Category Archives: construction equipment

Heavy Equipment Surplus Auction

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When we produce something in abundance and do not find many buyers to buy them. It is better that we get the stuff auctioned. It is not that people are not ready to take but it is just that they are not ready to take it at the price you are willing to sell. Ideally, people like to put a price to it. So if they know that you have the stuff in surplus and are still charging more for it, they might simply not show any interest for it but that does not mean they do not want it. They only want you to bring the price down. You either bring it down or you put it in auction so that people determine the price of it on their own and the one who makes the highest bid goes away with the item.

When we talk about heavy equipment, the heavy equipment manufacturing companies also produces machines in bulk and at times they find that there are not much takers. They do not mind reducing the price of the machines but if they still do not find any buyers, then the best option available with them is to auction the surplus heavy equipment. One should not see the heavy equipment that are there for auction as inferior piece of metal. They are as good as any other heavy equipment that is sold at high price.

One may simply wonder why heavy equipment manufacturing companies have to produce in abundant and then later sell it in auction. Well, they do not produce machines in surplus. They go as per the orders they receive from their clients. However, at times some orders go kaput and the clients back off from the order. They do not do this intentionally but they must have their own reasons behind doing this. Now, when there are no takers for the heavy equipment produced by the companies, they are compelled to sell it in an auction at a dirt cheap price. It is primarily these items that goes as surplus and have to be dealt with by getting them auctioned. In this way, the companies that produce machines get saved from booking huge losses and in the same way few lucky chaps get away with a good bargain.

Auctions can happen in many ways. They can put it up in a local newspaper so that people get to know about it or can just spread the word within their existing clients. They probably do not want to involve good chunk of people in the auction and want this to be a kind of hidden sale. They do this for 2 reasons. The first one is they do not want a large population to know that one of their client has backed off. This has have serious implication on their brand image and the second reason is they want their existing clients to have a good piece of the meat by auctioning the equipment at a much lesser price.

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No point in buying new equipment when one can get it on rent

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Construction industry falls in that category of industries that has huge requirement of finances for some reason or the other. They need money to take care of the operating and non-operating expenses, pay the workers their wages etc. They also have to check on the kind of heavy equipment available with them so that in case there is a need to get a new machine they should have the funds to go and get it. Heavy equipment are quite an expensive stuff and one got to be ready in advance and keep the funds available to ensure that the need of the business is fulfilled. Having said this, there is one point that the owner of a construction company can ponder. In case, if they can get the same machine that they are looking for on rent rather than having to buy them, it may save a lot of money of the company and simultaneously they can make use of the funds that were parked to buy the machines to take care of some other business needs.

There is however one very important point that you should keep into consideration before you rent a machine. Since you would be using somebody else’s equipment, you should ensure that the machine has all the features that you would be requiring for the project and the machine is in good shape. You should probably take an expert with you who will examine the machine before go ahead with the deal. You should not end up taking equipment for which you have to repent in the future.

Few other pointers that you should know before you sign on the dotted line.

A brief history of the machine:-

To know a few things about the machine will always be beneficial as it will help you to negotiate with the giver. For instance, if the machine has some cases of accidents then it puts you in a position from where you can demand for a deduction in the rentals. Negotiations like these are always open and the taker must be ready to take chances wherever and whenever it is applicable. Knowing the history of the machine will also give you the idea of how old the machine is and is it at par with the construction equipment that comes with the latest technology gadgets. This will help you to decide if you should be eventually going for the deal as it makes no point in renting something that is technologically backward.

Knowing the tentative duration of the project:-

You should at least be aware of how soon you can complete the project. On the basis of that, you would be renting the stuff. Always rent the machine for an additional 2 months from the tentative date of completion. You never know if things may get delayed and you have to prolong the use of the equipment. Often the giver rents the machine keeping into consideration that he may not need the machine for a specific time and if he rents it to you he may ask you to hand it over once the terms completes. So if the work is left incomplete and he asks you for the machine, you will be left in a murkier situation. To avoid this, you should rent it for 2 extra months and keep things in your control.

