Author Archives: Kevin

Thinking of selling your heavy equipment? Give it a new look first!

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Do you own a heavy construction machine or equipment? Whether you run a construction business or if you are a renowned builder, having your very own heavy construction equipment is one of the wisest decisions that you will ever make. However, due to continuous usage, the heavy construction machinery, vehicles and equipment are sometimes likely to lose their functionality and performance. In fact, with every passing day, a more enhance tool or technology is being introduced to the world.

In such a scenario, it is a great idea if you want to sell your old equipment and buy new ones. Given the constantly growing construction industry, there is a constant demand of the heavy construction equipment, regardless of how old or new they are. As the price of the new equipment is often quite high, buying the second-hand or used ones is a trend that small scale construction business owners always choose. Hence, you will easily get a buyer for your equipment. In fact, there are construction equipment buyers and sellers, who buy old equipment from you at any time. You can sell the equipment to them as well.

What should you be careful about?

Before you sell your heavy construction equipment, it is a must that you take care of a few things.

  • The parts are properly fitted
  • It is a functional condition
  • It looks as new as possible.

The first two factors can be taken care of, as you refurbish your equipment. The repairing or servicing works will fix the damages and also increase the functionality of the equipment. Moreover, with damaged parts, the possibility of accidents is also quite high. Hence, you might lose potential customers. So, this is a key step that you must take.

Apart from these two factors, what is equally important is that your equipment has a clean and almost new look. Though the papers will clearly show the age of the equipment, having a clean and appealingly new look will help your equipment get more customers and that too faster. The customers are always drawn towards those equipment and machineries that look new.

How to give your heavy construction equipment a new look?

Now that you have understood how important it is for your heavy equipment to get an almost new look, it is a must that you take proper care of the equipment in terms of its appeal. For that you need to paint the equipment at first. As soon as you clean the equipment of all the dirt and dust, it becomes more suitable for a better sale.

The expert equipment cleaners also provide sandblasting feature that helps in painting the equipment even better. After sandblasting, the paint has to be done as per the specifications or requirements of the equipment. Once the paint is done, you can add the stickers for the manufacturing company names. This will give the equipment an absolutely brand new look or appeal. Certainly, this will increase the price of the equipment, regardless of how old it is.

Dozer tips

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Operating a dozer is considered to be far simpler than perhaps operating any other form of heavy equipment. It is said that the number of applications you have inside the cabin are lesser comparatively other machines and this is why it is never a problem to learn to operate a dozer. On the contrary, first times users are recommended to first experience operating a dozer first than any other form of heavy equipment. Once you are able to achieve control over the different functions in the machine, life becomes simpler for you. Thereafter you can try out other form of heavy equipment and learn to operate them as well. There is specifically no ground rule to learn to operate a dozer. So if you ask for any sort of tips from a veteran who has been running a dozer for ages will not be able to say anything in particular. All he might say is that you got to concentrate on your work and understand the various functions of the machine.

To start with providing any tips that can be given on operating a dozer, one must begin with;

Knowing the various functions of the machine:-

You got to know your system well in order to work on it. As long as you are unaware of all the devices in there it will be rather difficult for you to manage the movement of the dozer. Once you are inside the cabin the movement of the dozer is your responsibility and you should understand that you are dealing with something very serious hence if anything goes wrong or a minor blunder form your end can cost the company in tons. Therefore it is crucial that you take your stuffs seriously and learn about the functions you have in the dozer, understanding the various utility of the functions and thereby work on it to access better control over it.

Proper maintenance in the key:-

Dozers are meant for rough working conditions but this does not mean that you can keep that going all along without giving proper break and not servicing it. The machine also needs rest like we do and timely maintenance is of utter importance. Failing which can lead to severe complications in the machine. Maintaining the machine also comes under the chapter of how to keep the dozer safe. This simply means that by changing the oil and properly greasing the machine you are lengthening its life and also ensuring that the machine performs safely without any hiccups at all times. If not done then there are high chances that its parts may start becoming rogue and you have to ultimately face the music of your boss?

