Category Archives: construction equipment

Innovation in the construction industry

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It is said that necessity is the mother of all inventions. When we feel the need of a thing we start working out to find new solutions and alternatives. This is perhaps the reason why we are able to evolve as a human being and the urge to bring something new has given rise to a new dimension. Human wants compels us to bring creativity into picture. We always want something new and this want of us compels the provider to think out of the box and come out with something that no one else has ever thought before. It is something that has been envisaged for the first time and now the people have the final product in front of them. The practice to keep innovating and experimenting with things will take any industry further and so it is considered one of the most important factors in today’s’ times.

Construction business is a huge one and the need of innovation has been frequently felt in this industry as well. This is the reason why there are so many construction companies trying to compete with each other by coming up with a new idea and executing it on the ground. Right from raw materials to architectural designs all play a significant role in executing innovative ideas? The architect has to come up with new designs that will give a new shape and life to the construction. In order to work on the design, you may need special type of materials. The old traditional ones may not be of much use if you want to work on the new designs. Other than that we today make use to high end technology in the construction industry to check the work-in-progress. For instance, we use statistical data to study the deficiency or drawbacks in materials and then we can work on our shortcomings to put back things in place.

Similarly, we have different sort of equipment to ensure the safety of workers on the site. Right from heavy equipment operator to the construction worker all are instructed to follow the safety guidelines and use safety accessories that are prepared by keeping into consideration the innovative equipment the company has for its workers. The construction workers by wearing the safety accessories have minimized the risk to their lives to a greater extent. Special gloves, glasses and boots are given to the operators so that they can have better control on the machine and do not end up in an accident. Heavy equipment operators have to be extra careful while they are on the machine. A single mistake can have huge repercussion on the company as well as on the project.

Heavy equipment are been installed with GPS to prevent heavy equipment thefts. There are numerous incidents where heavy equipment were getting stolen overnight and no one had a clue who was doing it. This has given rise to purchase of GPS and cameras that can be installed on the site. The moment the system identifies any suspicious activity with the heavy equipment, it will start alerting. This has definitely brought down the number of heavy equipment thefts to a larger extent.

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Use stickers and paint to give a new look to your heavy equipment

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Do you run a construction business? Regardless of small or big, you must own some or the other heavy construction equipment, right? Well, just like others, you too will have to encounter the problem of the heavy construction equipment being old and worn down after continuous usage for years. However, the worn down appearance of the heavy construction equipment do not affect the performance of the machines. In that case, replacing the machine or buying a new one is not at all a solution or an option. What should you do in that case?

What are the problems that you face?

Before you think of giving your heavy construction equipment a makeover or refurbishment, it is a must that you know about the problems that you will have to face with them.

  • In most cases, the heavy construction equipment loses its colour. This is because these machines and tools are exposed to concrete, cement, mud and dust and many such hard particles that can wear off the paint of the equipment. Despite cleaning the equipment regularly, you will find that the paint is not staying for long.
  • Yet another difficulty that the equipment operators face is that the machines and tools within the equipment lose their tags or instructions. Hence, new operators have to face trouble with understanding which button or lever indicates a certain function.
  • Structural damages are some of the most common damages that are caused to the heavy construction equipment. When your heavy equipment suffers this damage, it will require serious repair. Otherwise, it might lead to serious accidents.

Giving the heavy equipment a new look:

If your heavy equipment has undergone these troubles, it is a must that you choose some refurbishing techniques to give your equipment a brand new look. This is something that you will have to do carefully, so that it does not cause you too much of cost.

  1. Paint the equipment:

 

One thing that is a basic and must be done once in a while is to paint your heavy construction equipment. Your equipment requires occasional paint, as this enhances the beauty of the equipment as well as increases the life of the equipment. The reason behind this is that the paint for the heavy construction equipment is strong and protects the heavy metal bodies of the equipment. Hence, be it the weather damages or the concrete or cement damages, the paint will protect the equipment for long.

  2.  Use stickers:

 

Stickers are something that can always give a new look to any of your vehicles and other personal assets. However, when it comes to the heavy construction equipment, using stickers is a great idea. Not only can the stickers give a new look to the equipment, but they can also help you to revive the indication and instruction labels. As these stickers can be easily customized, you can make the stickers as per your requirement. Even the sticker that boldly expresses the name of your construction company can be used on the equipment.

