must. This will prevent a number of falls that are possible to occur at any point of time.

  • Fall prevention tools and measures:

 

Apart from the railings, there are many other fall prevention tools and machines that need to be used by the workers. From using the fall prevention nets to the use of harnesses, there are various tools that can be used and should be used.

  • Presence or water supply and fire extinguishers:

 

Fire hazards can occur at any time and in a construction site, there can be electrical lines, supplies and materials that can spread the fire fast. Hence, having adequate extinguishers and water supply is a must.

  • Proper training:

 

Be it working on an elevated platform or the use of heavy construction equipment, proper training is a must. With proper safety training, a number of accidents can be prevented.

For the wellbeing of the construction workers and also for the successful functionality of the business, following good safety measures is a must.

 

Are two-way radios still use on a construction job site?

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With the world constantly moving towards technological advancements, there is a huge tendency of users to switch over to the use of smartphones in comparison to any other old and traditional methods of communication. However, the question is, whether the smartphones are always the best choices or not, remains.

At a construction site, where there is a continuous need to communicate with each other, it becomes absolutely impossible to complete any task if the communication is hampered or hindered. Hence, proper communication methods or medium should be used to ensure constant communication between all the workers.

About Smartphone and Two-Way Radios:

Traditionally, the tool that has been loved and vastly used by most of the workers at almost every construction site is the two-way radio. It is a handy tool, something that looks like a walkie-talkie and helps the workers to stay connected at all times and with everyone in the loop. But, its usage is limited only up to communication.

As the technology is ever growing and advancing in its features and facilities, even the heavy construction equipment and machines can now be synced with smartphones and operated well. Many other machines, contacts, alarms, notifications and apps can help you to make your construction work easier with a smartphone that is the reason why many of the construction site workers as well as the leaders, managers and executives are switching towards using the smartphones as their mode of communication.

Which One is the Better?

Now that you have known about the two most popular modes of communication at a construction site, it is now a question, which one is better. There are a few factors that need to be taken into consideration then.

  • Ease of use:

 

One of the most important factors that need to be taken into consideration is the ease of use and that is great in case of the two way radios. With just a single push, you can communicate with one or more workers at the construction site at a time. The smartphones do not give the facility of communicating with every person at the construction site a single go.

  • In case of emergency:

 

There can be emergency situations when the cell towers or networks of the smartphone operators stop working or responding. The two way radios work even in such emergency situations.

  • Affordability:

 

Yet another important factor that needs to be kept in mind is the factor of affordability. Since you will be purchasing them for all the workers at a construction site or for you on-site construction workers, you need to buy something that is cost-effective. The two way radios are way cheaper than the smartphones.

Hence, it can well be said that the two way radios have a great acceptability at the construction job site and its popularity is not going to lessen any time soon. With the world famous companies such as Motorola making great two way radios for the construction job sites, you can be satisfied that the performance of these radios will be unparalleled.

Lime is a natural stabilizer: It prepares the soil for construction works

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Soil stabilizers convert apparently less bearing ground into highly suitable one for starting construction work like pavements, road beds, basement of canals, water reservoir, etc. Soil stabilizationis the method of strengthening the ground through pulverization and moisture conditioning. This job is efficiently done with different forms of lime and then compaction and trimming as necessary. This process improves the basic characteristics of soil that makes it suitable for a construction project. Lime is used in different percentage depending on the soil condition to adjust the parameters like moisture, density, plasticity, permeability, strength, etc.

Benefits of soil stabilization

Soil stabilization with lime before starting any construction work has the following benefits:

  • Apparently wet soil that is not suitable for construction work can be made suitable within one or two days.
  • Treatment with lime ensures production of long-lasting stable jobs comparable with graded aggregates.
  • The soil becomes hard wearing with greater toughness and strength that make it extremely suitable for a construction process.
  • It enables recycling ofinsitu materials and existing soil that ultimately provides financial benefits to the contractor or owner of the land. It takes less time to prepare the soil as also saves expenses in labor, transportation, and import of aggregates.
  • Soil stabilization with lime also reduces PI (Plasticity Index) of the existing soil significantly.
  • The ground gains strength significantly that is found to be more than 15% as per CBR test.
  • This process of soil stabilization is environmental-friendly too. The process requires very small quantities of other additives making less transportation of materials, less disturbance in busy areas, and lesser use of factory made binders.

 

Lime efficiently stabilizes weak soil

Use of lime as a stabilizer for road beds has been in practice over the century. Modern research works have proved behind doubt that lime can also be used for stabilizing the soil in the large construction sites. Lime is especially useful when expansive clay is present is a construction site. Expansive clays destabilize the base work and change the orientation of the concrete slabs with time. Whereas the soil treated with lime can solve the issue permanently. Lime actually performs a chemical stabilization process where the added lime compound reacts with the clay present in a ground in the following ways:

  • When lime is mixed with the soil, the clay particles come together forming stiffer silt, and reducing plasticity of the soil.
  • After the compaction job, life further reacts with the soil particles binding them firmly and increasing their strength.

