Category Archives: Business

Construction industry is rewarding – Don’t let other to eat away your business

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We all want to make good money and want to make it real quickly. This is probably the reason why we choose industries that are more rewarding than others and stick to it so that we can grow our business like anything. However, in the entire process we should not forget the fact that in order to set up a business, it takes hard work, determination and a good strategy to ensure that you keep away your competitors from taking away any pie of your business.

It is pretty obvious that the industry that pays us dearly is not restricted to few businessman and others would also want to join in. So you never know from which way you will find a competitor coming up and latch on to your clients thus affecting your business. Thus it is important that while you are running your business successfully, you also keep an eye on the activities of your competitors and check if there is any new one getting in or any existing getting out of the industry.

One of the industries that have given huge profits to its owners is the construction industry and many people want to give it a shot in this sector. Though it is no child’s play to start a construction business and require huge investments, people still flock in to try their luck and it has been often seen that they hook on with this sector for few years, take up some projects and if things click for them they continue with it or just exit when they feel they can’t move any further. So if you have a set business and you see any newbie flocking in your territory, you got to ensure that he does not eat a big piece of your cake or else you will be left starving.

You can’t really do away with competition as it is a part and parcel of any industry but what you can do at the most is keep a check on your competitors by ensuring that they do not overtake your business and you can do that only by having a clear goal of providing top notch quality work at an affordable price to your clients. No clients would like to go to a new guy as long as they find you doing a great job. They would rather like to stick with you since they know your style of working and have a good rapport with you.

Setting up a good relationship with your client also works in times when you have too much of competition. Your clients will not give work to anybody else if you have an extremely wonderful relationship with them. Nobody like to experiment things when it comes to their business and hence they will want to continue with you provided you being good with them.

Experience matters a lot in this industry. Clients usually prefer to give projects to people who are experienced in the construction domain rather than trying the newbie. Therefore your experience will always come handy when you are experiencing extreme competition and will still find yourself in the position of bagging more projects.

 

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Make use of Social Networking websites to grow your heavy equipment business

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Any form of business is directly connected with technology and successful business entrepreneurs make full use of the latest technology to grow their business. They find it to be one of the simplest and quickest ways to reach millions in just seconds which is not possible through any other mode. Running a successful business is an art and not everyone can master that art. The person need to be foresighted and should understand the importance of technology and how it can impact its business. One form of technology that is making rounds these days is social networking. These days everyone has an account in some or the other social networking website and through that they try to stay in touch with their friends and loved ones. However, this mode is also been acknowledged as one of the crucial method of spreading the news of your business. In order for people to know the kind of work you are into, you can make use of a social networking website that is popularly used by many and can create your business profile out there.

It has proven to be a great stuff for beginners who are not a known figure in their line of business. It is difficult to win the trust of your clients when you are new to a business. They have doubts like if you can complete the work in the given time frame, if you have the required resources to get the job done and many such questions that a newbie finds it hard to deal with. People who are from the construction industry or the ones who deals with selling of heavy equipment find social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Snapchat etc. as a wonderful tool to connect with people; many known and some unknown.

Once you are registered member of any social networking website you talk about your business to your friends and people whom you know. You keep posting articles about your work or your achievements which is read by people who can be your friends or your friend’s friend. The sole purpose is to reach to as many people as you can by posting a single post. If you are selling heavy equipment you can talk about your website in your profile and also put the picture of your company’s logo as the profile picture. You can make use of Snapchat to send pictures or videos to all your friends or to people specific.

Having a website of your company is good but social networking sites make it easy for you to connect to people who are not known to you and who do not know anything about you. They may see your company’s logo for the first time on some of your friend’s profile who must have liked your profile picture or any video posted by you. This is how they get to know about you and may go to your website to know more about you. This will eventually help you to develop your business in the long run.