So, what are you waiting for? Give your equipment a new look with the simple stickers and paint and get rid of the old and wearied look.

Operators need specialized trainings to work on different machines

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For special jobs, you need men who have full-fledged knowledge about the work and also experience to handle that kind of work without hassles. Now this knowledge and experience are secondary. What is primary is the training that is given to the person to do that kind of job. In the construction sector, every person is trained to do his part of the job well but it is the operators/mechanics who require specialized training to work on different kinds of heavy equipment. Though the primary function of every machine may be the same but in order to work them out like a professional, the operator has to get himself trained for some weeks and then try his hand doing the actual job. He may find it difficult in the beginning but as he prepares himself for the task on the machine, he will find his comfort zone in the new heavy equipment.

Need to be slow in the beginning:-

When the operator first starts to get trained on the new heavy equipment, he should be slow with maneuvering the machine. He may have worked earlier on years on a particular type of heavy equipment but the new one is different and it may act differently in different situations. So he needs to first know the various functions that are available in the machine and how it impacts the overall movement of the equipment. Once he gets his hands on it, it will be a piece of cake for him. Also, when situation changes he need to again go slow and check how the machine reacts.

For instance, if the operator is given to work on an updated version of a CAT excavator which is huge in size and is used for operations in the forest/construction area. The forest land in every location is different so will the machine act differently. The operator needs to be extra careful when he moves out of one forest location and enters the new one. The land out there may be full of ditches or quite muddy to not have a stable ground for the machine. This will give a hard time for the operator to work on the new excavator.

Should remember the different functions:-

Normally when you are accustomed to working with a set of a machine, you tend to know the in and out of it. If someone closes your eyes and instruct you on what you should be doing, you may perhaps have little problem but will reach your hands to the right buttons inside the machine. This is because you know everything about it that you can work being blindfolded. Well, the case changes completely when you are handed over a new heavy equipment which does have its switches and buttons in the same place as it was in the old machine. So you need to get your hands trained on them as well. By no means can you press the wrong button or else you will end up in a big blunder.

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Use social media as a tool to augment your heavy equipment business

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The construction and the heavy equipment industry are largely dependent upon new technology. The construction industry is always in the hunt of heavy equipment that can get the work done quickly and with utter precision. Now this is only possible if you upgrade your heavy equipment by adding new technology in it. This will bring in a new life to the machine and it will work with more vitality under tremendously rough situations. Now that was all about how technology can help get the work done at a faster pace. However, if we want to make use of technology to advertise our products and services so that it can reach to thousands of people at a given time, there is no better option than talking about your business in social networking websites. There you can reach to a large number of population without having to pay a penny for it.

There are many companies who are involved in the process of creating their business profiles in social networking websites like LinkedIn, Periscope, and Facebook etc. There find this to be an excellent tool to reach out to a sizable amount of people at one go. They have seen their business growing in this fashion and acquiring more clients from such networking websites.

There are few do’s and don’ts that one needs to follow while they set up their business profile in a social networking website.

Keep your personal and professional profiles separate:-

It is very crucial that you keep 2 accounts in one social networking website, one for your personal use and the other for your professional. If you are into selling of heavy equipment of all the brands, you can make use of your professional account to mention that there. Talk everything about your business in that account but pay special attention that you do not talk much about your business in your personal profile. If you share a couple of your business stories to any of your friend on the personal profile, it won’t be an issue but if you only keep on bragging about your success stories all the time on your personal account, your friends might get turned off by that. They definitely do not check your profile to know about the success in your life. They just simply want to know if things are ok with you.

Maintain strict professionalism on your business account:-

You should keep your business profile very professional. Social networking websites like LinkedIn are meant for professionals and businessmen who are looking to acquire clients and get businesses from them or to reach to the skilled masses and absorb them in their business. If you are an authorized dealer, you should be very stringent when it comes to professionalism.

Post a photo of your company:-

It makes ample of sense to post a picture of your company’s logo on your business profile. It help your prospective client to understand the kind of account you are holding and they will move into your business account to know more about your business and will not stray down to your personal account.