Quicklime for soil stabilization in construction works

Many types of lime compounds are available, but quick lime or calcium oxide is mainly used for this work. Quicklime reacts with soil water forming calcium hydroxide which again reacts with some existing minerals like silica and alumina initiating an ionic exchange reaction forming a cement-like product naturally. In this reaction, called pozzolanic reaction, cannot retain water particles anymore and with the passage of time, it hardens like cement. Thus, quicklime provides the required stability to the soil.

 

Sell your old heavy equipment before it becomes unsellable

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It is hard to sell an asset that has been with us for many years. We get attached to it and when we think about selling it, it does pain a bit. While we use the equipment, we may not recognize the importance of it and the attachment that is getting developed with every passing day but we think about it the most on the day it is to go to the next buyer. Keeping aside your emotions, it nevertheless important to get rid of it. You can’t go along with a dead piece for long as it will after a certain point of time affect your activity. The same logic is applied in case of heavy equipment. If you have heavy equipment that is way too old and you are not able to function with it any longer, it makes no sense to drag it any further. You have to at some day or the other do away with it. But you should not take long to sell the old machine as you will not find any buyer if it gets completely redundant. You may then have to sell it as scrap and therefore might not even get a good value.

You have numerous options to sell your old heavy equipment. You can speak with people in your business circle and check if there is anybody who is looking for second hand heavy equipment. You will have a lot of buyers for second hand heavy equipment as long as it is in good condition. Nobody would like to buy a machine with defects and therefore you need to ensure that before you speak to people about selling your heavy equipment get it repaired and painted. You can then ask for a good price. Other than that, the person who is referring your machine to the next person also has certain degree of faith on you. You should keep up to his/her trust and give him/her the machine in working order.

Keeping the machine can make it unsellable:-

There are construction companies who after finding the heavy equipment outdated leave it to rot. They must be really busy with work to not get the time to sell it but if you do not sell it on time, there is a chance that it will then become an unsellable liability. You will no longer find any buyer for the machine and this is when you perhaps have to sell it as scrap. This will pinch you as you at least have not wanted that to happen. If you are neck deep busy with work, you can allot a person and give him the responsibility to get it sold. You can just appear on the final day to sign on the sale agreement and take the money.

No one works on outdated heavy equipment:-

As long as your machine is up to date, you will find buyers for it but as soon as it becomes completely outdated, getting buyers will be a challenge. You need to get rid of it before it gets too late.

Repo heavy equipment can be bought at a lower price

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Be it for business or for personal use we are often reluctant to buy expensive items as it can put us into a financial mess. In order to buy expensive equipment a lot of planning needs to be done in advance. A company needs to set up a strategy where they will allocate funds to buy items needs for business and then will spend accordingly. They will never want to move an inch away from their budget but will do so only if it really requires. It is however tough to follow a stringent budget but does small companies really have an option. The answer is no.

In the construction sector, small companies have a hard time in dealing with their finances when it comes to buying heavy equipment. Heavy equipment are expensive items and small construction companies normally have to hunt for lenders who can lend them money to buy the machines. If the business runs the way it is expected then the company can pay off the loan without any hassle. But the reality is always different from what we plan and if your business does not perform the way you have expected it to then you are encountered with more grave issues. If you are unable to pay the monthly installments of your heavy equipment in time then the lender has every right to repossess the heavy equipment from you and sell it in auction.

Having said this, there is also a flip side to the entire episode. There are definitely lenders who have lend money to plenty of small construction companies and contractors and out of the many there may be few who could not end up paying the money. Quite evidently, their heavy equipment are repossessed by the bank and this gives you the opportunity to become a part of the auction and buy the machine at a dirt cheap price. Now the challenge here is that you will not be informed about such auction via any media. It does not come in newspaper or any such media. People want to keep it as clandestine at they can so that less people turn up at the event and the ones who are there can buy more machines at a cheaper rate.

What you got to do is keep your eyes and ears open to such auctions. You can even approach one such lender whom you know deals with lending money to small construction companies. They will be in a position to tell you if they will carry any auction in the near future. The next reliable source is the guys who tow heavy equipment from the borrower. They might give you a brief idea about the venue and the date.

Heavy equipment that are repo by banks are sold at a far cheaper rate. This is done so that the banks are able to recover the money that they have lent and do not run into loss.

Sell heavy equipment using an online platform

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The advent of internet has simplified many things for us and has also made our lives easy. We can now get almost everything on the net. Whatever information we require is all available on the net. Similarly, one can also purchase and sell things on the net. This was perhaps not a possibility a couple of decades ago but now it is the trend. More and more people like to buy things from online platforms. They find it to be more convenient and hassle free. Also, your money is safe during the transaction. This means that you do not have to worry about internet frauds. Simultaneously, if the buyer does not get what he has asked for or gets the package completely damaged then he can always claim for refund or can ask to send a new one without having to pay any shipping cost. These days even the corporate sectors are buying things online. If they have to gift something to the entire staff, they just order it online and the items get delivered at the office door step.

