Category Archives: heavy equipment

Rain and Construction Jobsites don’t mix

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It becomes very difficult to work on a hot summer or on a chilled winter in a construction jobsite but it is nearly impossible to work during the monsoon. When it rains heavily the entire jobsite is full of dirt and water that workers find it extremely hard to work. Operators are also unable to operate their heavy equipment in the muddy water. Moreover there is always a risk posed to the heavy equipment if you force your way inside the marshy land. It is definitely not the right thing to do if you are concerned about your machines.

If you are laying the foundation for a high rise building, you have to dig deep inside the ground. Now if it rains, it will cover the entire place with water. The solution to this will be to remove the water completely through some water suction equipment and then finish the job. Now the problem is once you begin to remove water from the ditch and if it rains again, it will once again fill the place with water. So you may have to wait and see that it does not rain for a week’s time so that you can continue with the same process and then complete the work. In this entire process, you have lost a lot of your time and money just to remove water from the ditch. You may also have to depend a lot on the metropolitan department for their predictions. However, it is just mere predictions and can be wrong as well.

Moving our focus to heavy equipment and how rains can be a game spoiler when it comes to your expensive construction machines. If your heavy equipment is not well maintained and not painted, there are high chances that it may begin rusting. The skin of the machine will come off from its layer and it will look shabbier than before. You have to spend some money on painting it in order to give it a new look. Other than that, there is always a chance of dirt making its way inside the machine and getting settled in there. Also many people are of the opinion that it is a big waste of money to clean or service heavy equipment as it will become dirty the moment you start using it in the rain.

It will also affect your business big time. A lot of your work will remain pending because of rains and if it is incessant then it makes matter worse for you. You may work on strict timelines but incessant rains can force you to alter your plans and change the deadlines. It is never easy to change deadlines and if you do so you, it comes with a lot of ramifications. It also has the potential to tarnish your goodwill. Many construction companies have found that rain and construction jobsites just do not mix well with each other and it is therefore for the best interest of the industry and also of their individual companies that they try to keep all unimportant tasks during the monsoons.

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Heavy Equipment Guy

Being customer centric will help you grow in the construction business

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Customers are considered as king of the market. The makers of products produce goods on the basis of the wants and demands in the market and the wants and demands are of the customers. This means that they have to produce items that are in trend and are liked by people at that time. Though trend keeps on changing so once the trend changes the makers also have to switch to the next trend that making buzz in the market. They always have to be on their toes to meet the needs and demands of the customers. While they are meeting the needs of the customers they also need to pay good deal of attention to the fact that they provide them with exceptional quality or else customers always have a choice and they can move on to the next provider. You will only end up in losing business simply because you did not give much importance to the quality of the product.

In the construction domain, the voice of the customer plays a very crucial role in the growth of a company. They may have the best heavy equipment and may use top notch materials to build the buildings but at the end of the day they also need to check that whatever they are constructing, is it as per the wants of the customer and does it goes with the trend of the time.

Knowing the pulse of the customer is important:-

For the survival and steady growth of the construction company, it is very important that they first try to read the pulse of the customer. Check what they can do to make things better for them and accordingly build something that should not be less than exceptional. Customers should feel that they have got the worth of their money and you in turn build reputation from your good work. Getting new businesses in this domain becomes difficult when you do not have goodwill backing your company. If you are into building apartments for people to live, your reputation will speak about you and therefore people will book the apartments right from the period the building is getting constructed. You can achieve this reputation only if you can read the pulse of the customer properly.

Provide them with state of the art amenities:-

When you sell apartments that have state of the art amenities, it sells faster. You can market the apartments on the basis of the amenities that you will offer to the general public. Knowing on what you will offer, people will be interested to book their apartments in your building. This also acts as a brilliant marketing strategy that will drive many to go for apartments constructed by you. You can also charge them for the luxury but that should not be exponential. You should not be money oriented but should be more customer centric. You should quote the amount that gives you your profit. If you try to become greedy and quote higher amount, people will look for someone else.

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Heavy equipment accessories can turn out to be a good business opportunity

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One always do not need to get into the construction business to reap volumes of profits but can also consider taking up businesses that is closely connected to the construction business. For instance, one can see himself doing well in supplying raw materials. For this business to flourish all you need is good contacts with the real supplier from another state who in turn will ship the materials to your state and you eventually hand it over to the company. So your work is to ensure that the stuffs have been shipped on time and it also reaches the construction company on time. Other than this there is one more business which is quite thriving and that one should give a good thought to exploit it.

Heavy equipment are required by almost everybody in the construction arena. Now one machine can be used for many purposes provided the accessories are changed. You can start something that deals with the accessories part. You do not have to sell the entire machine and only need to concentrate on the different types of accessories that a machine is compatible with and then sell the right stuff to your customers.