 Best way to learn to operate a dozer:-

There could be no other better way to learn to operate a dozer other than watching a veteran does it and you sit along with him and see him working. You got to make a note of his activities and understand how he is working with the machine. This will prove to be a useful tip for you going forward in your career.

How to start a construction business

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For some getting into a business is like a dream come true. They must have seen someone in their family doing excellent in business and since then they have started dreaming of having a business of their own. Well, starting a business and to be your own boss is a good feeling but at the same time in order to make the business a success the business owner has to go through a lot of hardships and difficulties. He can’t expect things to fall in place for him and has to strive a lot to get things in order. He may have to curtail the time he gives to his family and have to spend more of his time working. This means that he needs to be determined and foresighted. He needs to have a good understanding of the business without which he will not be able to last for long.

Construction business is one such business which demands a person to be experienced, hardworking, focused and foresighted. These qualities are not easily available in any person. One has to develop them over the time and learn from his mistakes. Just starting a construction business without knowing much about it can lead you to serious problems.

Gathering necessary licenses/certificates:-

In order to conduct any business, you need to obtain license from the governing authority. Now procuring the license/certificate can be a difficult task if you do not know how that can be availed. There are few options that you have. First you can go to the office of the governing authority and check the required documents that you need to submit to get the license/certificate and check if at all you have to pay them any deposit or fees. Follow as per their instruction and you may get the license/certificate. Second is you can walk-in to the office of an attorney who specializes in obtaining construction business license/certificate? He will guide you well with the necessary formalities and get that sorted. You have to simultaneously also look for an office space which is a pre-requisite to obtain the license. Once you have the license you can start your business.

Obtaining loan from bank:-

Here you have to do a bit of research and then the appropriate step. Construction business can’t be started with 0 investments. It certainly needs some capital to begin with. This need of yours will take you to a bank who will be more than happy to offer you a loan provided you have a good credit report and payment track record and also that your business plan sounds convincible. However, it is instrumental for you to check the costs to the bank and the interest at which they are offering you the loan. You need to do some shopping in this case where you have to get quotes from different banks and also read their reviews on the internet.

Obtaining resources:-

You have a business plan and have also managed to secure the loan. Next you need is human resources and other equipment that are required to start a construction business. Try to get the good resources. This is where your experience comes into play. Having being part of the industry for long, you will know which person is a good resource and which is not. On that basis, you can pick up the men and machines and start your business.

It is Christmas time. Shower your employees with gifts

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Christmas is an occasion of rejoice and having fun with your near and dear ones. Calling your family at home and having a sumptuous dinner or taking your loved one in a posh restaurant and having a lavish meal. Buy gifts for your family; give your child the special gift that he always wanted to have. Christmas is all about fulfilling the dreams that you have seen along with your family. Being the owner of a construction company, it also becomes your responsibility to see that your employees have a great time during this season. If you make their Christmas special they will definitely want to stick with you for long and you got to understand the importance of the people working for you. Right from the senior most persons in your company to the junior most labor, you have to ensure that you give them the best gift to make their Christmas special.

If you want to give some gifts to the construction laborers, you can give them some thick hooded t-shirts that will protect them from cold weather or probably a pair of boots. A lot of companies prefer giving t-shirts. You can also distribute a bottle of wine or sweets among them. At the same time, you can also preferably offer them some money so that they can buy some things for their family thus showcasing that you not only think about their wellbeing but also about the wellbeing of their families. This can give them lot of happiness and a very good reason to continue with your company.

One of the most instrumental persons working with your company is the heavy equipment operators. You should also due credit to them and probably give them more gifts. The operators are the ones who work relentlessly inside the cabin which at times can be quite saturating. They do not care of their aching leg and continue to do their business. These set of people deserve some special recognition and gifts and what better timing it can be than to offer them this recognition at the time of Christmas. One more thing that can be done is holding up awards function where you will be giving awards to people who have shown an outstanding performance throughout the year. You can appreciate their hard work and the efforts they have put to make the company what it is now. In the same pretext you can also give away the Christmas gifts to them and possibly throw a party just after the award ceremony.