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Give utter priority to the safety of workers

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In any kind of industry, the workers play a huge role in shaping up the structure of the company. They are the ones who work hard all day and night and make the future of the company bright and in return it becomes the moral responsibility of the business owners to take due care of its employees. Employees working in corporate sector may not have to put their lives on risk but when it comes to the construction industry, the workers there work by keeping their lives on the edge. Construction industry is undoubtedly full of perils and one has to understand the risks he takes before he signs up for the job. Keeping into consideration the nature of the job and the risks involved, it becomes very important for the owners of the construction companies to ensure that their workers get all the safety gears that will help them to do their job with ease and also provide safety from unwanted perils.

We will be talking in length about what all an employer can do to ensure the safety of its workers.

Wearing of safety gears is a must:-

Employers of every construction companies should make it a mandate for their workers to wear all the necessary safety gears when they are at work. The most basic is a helmet. So when they are inside the construction site, they should have their helmets on them. Other than this, they should be wearing gloves and sport a dark glass when they are into wielding stuffs. They should make use of the lifts to carry the materials with them and not carry them on their back or shoulders. There are many other appliances available that can be used to give a level of protection which they so rightly deserve.

Train the workers on the importance of safety:-

Workers working in a construction site do understand the perils involved with their job. What they do not realize is that they can be safe by wearing few appliances that can bring down the severity of perils to a larger extent. This is where a proper training is required. They should be informed that by wearing those gears they can minimize the risks. They should also be trained on how to use those gears. Some may have seen the gears for the first time in their life and will not know to use them. These sorts of folks should be trained to use the gears for their own benefit.

Negligence to safety should be avoided:-

Most of the times, it has been found that workers are negligent to wear any safety gears as they feel that the work does not involve much risk. Well, this kind of negligence should be avoided. There should be a mandate for all the workers have to follow the safety parameters while they are at work. The most common form of negligence is not wearing helmets inside the construction site. If needed, there should be a person appointed to supervise if all the workers have their safety gears on and if not then they should be asked to wear it before getting their hands on the job.

Heavy Equipment EBook

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When you have the desire to learn something, you somehow manage to find the relevant resources and learn things up. Same goes with learning about heavy equipment. Knowing or learning about heavy equipment are no rocket science and one can easily understand the complexities involved in it. If you intend to learn about a specific type of equipment since you would be working with that type of machine, then you can find many books and materials available in stores that will help you to gather details about the equipment. However, the best way to learn about heavy equipment is to search it on the internet. There you will get good lot of information that you will find to be very helpful in your cause.

One of the most popular methods of learning about heavy equipment is to download an EBook from the internet. There you will every last information about the stuff you want to know and that will be absolutely free of cost. This means that you do not have to spend time looking for books in book stores or contacting anybody in particular who can deliver the details to you. All you have to do is download the stuff on your computer or tablet and whenever you desire to learn about the equipment, you got to switch on your computer and open the stuff from there. The advent of EBook has made things very simple for readers who are enthusiastic in learning things but do not have money to buy the necessary resources.

Ideally most of the EBooks available on websites are free but that does not mean that all are for free. There are few writers who do charge a nominal fee for the book. It could be because they have written the book and do not want to take the hassle of looking for a publisher who will be publishing it. So the most convenient option available with them is to upload it on their site as an EBook and try to list it on online shopping portals. In this way, they can earn few bucks just by sharing their knowledge with the people who are ready to take it from them. Alternatively, it also gives people the opportunity to read famous authors/writers who have ample knowledge about the subject they are writing on. Instead of paying more at bookstores, they can simply buy it online and can manage to keep the stuff with them as long as they want.

No fear of losing a page:-

When you have a book on heavy equipment, you got to take it with you to the construction site where you will be going through the book and operate the machine. This leaves you with high chances of tearing the pages and in this process it might become completely unreadable. On the other hand when you have an EBook, all you got to do is carry your laptop or tablet with you and go through the stuffs written on it while you are working with the machine.

Save paper:-

You save a lot of paper by not buying a book. You work your way out using the information from the EBook. In this process, you are doing your bit towards saving the environment.

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Workers working in construction sites are prone to various air-borne diseases

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We say that the human race is developing but it seems that we are making things that will cause more harm to us than ever. We make things for our ease but in this process, we forget that there are certain repercussions that we have to face and without wanting to know those repercussions we do things that affect us the most. Our environment is so polluted that every other day we get to see people dying of lung disorder, heart failure, and asthma attacks and so on. If we talk about people working in construction companies, we will find that they belong to the worst affected lots and are infected with various air-borne ailments. They have to go through a lot of dust that is so prevalent in a construction zone. Fresh air is so seldom for them and they are simply left with no other option than to inhale the polluted air.