The construction industry has also gained much from the online platform. They can now buy and sell heavy equipment using this platform. Other than that, they can also look for vital heavy equipment parts online and do not have to depend on stores to get that for them. They can get those parts at a cheaper price as compared to the price they pay to the store. Seeing the success of this new technique of selling things, many construction companies have opted to sell their used machines on the internet. They just do not want to go through the hassle of finding an agent who will search a person who would be interested to buy the item. All they have to do is list the heavy equipment on one such online platform and wait for the prospects call.

How to get started:-

In order to sell heavy equipment on its ancillary online you have to get yourself registered on one such website. Once you are registered, let the website know your desire to sell items and it will take you to the page where you can list the machines. Make sure that you have taken some good pictures of the heavy equipment that you want to sell. Upload the pictures on the page and write in detail about the machine. For instance, the overall age of the machine, any breakdowns or accidents that have recently occurred should be mentioned on the listing. Update your phone number so that viewers who are interested to buy the item can call you up and inquire about it. Do specify the shipping policy and who is going to bear the cost. Once that is done you are sorted.

Accept money first:-

If someone has shown his desire to buy the equipment they should pay you first and then you will ship the item to them. This should be the pre-requisite condition. Only once you have the money in your account that you can go ahead and ship the item.

Rent a motor grader

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Grading work in the construction industry is getting dominance with every passing day. As long as you do not have even paths for the workers to move they can’t do their work effectively. You can’t expect them to work in full swing when there are uneven ways where one finds it difficult to walk. You need to first make sure that the paths are sorted and once that is made even people can move easily and will be able to work swiftly. So the crux of the matter is to grade the road and make it even for people to walk with ease. You therefore require a motor grader to do this for you. A motor grader is undoubtedly expensive heavy equipment and contractors generally do not prefer to buy them because once you even the surface you may not need the machine again.

Other than winters when there is snow all over the road and you need a grader to cut through the snow you can then make full use of it. However, once the winter is over you may not need the machine other than grading purpose. So it does not make much sense for small time contractors to buy them. The most suitable option for them is to take it on rent. They will not mind paying rent on each month and once the work is done hand it over to its original buyer. In this way they only have to shell out few thousand dollars and not a mighty sum of money. This demand for grader gives immense scope to people and companies in particular who own motor graders rent them and earn money in return. So the owners now do not have to worry about their machines being idle and catching rust or developing complication due to no work. They can give it to these contractors who can make good use of the graders and it eventually turns out to be a win-win situation for both the parties.

Redo the motor grader before you let it out:-

Renting a motor grader will definitely give you good money but before you rent it out you must check if the grader is good to work. If it has not been at work for months then you need to first start the machine and check if it shows up with some problems. In case you see any issues, try to get that sorted first and then let it out. Call a mechanic or take the grader to one and redo the entire thing. Remember that you are not selling and it will come back to you. So if you give it in a bad state you may get it back in a worse state. Please do not get into a situation where you will not get any takers after having rented it for just once.

Online sites charges less fees:-

You can list the motor grader on an online platform. The website will charge you a nominal fee for listing the machine but that should not be a problem as long as viewers are able to view the machine. You can check the viewership details on the website and can understand the number of viewers visited your listing.

 

Vision and determination are facets important to achieve success in the construction domain

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If you think that having all the heavy equipment in the world can help you achieve success in the construction domain, then you perhaps need to rethink because there is something more important than a machine that is required to sustain in the construction domain and to defeat your competitors from taking away your business. You need to have a vision in your career and the determination to pursue it. If you fail to have either of them, then you and your business might come into big trouble someday or the other.

We often consider that having a sound financial backing is the most important thing after having the right set of heavy equipment but that is not the case. A person who does not know where he wants to take his business is walking in the dark and he may soon begin to face hurdles in his life and may also experience severe financial crunches which may even lead to the closure of the business. There are numerous examples where entrepreneurs who lacked focus were not able to sustain and were forced to shut their shops. Therefore, being focus should be our first priority. We often get help from institutions if we lack sound financial backing but no one can help a person who lacks vision in his career. A person with no goal can lead his business to dangerous paths and will eventually result in the demise of the business. Construction sector in particular is one of the most difficult sectors for people who lack vision.

Stay focused and always have a strategy in mind:-

Remaining focused to your job does not imply that you do not stop thinking about work but it means that you know where your business is heading. You keep a close watch on the ground realities and make sure that things go as per the plan chalked out by you. In case, if there is any deviation then that needs to be brought under control by chalking out a separate strategy that works more on the ground to keep things in your control. A business without a proper strategy is like sailing in a wrecked ship which has all the possibilities of getting drowned.

Know your project well before drawing a plan:-

You may have more than one project in hand and the requirements of both the projects may be different. You need to make sure that you know which project of yours require what. For this you need to do a thorough study of your projects and then draw a road map that takes to the completion of it.

Be determined of your success:-

Life in the construction domain is not a bed of roses and you do not get things that easily. You will come upon lot of hindrances from various corners that you may not even expect. In this situation, it is just your determination that will help you taste success. If you are determined in achieving something then there is no stopping you.