It will be a good get-together where the families of all your employees are coming in and having a good time. They can see their husbands or sons receive awards which will definitely make them proud. After which they can have dinner before departing for their homes. This will be an unforgettable experience for each one of them. After all it is Christmas time and you can certainly shower gifts on your employees to bring smiles on their faces.

Make this Christmas rewarding for your construction laborers

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Christmas has always been a special time for us Americans. We long for this month to come so that we can have a small vacation with our family, meet our near and dear ones, have some quality time with our family and of course have lot of fun. Business tends to remain slow during this month. Not just because it is Christmas but also for the winter which slows down almost everything around you. During this month we all expect to get some sort of bonus or freebies from our company and there are many such companies who offer free coupons to buy stuffs or to spend on things that you have longed to have. As far as the construction sector is concerned, construction companies distribute a lot of freebies to its employees. Not just the might big ones engage in distributing gifts but even the small sized companies take the effort to earn the loyalty of its employees.

Gift coupons can be given:-

It has been mostly observed that construction companies get a lot of coupons from their heavy equipment companies and companies that sell them raw materials and stuff. The construction company can on the other hand distribute those coupons amongst the laborers. In this way nothing goes out of the pocket of the company and your employee gets the gift they have expected. The coupons have an expiry date and should be used before a particular date. So inform your workers to use it before it expires and not keep it for the next Christmas.

Give them bonuses:-

What can be more beneficial than getting money on the month of Christmas? The employer should declare bonuses to be given to all the employees. You can vary the bonus amounts against each class of employees but while giving them bonus please do not undermine their tenure in the company. Try to be more generous to workers who have been loyal to your company and have been a part of it for many years. This does not mean that you will simply forego the ones who have just joined. But take a wise call while declaring bonuses and also inform the HR to work on this and come out with a meaningful plan.

Most deserving laborer can have free dinner with his family:-

While we all accept that innovation is the key to any successful business. It also works well when it comes to appreciating the hard work of your employees and rewarding them. You should pick the one whom you consider has been exceptional towards his work in the entire year. Pull out the track record of your employees and the names of those guys who have been phenomenal in different genre of work. You can fund them for dinner with their entire family. For a construction laborer it will be big thing and also his family will get the opportunity to have dinner at a place that they have always heard or dreamt of. That employee will be with you for the next many years and will work harder than ever.

Why to hire a power scraper

Heavy equipment is more in demand in both construction and mining industries. Among these equipment, scrapers are always required on the construction site. Power Scraper (PS) is a unique machine used for digging and long distance hauling of plough able materials and used for levelling of ground. It is finest machinery which can carry huge volumes of dirt at a time and move it from one place to another. One advantage over other earth moving machines is the capability to remove wet soil from the surface. It performs on heavier and other tough type of soils. It is a dominant tool in construction of highways. Many construction industries, start-ups and first time users prefer hiring heavy equipment including scrapers.

The following are the reasons why to hire a power scraper:

  • There is huge demand for scrapers, due to the increase in construction activities. Power scrapers (PS) are very expensive, which makes it difficult for construction companies to purchase a new scraper for doing multiple jobs at their work site. Further, due to economic downfall, most customers cannot afford to buy a brand new scraper and prefer hiring one for short period.
  • For short duration construction projects, buying a new scraper means waste of money since it the grader is used for a particular duration after which it is not used.
  • When PS at a construction site is not functional or damaged and it needs to be repaired.
  • Due to the increased workload on the construction site, more number of scrapers are required.
  • The user wants to try a new model which is technologically advanced. However, before purchasing a brand new one to be used for a long time and the option of buying on rent is helpful. This gives user an idea of application and if it is suitable for his work.
  • Most buyers prefer for used scrapers which are reliable, easy to operate, ready availability of spare parts and have high resale value.

 

While hiring of a used PS one needs to be careful and observant of the machine. One should inspect it very well, the machine should not be damaged, and should be less than 5 years to age. The buyer should refer to product specifications and hire a model according to its application at the work place. The user should also know the overall costs in terms of the repairs, fuel costs, and operator costs.