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Cold Weather Diesel Fuel Tips

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It becomes very tough to get your heavy equipment started during winters. Imagine you have a big project in hand and the work has already started somewhere during the mid of the year and it is going in full swing. Just then, the chilling winter arrives and the machine just does not want to start. It is no less than a nightmare and the worst part is that it is happening for real. It is just the cold weather that can create all sorts of problem in your machine. But if you think that you can deal with it then let’s put it in this way. The problem is just the tip of the iceberg. When it gets colder and starts snowing, things become worse. Because it is then that you do not get mechanics to fix the problem and if you are a guy who does not know how to fix issues, then you are in deep trouble. We all know that heavy equipment run on diesel and diesel has the characteristic to become thick during winters. It turns into a gel like substance losing its liquid form. This becomes the cause of all the trouble. You need to equip yourself with alternatives that you can use to keep the machine on move.

Let us first talk about what happens to diesel fuel during cold weathers and what can be done to ensure that the machine works when it is expected to.

There are ideally two types of concern that we should prepare ourselves to deal with. The first one is gelling and the second is water contamination. Under “Gelling”, the fuel (diesel) turns into a gel-like substance and is not able to flow through the fuel filter. As a result of this, the engine may run irregularly. Often there are more chances of the engine getting turned off during the mid of work. There are also chances of the engine not starting at all. In order to avoid this problem, it is advised to use Diesel One fuel. This kind of fuel has shown positive results in preventing the fuel from turning into wax. Thus, it has been highly effective in keeping the engine intact and has also increased the efficiency of the machine during the winters.

Water Contamination is another problem that hits diesel run heavy equipment hard. Water when it comes in contact with the fuel has the potency to contaminate it in no time. During winter, it becomes very simply for water to get mixed with the fuel thus contaminate the fuel and breaks down the equipment. Water also has the capacity to freeze in fuel at a temperature of below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the supply line of the fuel is freezes, it evidently does not allow the fuel to pass and leads to issues. Just in case, it fails to freeze, then it will definitely become a place for microbial contamination and will have the potency to destroy the important parts of the machine. What can be done to avoid such a situation is using engine block heaters. They are used to keep the engine hot while it’s working. It keeps the engine hot for the next day. So the driver has to unplug the heater and then start off his work.

 

 

What does LGP (low ground pressure) stand for?

Heavy equipment are very heavy and can cause serious damage to the ground if they do not have proper low ground pressure. This is a subject that many people using heavy equipment may not be aware of. It is only because that this subject doesn’t affect their work in any way. However, people who have studied heavy equipment as their subject may know how important low ground pressure is to keep the ground away from much pressure from the heavy equipment. The equipment if do not possess low ground pressure can significantly damage the soil which can be dangerous especially for farmers because they will then slowly and steadily lose the quality of the soil. It may be also possible that the soil may become infertile. Therefore, it becomes very important to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment and the keep the quality of the soil intact.

What can be done to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment? Well, one of the most important parts that can be done to reduce the ground pressure is replacing the steel tracks with hard plastic tracks. That will significantly bring down the pressure to a larger extent thereby keeping the quality of the soil undamaged. There are few companies that produce such plastic plates that can be used as ground tracks for heavy equipment. Nylatrack plates are one such plate produced by “Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products” that comparatively brings down the weight of the machine. It is said that they are 80% less weighty that the steel plates thus exerting less pressure on the ground. Similarly, there are many more such plastic plates manufacturing companies that play a mighty role in today’s modern engineering and also keeping the ground pressure low.

Another benefit of using plastic tracks is they can easily work on soft grounds which is difficult for heavy equipment with steel plates to do. They can also work on pavements which again may not be so simple for heavy equipment with steel tracks. Exerting low ground pressure will have almost no side effects on the ground. Other than replacing the steel plates with plastic plates, there is one more way to lower the ground pressure. Just by reducing the noise, one can also reduce the ground pressure. The equipment vibrations are soaked up by the plastic plates which only happen if the tracks are flexible in nature. By installing plastic tracks, the tracks of the machine become quite flexible which in turn absorb the vibration coming out of the tracks and thus the noise of the undercarriage goes silent. This means that there is less stress on the drive chain that happens predominantly because the plastic track plates absorb the bending force.

The plastic track plates manufactured by companies are immune to oils and seawater which makes it a machine that can work in extreme conditions. Since it has plastic plates, it is very unlikely that the soil will stick with the plates. This will prevent any sort of damage to the ground.