It is not only the dust that they inhale but also the smoke that comes out of heavy equipment. Most heavy equipment run on diesel and after a certain period of time they emit smoke and intoxicants in large quantity that becomes unhealthy for the people around. There is primarily one reason why machines emit black smoke. It is particularly due to lack of proper maintenance of the machine. The equipment work for months without much lubrication and the engine oil also is not changed at regular intervals. This leads to problem in the engine and if the health of the engine is not good, it is bound to emit intoxicants in the form of black smoke.

What construction companies/employers must do to safeguard the health of their workers has become a matter of discussion and many companies are incorporating the following measures to ensure that the lives of their workers is not taken for granted.

Proper maintenance of machines:-

Intoxicants in the air are one of the major reasons for the falling health of construction workers and machines emit intoxicants due to improper maintenance. To get this fixed, the only way is to ensure that the machines are maintained at regular intervals. It is quite obvious that the operator may forget to send the machine for maintenance. Hence, a calendar must be prepared where you jot down the date when you will take the machine for a wash and get it serviced.

Procure heavy equipment that are environment friendly:-

Many construction companies are in the process of acquiring green machines that will not emit or will emit less toxic in the air as compared to the ones being used currently. Though the equipment will be expensive but will last for more years and will also not pose a risk to the health of construction workers.

Set up camps to check the health of workers:-

Construction companies should take the initiative where they set up camps at least twice in a year and conduct a complete health check-up of its employees. They should not just restrain it to the laborers but also include staff and guys from other departments.

Caterpillar clothing

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If we think that the heavy equipment manufacturing companies are only into producing heavy construction machines then it is time that we re-adjust our thoughts about these companies. They are no longer limiting their business to manufacturing heavy equipment but have also expanded their horizons into new spheres like manufacturing accessories like boots, gloves, jackets, clothing etc. They see a sizable market that is even bigger than the heavy equipment market. They can sell big construction equipment to construction companies that are engaged with projects around the country but they sell absolutely nothing to the major chunk of the population.

Now a person who work in a convenient store sees no utility of these heavy equipment companies in his life but if he is paid good commission to sell products manufactured by them they the store owner will not mind keeping some stuffs and check if it attracts the attention of the buyers. At the end of the day, it is all about keeping the customer happy and in this process making some money out of it. Simultaneously the heavy equipment producing company also reaches out to rest of the population who is not bothered about what kind of the business they are into but if they like the pattern and design of the clothing then they will buy few clothing from them.

Keeping the entire population into consideration, Caterpillar is producing accessories/clothing products that are widely appreciated across United States. They have not only managed to establish a reputation in the field of heavy equipment but are also doing well in the apparel segment.

Produces clothing that is in trend:-

The clothing manufactured by Caterpillar is indeed classy that quite trendy. They give a lot of importance to the current fashion and what people like to wear. Rather than just producing apparels without even trying to know the wants of its users, they spent a lot of their time, effort and money into doing research, trying to know what people like to wear. The very fact that they invest their time and money into doing research is what keeps them on top of the chart. Quality is another parameter where they never compromise on. They never did on heavy equipment and like to keep the same attitude as far as the clothing segment is concerned.

Clothing for construction workers and employees:-

They are also into manufacturing clothes for people working in the construction domain. Right from workers to staff members, they have clothes for everyone. They manufacture clothes that are cotton rich so that workers working under the scorching heat of the sun do not feel terrible because of improper clothing. They understand what suits them better and produce clothes accordingly. The clothes are mostly airy and not tight to your skin and offers ample comfort to the end user.

Clothes are available in all major apparel stores:-

Availability of CAT clothes is never an issue. You can get what you want in any major apparel store. They are absolutely not overtly expensive though they may seem to be and will definitely not burn a hole in your pocket.

Hire, Purchase or Lease – Which One is better for Your Next Heavy Equipment Investment?