 

PS is a versatile and flexible machine. Thus hiring a power scraper is beneficial since is cost-effective for construction companies

 

 

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Don’t default heavy equipment payments

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Loans are always an additional burden that one has to deal with. Loan should be taken only when you are sure that you will be able to pay it off in time. However, the future is unknown to all of us and when things change it either change for good or for bad. We borrow money with the hope to pay it off and also make enough effort towards that direction. Business loans are riskier for banks and hence they grant loans after doing a lot scrutiny. They verify the nature of business, the reason why loan is required and many other relevant factors that play a crucial role to determine if the borrower can pay the loan in a timely manner. Only after the lender is absolutely sure the loan gets sanctioned. There are instances when even after meticulous scrutiny some of the borrower defaults the payment. This certainly hurts the bank but at the same time it also hurts the defaulter in a much grave way.

In the construction sector, you just can’t get away without paying the lender especially when you have borrowed the money to buy heavy equipment. You may be doing well in your business and have lot of projects under your belt. Being so busy you might forget to pay the lender for the heavy equipment. If you forget that, it is still fine but you can’t miss the non-payment letters that you get from the bank. If you fail to pay them even after receiving letters from them, the lender will repossess the heavy equipment and they have every legal right to do so. They will try to reach you before taking this action but if you are on a business visit or are so entangled with your work that you do not pay any heed to them then it will be a cause of worry for you. The lender will get in touch with a repo company who will without letting you know about anything will drop in to your construction site and will tow the machine.

It will be very difficult to get it back from them. Nevertheless you have to pay the dues in full along with the penalty you may still have to go through a lot of hassle before you finally get it back. However if you still fail to pay them then the heavy equipment will be auctioned and it will have a new owner. This is definitely what you will not want to go through as it paints you in a negative light. Moreover your credit rating will go for a toss and you have to probably wait for years to get a loan to buy heavy equipment.

Getting a loan at a lower interest rate becomes extremely difficult for people who have earlier defaulted on loans. So if at all you come across a situation where you have defaulted and have now learnt a lesson from your mistake, the hard time will not pass so easily. No major lenders will be willing to fund you and if at all they do they will at a higher interest rate. This in no way sounds to be beneficial. Therefore keep a track of your loan payment schedules and do not miss a single payment.

Unable to sell your heavy equipment – Try renting them

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It is quite difficult to sell an expensive item how old it may be. You may just not get any buyers and this could be really frustrating at times when you are in dire need of money. At the same time, you may want to get rid of an expensive stuff that you no longer need but you are also not ready to sell it at a dirt cheap price which is why you are not getting more buyers. The people who are interested to buy the item often show their displeasure after knowing the price of the item.

People belonging to the construction industry have often experienced this kind of situation when they are hunting for buyers to sell their heavy equipment. Either you have to sell it at a cheaper rate or you just won’t get more buyers. The reason is simple. People who would be interested to buy a second hand heavy equipment will normally be small time contractors or small construction companies who have just begun their journey in the construction sector. They will have many strong reasons will not want to buy a machine that is though quite useful to them in their business is nevertheless expensive and out of their budget.

If you are part of such a situation it will be prudent for you to give up the idea of selling the machine and think about renting it. In this way, you can earn money on the machine and then the day you feel that it has gone real old and you will not mind selling it as scrap, get hold of a scrap dealer and finish the work. Till then stick to the idea of giving it on rent and earning money without having to do much. Many big construction companies who have lot of heavy equipment under their possession normally lease their machines to small contractors who in turn work for them in their projects. In this way, the machine is used for his construction work and he also manages to make good money out of it.

If you are not a giant construction company and do not possess too many machines to follow the above idea, you can play it smart by renting it to other contractors. You will find many such people who are in hunt of guys willing to lease their machine. You have to just talk to people about it. Talk to your friends who are contractors that if they know anybody who is looking to take the machine you have on rent. Try to spread it across to as many people as you can and you will get responses. Try to give a reasonable quote that is acceptable to the other party and if all sounds good then you should go for the deal.

Before you rent your heavy equipment please try to refurbish it by painting the machine and making it look new. People expect a machine that works and you need to ensure that the parts in the machine are in good condition and it will work for the period that it will be on rent.