Volvo Articulated Trucks vs. Caterpillar Articulated Trucks

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Trucks play a very important role in both the construction and mining industries. They do not get directly involved in any of the activities but both the sectors can’t even move an inch further without the help of trucks. They are the ones which is responsible to ferry important items from one place to another. Be it heavy equipment to sand or bags of cement, they are all transported using these trucks. It can also be referred as the lifeline of both the sectors. It is also extensively used to ferry huge piles of debris from the construction site to the dump-yard. As you can’t think to function without heavy equipment, in the same fashion you can’t think to begin or complete your job without putting the trucks to any use.

There are specifically two companies that are renowned for manufacturing articulated trucks. The first one is Volvo and the second is Caterpillar. Though caterpillar is known for making premium heavy equipment, they are also into manufacturing articulated trucks. We will talk in brief about the specifications of trucks manufactured by both the companies.

Starting with Volvo A40D, this truck has been in the news for all the right reasons. The company has marketed it well and it seems to be doing pretty well with the buyers. The spec for this truck is as follows.

The gross and the net power of Volvo A40D is 426 and 420 hp respectively with a displacement of 732.3 cu in. The total fuel capacity of this truck is around 126.8 gallon. The hydraulic system fluid capacity, cooling system fluid capacity, engine oil capacity and the transmission fluid capacity is 66 gal, 30.9 gal, 13.2 gal and 12.8 gal respectively. The operating voltage of the machine is 24 V and the alternator supplied amperage is 55 amps. The maximum speed that it can take is 34.8 mph and the total number of forward and reverse gears it has is 6 and 2 respectively.

The total weight of the truck when empty is 31270 kg and when it’s full the weight is 68270 kg. The weight of the front axle when loaded is 19170 kg and 16300 kg when empty. The weight of the rear axle when empty is 14970 kg and when loaded it is 49100 kg. The overall length, width and height of the truck is 37 ft in, 10.7 ft in and 12.3 ft in respectively.

Talking about the CAT articulated truck; we would be speaking about the much known CAT 740 articulated dump truck.

The gross and net power of the truck is 464 hp and 445 hp respectively with a displacement of 927.6 cu in. The total fuel capacity of the truck is 147.9 gal. The hydraulic system, cooling system and engine oil capacity is 61.6 gal, 21.1 gal and 10 gal respectively. The maximum speed of the truck is 34 mph and the total number forward and reverse gears are 7 and 2 respectively. The total weight of the truck when loaded is 70840kg and when empty it is 32840kg. All the other features of this truck is pretty alike the Volvo A40D with very minimum deviations.

Overall the customer will not be at loss by going for either of the truck as both will be highly prolific for him.

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Maintaining good relation can be helpful to get construction business

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The construction sector is a business of huge competition where you are always in the race of surpassing your competitor so that you can get more business. However, having said that, it is also very important that people belonging to this kind of business have and maintain good relation with each other. You will need the help of the other person at some point of time and in case you do not have a healthy relation with the next guy, you may land into a temporary trouble. In many cases, businesses also come through references. So it means that somebody has spoken good about you and has referred the business giver to you. Now that can be anybody. Right from your client to your business competitor, it could be anybody and yes you heard it right. Even your business competitor can at times be helpful to you only if you share a healthy rapport with him.

The few basic pointers that one should do to create and maintain a strong bondage from people concerned to your business.

Do not try to eat away everybody’s business:-

Undoubtedly, the construction business is quite a tempting business that will entice you to get more and more businesses. While you are in the mode of getting businesses, ensure that you do not become an encumbrance into someone else’s business. You garner businesses on your merit and not by bribing someone and if you see any of your competitor who is not in good shape and trying to get the same project, try to let that go to him. You may not want to eat everything that you get. Let the other guy know that he deserves the business and which is why it has gone to him. He will appreciate your help and will someday return your favor. Please understand that while you are in the construction arena, you will have both good and bad phases. It all depends how good you have been to people when things are good with you. Your generosity will help you during your hard times.

Establish yourself as a clean businessman:-

Being a businessman who causes no harm to others is liked by everybody in the business circle. No one likes to be in the company of a chap who is way too greedy and has the potential to cause damage to other’s business. Good clean people always have a place in everybody’s heart and when you are good to people then you have fewer enemies to bother you. In this way, you can establish a healthy relationship with people sharing the same business and at times can also get some favors from them.