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Pay your heavy equipment loan on time to keep up to good credit score

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Ideally construction companies and contractors buy heavy equipment by borrowing money from banks and other financial institutions. They do not want to use their financial reserves as that is needed to take care of other miscellaneous expenses and moreover the money you need to buy heavy equipment is often more than what people have in their reserves. So they have to eventually turn up to banks for borrowing funds. Now if you already have taken a loan to buy heavy equipment, you should make sure that you pay all the monthly installments to the bank on time or else it can have a negative impact on your credit score. Any default will affect your credit rating and this is something which you will not want to happen with you. If your credit rating falls, it gives a direct indication to the lenders that you do not pay your installments on time and they might reject any further loan application put by you in future.

Loans’ getting rejected is definitely not a good sign for a business owner. He is always in need of money and if any of his loan application is rejected at a crucial juncture, he may find himself into deep trouble. Though there are some financial institutions that are ready to lend money to people having poor credit rating but they do it with heavy rate of interest. So your financial need will be fulfilled for the time being but you will end up paying lot more than you would have to any other banks in normal circumstances. This can also have a negative impact on your business as you will not be able to save money to build up any reserves. Whatever you earn, you might end up paying that to the bank and it is absolutely pointless to engage yourself in something like that.

One thing leads to other. If you do not pay your monthly dues for buying heavy equipment on time and messes up your credit rating, you will also not be able to find lenders to buy other construction materials. It takes time to improve your rating and unfortunately in an industry like construction, you can’t afford to lose time. Therefore maintaining the credit score by paying your monthly dues on time is one of the best ways to avoid lowering of your credit rating.

The only way you can manage to pay the monthly installments is through proper planning and not to spend on things that are of least importance to the business. When we talk about proper planning, it means that you got to do your budgeting well and also take into consideration any unforeseen instances that are likely to happen and can affect the payment of your monthly dues. Take help of experts or of experienced people in your company. Their advices may really work for you. Consider what they all have to say and do not be too aggressive while taking business decisions.

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Veteran salesman should be supportive to the newbie

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No wonder doing a sales job is one of the most difficult jobs one can do and it becomes harder when you do not get much support from the people who have been doing this job for years. It is pretty obvious that the young guns will definitely look for some sort of support from the older guys and this will what help them to climb up the ladder in life. Selling heavy equipment is considered to be a tough man’s job and not everybody can take the agony of persuading clients to purchase a thousand dollar stuff which the sales guy himself does not know much about.

The new ones will certainly not have much idea with what they dealing with but the tenured guys know how to crack the deal and which machine is used for what purpose. They kind of try to know the requirement of their client and then pitch their product. But the newbie will not be able to do that effectively. He may possibly speak everything about the heavy equipment that he has learnt from various sources but when it comes to comparing it with the client’s requirements, there are high chances that he might get completely bowled.

Give veterans a team to mentor:-

Every newcomer to any business needs a mentor to guide them. Here the veterans can play the role of a mentor and guide the new sales guys to glory. There are lots of tricks to a successful sale that a veteran sales person learns during his years of selling heavy equipment. He can share a bit of them and check how the guys are incorporating those tricks in their sales activity. Right from cold calling to fixing an appointment to making a successful sale, he needs to check that the guys are doing well in their job. In case, if someone is having a hard time and is dealing with some issue, he can jump in there and try to fix the problem. If required he can accompany the person for few appointments with different contractors or construction companies and show him the right way to sell heavy equipment.

Talk one to one with the new guy:-

Talking one to one with the new guys is a crucial point that the veteran should take into consideration. Not all are brilliant salesperson and some needs that extra nurture to develop into an excellent sales guy. More to this, not everybody understands heavy equipment the way it is and therefore there is a need of someone who can explain them about machines in simple terms. There will be no better person than a veteran who can help the young guns with their problems. Not everybody will speak up in front of everyone and they might feel more confident to speak on a one to one basis.

The beginners are full of energy and they can find ways to deal with things but what they need the most is some support from the experienced lots and once they get that, they can very well take care of their profession.