Safety trainings

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Acquiring trainings on subject that is connected to your line of business is crucial towards the overall growth of a person. Trainings can bring the best in you and that will help the business to grow. You get to learn so many things that you were not aware of prior to the training and then you only need to bring it in practice so that it gets inculcated in your daily routine. Different industries conduct different types of training to see that their men can become efficient asset to their company.

Well those trainings are certainly important but there is one more thing that is not done on a continuous basis and that is safety trainings. Businesses should also ensure that they provide their men with enough training on safety and explain the importance of safety during work. These trainings play an important role in keeping the employees safe and for averting an accident that could have taken place due to sheer negligence.

There has been enormous change observed in people post training sessions. They prefer to work safely and with patience. People who did not care much about safety do take it more seriously than ever post the trainings. They begin to value their life and also lives of others. These safety trainings are so important in industries where there are numerous accidents reported annually. Industries such as construction should give special training to their men.

Men in such occupation are always posed to internal and external safety threats and they should be trained on how to remain safe while they are working on the jobsite. Training sessions should be conducted in a phased manner where people doing a particular kind of work (for instance laborers) should be given safety training pertaining to their line of business. They do not have to learn or understand the safety techniques that need to be given to an operator. They will not learn anything from such training and therefore segregating people based on their job is crucial.

Once that is done, the trainer needs to keep the training materials handy so that without losing anytime he can straight away start with the sessions. Try to keep the training short and crisp. It actually helps people to understand the content easily. Long training sessions can become tiresome and many may lose their interest while the trainer is on an important topic. You can also split the sessions into parts. Nevertheless, one needs to ensure that all the people who attended the previous session are also present for this one.

Use pictures, diagrams to explain things. It has been noticed that people understand things easily that is represented through means of diagrams and pictures. Also get the guys to give live demo. Keep a situation in front of the people and ask their reaction. That will let you know if they are able to grasp anything. It also makes the session interactive and fun loving. You must be training them on an important stuff but always do that by setting a lighter mood.

Tips to become best heavy equipment salesman

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The job of a salesman is considered to be very demanding and challenging. He often has to go through a lot of hassles during sales call and eventually in the meeting. A salesman requires lot of patience. He can’t expect things to work like he wants. Many a time he will find situations going against him. This can lead to frustration and therefore a person who does not have patience can’t find his place in the sales sector for a long time. You be into any industry, if you have to deal with sales then you got to be patient. You can try hard to sell a product but while you do that you can’t lose your patience. This is what many salesmen fail to do. While they try so hard to sell the item, they go so deep into it that they do not realize that they are getting pushy with the customer. This irks the customer and they end up saying a big NO.

Salesman selling heavy equipment have to be very cautious while they are dealing with their customer. They can’t afford to haste things with them. You got to be very smooth with them. There are few tips that a salesman should keep into consideration while they are on a sales meeting.

Upgrade your communication skill:-

For some reason every salesman believes that he is a good communicator. If he can speak well it certainly does not mean he is good in communication. Selling heavy equipment is not all about good communication skills but it is more about effective communication where you speak sense to the prospect and can covert him into your customer. Just by speaking well you can’t convince a person to change his brand. People in the US are brand-conscious and they will not want to change their brand as long as there is a good strong reason to do so. The job of the salesman is to display that reason to them. People who are associated with heavy equipment are more conscious with the brand they are using than perhaps anybody else would be. Heavy equipment salesman should be knowledgeable, confident and that should reflect in their way of presenting themselves to the prospect.

Be in the company of technicians and operators:-

You get to learn a lot when you are in the company of technicians and heavy equipment operators. They can teach you a lot about heavy equipment. Though they will not be much helpful to you as far as the selling technique is concerned but they can really develop your base understanding on heavy equipment. This will help you to answer some of the most challenging questions that come from customers. Ideally, heavy equipment salesmen are not so savvy with the technical aspect of the machine but it always creates a good impression when you are able to answer those technical questions. You can always learn the techniques from your peers. They can help you in that area.