Too much of gluttony can be harmful for your business:-

You must not keep your mouth full that you find it hard to chew. Concentrate on the quality rather than giving more attention to the amount of businesses you are getting. You will get more business on the basis of work you do. If you just keep on adding work without being able to complete them, it will become utterly chaotic for you to handle. On the contrary, you can suggest few names of your competitor who are known for their quality work and in this way you create a good relation with them.

Simple tips to choose pumps for construction work

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Dewatering is a crucial factor which enables most of the jobsites to carry the construction works smoothly and safely. It poses a variety of challenges like picking up the right pump and its accessories for the successful implementation of the pump while working, taking prompt decision regarding the release of the water and its management at the site. All these tasks are quite difficult especially when you have to do them keeping in mind every relevant rules mentioned by Environmental Protection Agency.

Things to consider

The foremost step regarding the plan development of dewatering at the jobsite is to find out the needed capacity, lifting power of the suction and the discharge of used water at the plot. The speed at which water should be released is fathomed in gallons/minute. The upright distance of the suction in the equipment suction lift has to be swamped by the pump to take in the fluid. This vertical distance is actually the gap between the top of the pump and its suction end. The head of the discharge is the perpendicular altitude of the outlet pipe. To properly select the pump from the manufacturing company, at first it’s better to calculate all these factors.

Questions that help in selecting the pump

To make the right choice, try to answer these questions very carefully:

  • Why are you purchasing the pump?
  • What kind of fluid will be sucked by the pump?
  • Will the fluid in the pump consist of solid particles?
  • How afar the fluid has to be pumped out?
  • At what speed the water has to be removed?
  • Is your jobsite is competent enough to carry out its work with any auxiliary pump machine?
  • Where you are going to keep the pump?
  • Where you are going to discharge the water?
  • Will the usage demand any type of filtration?

Capabilities of each pump vary from high pressure to low pressure. Some of the pump machines are strong enough to pump the water vertical as compared to the others. There are some pumps which are comparatively more efficient in removing the solid materials from the water whereas others block the outlet while dealing with the same situation. The latter types of pumps are cost-effective but generally most of the site owners try to avoid them because of their inferior quality. These kinds of pumps are fragile and can easily break if any trash is pumped through it.

Most of the pumps are either skid-mounted or trailer-mounted. The trailer-mounted pumps are big sized but are portable. If your jobsite have limited space, you should opt to skid-mounted pumps. You should also use active systems of treatment to regulate the pH and minimise the turgidity of the fluid which is to be evacuated from the site to a satisfactory extent. At the conclusion of the article, you surely have got a clear idea on how to make a wise selection of the pump needed for your business. For best outcome, your supplier of the machine should assist you in selecting and analysing the appropriate system fulfilling all your requirements.

Depend on online websites to sell your heavy equipment

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Selling is a skill and if you are not good in that skill then you may have a hard time in selling stuff that you have used to some other person. It is not that everybody uses brand new items but as a matter of fact, you will find several people who like to use more of used stuffs than going for new things. The reason is pretty simple. Used items cost less and then they do not have to shell more to buy them. So they get the technology at a reduced price and in this process save some money.

However, in order to sell your used item to people, you got to sound very convincing and if you feel that it is too hard for you to sound convincing then you have to sell the stuff at a dirt cheap price. People will at least flock in hearing that you are selling it for real cheap. They may then not consider how latest the technology you were using. They might just go for it if they really need it. But in this entire process, the one who loses is you as you had the chance of making good money but just because you lack the skill of putting things in a presentable manner to convince people to pay a good price, you succumbed for a shoddy sale.

Now consider that you were trying to sell your heavy equipment and you were not able to present it the way you should have for a good deal. You will make heavy loss in the transaction. Therefore it is quite important for you to know the right platform from where you can sell your heavy equipment and can still expect to get a good price for it.

With the advent of internet and various businesses happening on websites, you can also make money in there. All you have to do is know which site is good for selling heavy equipment and what people does to sell their machines at a good price. For this, you should be watching other’s listing for a few days and check what different are they using on the website that helps them to fetch a high price for their items. This is the first and the most crucial step that will change the way of selling that you have adopted and have been practicing for a long time. Once you are done with checking other’s listing and got the idea, you have to work on your skills to put up your item in a similar fashion.