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Presently, construction industry is blooming but in a slow speed. In this situation, is it better for a construction company owner to lease, procure or rent a bulky paraphernalia? According to Peter D. Gregory, the senior vice president of the reputed construction group of Atlanta commented that right now the condition of the market is tentative that’s why the construction company owners are hesitating to procure heavy equipment or go for leasing deals. Yet, the construction concerns still require bulky paraphernalia to accomplish their task on the site.

In large organisation, the construction business possessors hire equipment managers and chief financial officers to give suggestion on the issue of renting, leasing or purchasing the heavy equipment. On the other hand, in the budding construction firms, the owners alone take the decision. The presidents of some of the well-renowned construction companies stated that the decision entirely counts on the financial condition of the organisations. To determine, which one is the most suitable one needs some logical prediction and forethought. Here in the following piece, the readers will come to know the difference between the buying, renting and leasing a heavy construction equipment.

Renting, Purchase and Leasing Options for Construction Site Contractors

Rent option helps the contractors to save their capital. Often, they choose the option of renting when they require a specific item for a particular task. Some of the well established construction merchants stated that renting is more costly than lease and purchase options because it provides flexibility to the clients.

When the contractors procure heavy construction apparatus, the dealers not only proffers instant ownership but also subtracts the depreciation cost of the equipment. The interest the possessors get form the deduction helps the construction firms to conserve their tax amount. Majority of the construction organisations prefer to buy heavy equipment parts as it adds as a valuable asset in the in the balance sheet. But, the majority of the budding construction owners prefer to go with the lease option because of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

Lease is yet another option that is facilitated to the construction company owners by the dealers. It is the best choice for those organisations which are not efficient enough to utilise the depreciation. Other than ownership, this option also provides usage pact with typical no money upfront quality.

Comparison Between Lease, Rent and Buy of Heavy Construction Equipment

For long term use, the charge of the lease is much lower than the renting cost. Therefore, it is sensible for the contractors to avail the benefits of leasing heavy equipment for long term basis. If the construction company owners desire to attain the equipment, then the outright purchase technique is more economical to other alternatives.

On the other hand, for short term purpose, the option of renting heavy construction apparatus is the best. If any construction concern owner wants to go with the buy option, he/she should asses some factors like time duration of the application of the equipment and its maintenance cost.

To sum up, it can be said that all the above mentioned options of availing the benefits of heavy equipment are beneficial to the construction owners unless and until they have the skill to attain it in proper way.

 

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To Buy or Not Buy Construction Equipment

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It is very important that you have the right kind of equipment to make sure that your construction business is going well. It is not always the availability of capital that would determine if you should rent an equipment of buy one. It is one of the most challenging decisions that have to be taken in this business. There are a few factors that play quite an important role when it comes to the decision of either buying or renting the construction equipment. These factors are discussed as follows.

One of the factors that are to be considered is the capital. The current situation of the capital of the company is a condition that may affect the decision. If conserving the capital is felt important by the company, it should probably go for renting. There are many companies that go out of business because they fail to make payments. Therefore, if a company is going through a cash crunch it is probably a good idea to go for renting the equipment instead of making a permanent purchase and digging a hole in the company capital. Therefore, it can be said that, although, the capital is not the sole reason but is quite an important factor that may influence the decision.

The regulations imposed by the government also play a very important role when it comes to making these decisions. The rules and regulation keep changing regarding the possession of heavy equipment. Some states make the regulations much more liberal. Therefore, it depends on how the conditions are in your state that will influence the decision whether to buy or rent heavy construction equipment.

Another important factor that plays a very important role in this regard is the management of fleet. Some companies may have a high level of competency when it comes to fleet management. If the company has excellent skills when it comes to logistics, transportation, service of equipment and maintenance it is a good idea to have hundred percent ownership of the fleet. However, if the company lacks the desired amount of expertise in fleet managing, it is probably not a good idea to buy your own fleet.

Buying or renting equipment will depend a lot on the amount of risk that you are willing to take. You may not want to take risk or you may be a risk taker. However, it is always the prerogative of the businessman to take calculated risks. There are many factors that are to be considered when it comes to taking risks. If you think that the current year is going to be a good one as far as fiscal matters are in concern, you can go ahead and take risk of buying equipment. However, for those who want to check their grounds safely and take no unnecessary steps, renting the equipment is always a good idea. The production value will depend on the quality of the equipment and not on whether you have the ownership of the equipment. Therefore, when you acquire the machine make sure that you are paying money for a worthy machine no matter you buy or rent.