Smooth Drum Roller vs. Padfoot (sheepfoot) roller

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It is said that good roads play a pivotal role towards the development of any economy. You need good roads to move items real fast because when it comes to good service time also plays a crucial role and good roads saves a lot of time if you have to transport things by roads. Imagine what you situation would be if you have to ferry something on an urgent basis and you know that it will take time just because the roads are not in good shape. Well, it will for sure irk you to the bottom. The importance of flat roads is better known by people who drive regularly on roads and when they encounter bad roads during their journey, it agonize them like anything.

Well that was all about good roads but there is something that plays a crucial role in making good roads. It is heavy equipment like smooth drum roller or a Pad foot roller that gives the roads a good shape and makes it a comfortable journey for all of us. Let us start by discussing smooth drum rollers first.

Smooth drum rollers are ideally heavy equipment with a big roller in the front of the machine and 2 tires at the rear. Smooth drum machines are used on roads that have more granular materials laid on it. Smooth drums are used when materials like sand and gravel are paid on the surface of the road. It actually works towards locking the pieces together giving a stronger grip to the road. The performance of the smooth drum roller also depends upon the moisture the soil has as it allows better movement without any friction.

Heavy equipment companies like CASE manufacture quality smooth drum rollers. As a matter of fact, they are known for producing many high quality rollers for different kinds of roads. It is evident that a smooth drum roller or a pad foot roller is not the only solution for all types of roads and therefore CASE has many versions of rollers for the end user.

Moving towards Padfoot roller which is also known as Sheep foot roller is more typically used on roads that have more consistent and solid materials laid on it. Materials such as clays need a Padfoot roller on it. Using any other roller can simply deteriorate the quality of work and lead to more complications. Pad foot roller is used on cohesive soil because the soil has the tendency to stick and slip over each other. This is why a Padfoot roller which has the capacity to shear the soil with its drum and achieve the required compaction is used. It is to be noted that ballasts can be added to augment the weight of the machine which in turn gives better compaction.

The price of both Smooth drum roller and Padfoot roller is well within the reach of any construction company/contractor. They are not overtly priced like many other machines that are used in road building and other construction works.

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How to handle rejection as a heavy equipment salesman

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We all see selling as a difficult profession. It is because you got to convince people to buy something that you believe is important for them. However, the person to whom you are trying to sell it may not find it to be at all important. So your job then becomes to talk about all the possible features related to the product and create the need for it in the mind of the taker. This creation of need in the mind of the prospect is a real tough job and not many are able to do that successfully. Many ace sales persons have written in their books about the difficulties they have experienced while creating the need in the minds of the prospective buyer and they have also suggested ways and means that one can take to tackle that part of the problem. However, there is something more important that a salesperson should be learning before learning anything else and that is the way to handle a rejection.

Salesmen who are into selling of heavy equipment have a real tough time doing their job. They are actually dealing with a high priced product that is basically sold to people belonging to a particular domain. This means that your market is quite restricted. It is not like selling a high priced car that many like but can’t buy as they can’t afford it. Here the case is completely different. You are dealing with an item whose takers belong to a specific industry and therefore your scope to sell it in good numbers becomes restricted. This is perhaps the reason why a heavy equipment salesman has the chance to experience rejection lot many times than a salesman selling a car.

Be optimistic in your approach:-

Your approach speaks a lot about your personality and especially when you are a heavy equipment salesman your approach matters a lot than anything else. Your knowledge on your product needs to be absolutely bang-on and that perhaps constitute a larger portion of your self-confidence but your approach towards your profession should be nothing less than splendid. You may have been rejected many times and there may be situations when people will simply not want to meet you but that should not deter you or your approach towards meeting people. Your frame of mind should be always optimistic, nothing less than positive. It is this positive approach that plays an instrumental role towards handling rejection.

Share your experiences with your seniors:-

It is always useful to be around people who are jolly and have a good sense of humor and if such people are your seniors you should consider yourself to be damn lucky. You can share your experience where the prospect didn’t want to buy the machine or have insulted you or simply asked you to leave, leaving you dejected. Your senior in this case will give you a piece of their mind and try to ease you by cracking a joke or two. It also acts as a stress buster. Not just your senior but share your days’ time with anybody that you are convenient with. You can also play around with your dog for that matter. It is undeniably a great way to handle rejections.