Most of the websites selling heavy equipment gives you the option of selecting a fixed price which means that you can put the price of the machine that you feel is suitable and let the buyers decide if they should be going for the purchase. However, what you should add on the listing is information that people will find helpful to know about your machine. If they feel the stuff you are selling meets their requirement, Bingo. You have made a sale.

Laying proper strategy can change the face of your company

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The one who can lay down concrete strategy and can walk on it will be able to reach the pinnacle. Setting up concrete strategies by foreseeing the obstacles and opportunities is an art that not many can master but the one who can anticipate and work accordingly can reach new heights. If we see what it took for owners of huge conglomerates to come to the place where they are, they will credit it to the fact that they could envisage things. They were able to foresee the threats the company could encounter and on the basis of that they worked things out. They chalked out plans keep the threats into consideration and made sure that all of them stick to the plan.

This kind of an approach is very important in an industry like construction. People belonging to the construction industry often encounter stiff competition from their business rivals and in such a situation it is quite essential that they anticipate the risks well in advance and take necessary steps to get over them. Now once you have anticipated the risk, the second important step would be to formulate plans that have the potential to mitigate the risk and bail the company out of any misadventure.

Setting up of appropriate plans and success goes hand in hand:-

As long as you do not have the right strategy in place, it is very difficult to find success. You may try every possible thing and work very hard to attain success but it only comes when you have a set plan in front of you. You got to think what should be your next step, what you need to achieve next and keep pursuing it unless and until you get it through. Success comes to those who have a set vision and have laid concrete plans to get what they want. It absolutely goes hand in hand with a real tangible strategy.

It boosts the confidence of the investors:-

Construction industry is heavily dependent on investors. You can’t take a big project alone and finance it completely on your own. You need people to fund you at regular intervals. Investors are a big requirement as far as the construction industry is concerned and you have their attention only if you have a tangible strategy in place. You can discuss your plans with the investors and see how they feel about it. It is not necessary that they will always appreciate your plan. It may have certain loopholes that you may have probably missed. Do not get dejected in case your plan is not liked. Try to customize your strategy based on the likings of the investors but make sure that they go in sync with the business requirements. You do not have to compromise to please people to fund you. Ideally if your strategy makes sense, it will definitely boost the confidence of the investors in investing their money in your project. Once they taste success, they will trust you way forward.

Growth of the construction industry is co-related to the economic prosperity of a country

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The growth of any business is directly related to the amount of effort one puts in his business to make it big. However, it is also co-related to the economy of the country. If the economy is sluggish, you can’t really expect much from the business, no matter how hard you work to develop it. You have to wait for the economy to gather some speed so that things work for you and you start doing well. It has also been witnessed that the economy is doing great. However, it is just few specific industries that are not performing due to certain policies of the governing body. This also plays a vital role when it comes to the development of the business. If you are also a part of the industry that is affected by the policies of the governing body then it may cause harm to your business as well. You may suffer hardships till the time the policies are not amended for the betterment of the industry.

Things are quite similar when it comes down to the construction industry. This industry does really well and favors everybody who is associated with it when the policies are favoring it or when the economy in a whole is doing well. But when we check the flip side of the coin where the policies are against the construction industry or the economy is in a pathetic state, the same industry that was booming and was favoring a whole lot of people can turn upside down for everybody. This however does not imply that one should shut shops when the industry is not doing well. It is also not practically possible to close the construction business at the time when things are not going your way and to pick it up from where you left when things are back in shape.

The recommended option would be to go slow when the tide is against and ask the investors to hold on with their investments for some years (if you are associated with constructing condos). You can also take up small works/projects that come your way. When things are not working out for you, it is better that you stick to projects that do not have a good profit margin. That will at least help you to keep the company floating and you may not have to look for any cost cutting measures.

Just in case, you fall in the category where you are unable to get any business neither big nor small, it is prudent that you cut short on your costs by either renting your heavy equipment or if you feel necessary then selling the one off that you feel you may not need them any longer. If things does not become any better after taking these measures, then the last resort to keep your company floating would be to sack employees who are not so experienced but still have a good package. That will help a bit to cut down the cost and you can expect things to move on for few more months.