 

 

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Simple steps to repair your excavator

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Excavators are important heavy equipment that are used to remove large amount of soil from the surface of the ground for construction purposes. Without it, many of the constructional works would stop. Therefore, its routine maintenance is very essential. You should do it to detect the problems. If you find some serious problem, go immediately for repairing it. Any kind of negligence in this case will lead to major damages. Many a times we have to kick on emergency repairs due to the sudden slip of the rubber/steel track or tearing of the wheel of the excavator. Don’t worry, you only have to follow some simple steps for its repairing and your excavator will be ready to go again.  Just have a look at the following article.

Steps to repair the excavator

  • First of all, it is very important to detect the device of track tension. After that, access your excavator’s plate. Every excavator has their own system of chassis which is situated in different time and place. This system depends completely on the type and model of the excavator.
  • The gap between the excavator and the ground surface should be 6 inches minimum. To lift the excavator, you have to use the hydraulic jacks. Don’t forget to keep the bucket and the crane against the ground. It will help the machine to be steady. Now, stabilize the whole excavator on the repairs and jacks before you start repairing.
  • The cover plate of the tension should be removed from the frame of the track. Against the zerk of the grease, the socket wrench should be placed. Try to remove it slowly. Allen wrench should be inserted in to the whole. Push inside the check ball. To lose the tension, press your feet against the rubber track retracting the idler wheel.
  • Using the metal links put the new track over the wheel sprocket of the drive. Now, skate the rubber track on the tension wheel with the help of the pry bar. To get on the metal links over the wheel, push the track’s bottom with your foot.
  • Put the grease zerk into the frame of track tension. With grease gun, push some grease into the zerk. If the frame of the track sag upto 3 inches, stop smearing grease.
  • Placing the engine on the idle, kick on the excavator. Try to rotate the track in all directions using the control lever. Check out the sag by turning off the engine. Go on rotating the track until the sag becomes at least 3 inches.
  • Don’t forget to secure the cover plate of the tension by stabilizing the track sags at 3 inches.
  • Detach the blocks by lowering the hydraulic jacks so that the excavator touches the surface of the ground.

Carefully go through all the following steps. It is not at all difficult. But, it requires little bit concentration and labor. So, go ahead and repair the excavator yourself and make it a new one.

Service Manuals of different heavy equipment

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When we buy a new gadget, we ideally depend on the instruction book that comes along with it. It is quite obvious that we may not understand much about the new product as long as we do not go through the user manual and if we try to do anything funny with the stuff, we may completely lose it. It then becomes a pain to connect to the mechanic and get it fixed. People who have gone through the ordeal of calling a mechanic to fix things may know what sort of pain that is. Therefore it is highly recommended that one should go through the service manual and read all the instructions very carefully so that they do not make a blunder while using the product.

Now envisage that you have bought expensive heavy equipment for the completion of a project and you are quite alien when it comes to using these big machines. In this case, you are not left with many options. You can either surf the net to know how the machine works but that is not going to be very helpful or you can check it out with someone who has been using this kind of heavy equipment and knows how to get it to work. Just in case, if you are not so fortunate and you do not know any person who knows to operate the equipment then you have only one alternative left and that is to read the service manual and try to get things working.

Service manual of different equipment producing companies will be different:-

Every other machine has its own unique way of working and though a model of a company will have some similarities with the other models, yet it is not completely the same. Therefore there are different service manuals available with every model. For instance, buyers who possess a couple of excavators with different models will have a bit of dissimilarities between them. This is why the company provides different service manuals for both the machines. The user is expected to read the service manual before it starts working with it. Just because he has a previous model and he knows how to work on that machine does not prove that the new model will not have anything new. If he fails to go through the service manual, he may do something untoward and things may go for a toss.

Read the manual before you perform an action:-

It is prudent to go through the manual once before you carry out any action on the machine. Right from cleaning the machine to starting it, it will not take hours for you to read something useful but you may save yourself from committing a bigger mistake. The service manual comes with pictures as well as instructions on how one should be using the product. You may refer the index to check the page where you will get the information you are looking for and once you find it you are on your way to learning things on your own.

 

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