Go to esteemed institutions to hire operators

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A construction company spends good amount of money for buying heavy equipments and then needs to spend a lot to simply keep the equipments well maintained. Servicing and maintenance of heavy equipments is a necessity that one can just not ignore and if they got to spend some dollars to keep the stuffs in order, it is perfectly a fair deal. In order to lengthen the life of the machines, the owner should also hire able and competent operators who possess in depth knowledge about them and work without causing any unwanted damage to the machine. Experienced and highly skilled operators are rare to find. You will just not find them idle and are usually hired by construction houses at a price which most of the small construction companies will find difficult to pay. Just in case if you get to find someone of this stature looking for a change of company, you got to be sure that you can shell that amount of money to hire him.

Simultaneously, if you have such kind of experienced operators in your company, ensure that you keep them happy and well paid because if they are unhappy about their package there are many other companies ready to pick them up. Quitting of experienced operators is always a threat and you should be ready to counter such threats if you want to stick to the industry. Well, there is one smart move that you can take to minimize this threat if not eliminate it completely. You can hire young operators who may not have much work experience and are ready to work for you at a lower price. In this way, you are not exploiting their talent and can also mitigate the threat of experienced operators moving to some other company.

Hire people from esteemed institutions:-

You need to first make a list of institutions and their rankings. Once you know the names of some good institutions, reach them out to hire operators. You can arrange a campus interviews and hire guys with good scores in their academics, people with real good knowledge of this domain and guys who are looking to make this profession as their career. Out of the many that you will hire, you will definitely get few who will stay long with the company and in this process can eventually prove to be a valuable asset to the company.

Knowledge on machines is vast:-

Going to esteemed institutions gives you the benefit of hiring guys who have good knowledge about the latest breed of machines. Young kids and ideally smarter than their earlier generation. It is just that they are not experienced in dealing with things and once they get some hands-on knowledge, they can really excel in their domain. These kids may need some guidance and will be able to pick things up very quickly.

Once you get them trained in the right fashion, things will start moving smoothly for you and you will diminish the threat of the old chaps leaving the company as you have the newer guys to take care of their businesses.

Renting an equipment can be the sole option for a financially wrecked contractor

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Construction sector can at times show you the most miserable moments that one must have never dreamt of. For a person who is not doing well and also lacks vision for the company but still manages to sustain, this only indicates that his time is up. Either he changes himself and the way he works or simply change the industry. The construction business is for people who can survive the tide and take up challenges, ready to fight any odds at any given time.

People who lacks creativity and the zeal to do something big may one day not even find their place in this sector. Well, if such a situation ever comes upon a person who has sizable number of heavy equipment, he is left with very limited options. He either has to sell all the heavy equipment at a dirt cheap rate or can rent those machines to someone who can make good use of it. In this way, he can still manage to make descent money out of this transaction.

Before one think of renting his machine there are few pointers that he needs to consider.

Get the equipment repaired:-

It would be utter foolish to list the machine on rent that is not in proper working condition. Quite evidently, no one will be interested in taking a machine that is nonfunctional. You need to make sure that the machine is fixed and then you list it for rent. Take the machine to an expert mechanic and get everything fixed. You may also want to tell taker if the machine has gone through any accidents and the parts you have changed. This will let the taker know that few of the parts in the machine are absolutely new and may build his confidence in confirming the deal. In case, if there are any dents or scratches on the body of the machine, you may put some stickers of your favorite characters. Avoid names and images of any players or teams as the person who want it on rent by support a different team and that will deter him to go for your item.

 

Be clear and concise of your terms:-

You may have certain terms and conditions that you want to convey to the taker. You should state all your conditions in points and check if he is ready to accept them all. In case, if you can let go few of your conditions that are not so important, you may discard them. However, the ones that you feel are way too important, you should put them in the legal document that you will prepare before you eventually rent it out. Make sure that you are clear while conveying the rental amount and the rental period which also should be stated in the legal document.

 

Renting the heavy equipment not only gives you money during your bad phase but also leaves the possibility of you returning into this business after a short gap which would not be possible in case you decide to sell it off.

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