Knowing about different attachments is crucial:-

Before you get going with selling attachments of heavy equipment you got to first upgrade your knowledge about the different types of attachments that are available. The reason why this is important is that you will be dealing in an out with it and not knowing much about what you are dealing with can lead you to lot of issues. The ground rule of starting any business is to first know a bit about the business and preferably have worked in the same line of business for a quite a time. This will help you to understand your business better and you will be able to take on any challenge that may on your way.

Sell attachments of all heavy equipment companies:-

You can’t manage to sell items of one particular brand. Customers will come to you for attachments of various brands and you got to cater to them. What you can possible do is take the orders from them and some advance payments so that you can in turn place the order to the company. Once they ship the item to you, you can give it to your customer. Give good discounts to your customers so that they stick to you and do not wander to any other such store or buy it online. Remember, customers’ today have a lot of options from where they can buy their stuffs. It is just that when they go to buy online they will not get much offer as what you can give them. Other than this, they also look for some valuable suggestions. For instance, if they are not sure about a particular attachment and need some kind of guidance, they will expect to get it from you. Giving them any valuable suggestion will bring them back to you.

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My Grease fitting will not take grease on my heavy equipment. What should I do?

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Grease fitting is attached to the top of the grease gun and it delivers grease from grease gun under high pressure to inside of the sealed joints of heavy equipments. For the efficient functioning grease fittings should be free of dirt and not contain hardened grease. However, grease fittings get clogged and become ineffective in delivery of grease (malfunction).The following are some of the solutions to overcome this problem:

  1. Spraying petroleum based spray onto a grease fitting and cleaning it with a cloth will clean the grease fitting.
  2. Heat the clogged fittings with a propane torch or heat gun on a low flame. Following which the grease gun should be attached and flow of new grease will push soften old grease out and will clear the fitting.
  3. To attach commercial grease fitting cleaners such Zecker Zap, IPA, Powerfist and Performance tools to the clogged fitting. They are attached to one end of the grease fitting, injected with light viscosity oil and then stroked with a hammer. This will force the oil into fitting and will clear it of the hardened grease. Thus, these tools help to clear fitting without removing, replacing, digging or scraping. Applying this option has advantages that one does not have to pay for labour charges, reduces maintenance costs and downtime.
  4. When the above solutions do not work, then the grease fittings have to be taken apart to clean off the grease.
  5. After unscrewing the fitting, its passage is cleaned with a wire and filled with motor oil. The fitting is replaced and oil is pumped up, which will soften the grease and get it out.
  6. Sometimes there is a hydraulic lock at the zerk and which seals it. One has to loosen this component so that grease flows in.
  7. Sometimes the little ball in the tip of zerk gets friction stiffness or dirt gets collected over it and just needs to be loosened. A small sharp object can be used to dislodge the tip.
  8. Most the grease hardens on the zerk fitting. After taking the grease fitting taken apart, the zerk fitting is removed. A very small flat head screwdriver is used to remove all the grease out of the opening. The remaining can be cleaned using oil. A new zerk fitting is used and new grease is pumped till it comes out of the seals.
  9. If the above methods are not effective, then the fittings can be replaced with new ones as they are inexpensive.

Additional few things although minor, need to considered when grease does not flow into grease fittings. Sometimes there is lack of contact of the tip of the grease gun and zerk of fitting. There is also a possibility that the grease gun nozzle is worn out and leads to collection of grease around the zerk. Hence, replacing it with a new nozzle works for a long time. Also, one used use superior quality of grease. Finally, a daily scheduled servicing of the grease fitting is necessary for proper maintenance of the equipment.

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Kind of heavy equipment to build a housing lot

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Building houses has always been a thriving business and construction companies have made enough wealth being in this business for years. Even the newcomers are getting enough work and thereby not have to go through a lot of hardships. All that they need is some good heavy equipment and a bunch of able and competent workers who knows to build houses. When you are building a housing lot you need to deploy different types of heavy equipment for digging foundation, for breaking existing structures and to clear land. You can’t make use of 1 heavy equipment for all kinds of work and at the same time you need more machines if the construction area is huge. To build houses in massive lot, you need earth moving heavy machineries like excavators, loaders, bulldozers, backhoe crawler loader, trenchers etc. The utility of these machines is basically to move huge pile of soil that has been dug and load it in a truck. The truck will then ferry the soil in a dump yard.

The utility of an excavator is immensely felt in constructing a housing lot. It is multi-purpose heavy equipment which can be used for array of construction activities such as digging trenches and holes for laying foundation, demolition of existing structure, forestry work, general landscaping etc. It is one of the most common types of heavy equipment that you will find in a jobsite. This is followed by a loader which is primarily used to load materials like construction debris, asphalt, raw materials, logs, dirt etc.

Then we move to the construction vehicles which involve Dumpers, Tankers, Trailers, etc. These heavy equipment are used for various types of work. Right from ferrying the soil from the jobsite to the dump yard to spraying water on the jobsite using a truck, these heavy equipment are used for many such purposes. They have not have a direct relation in house building but still plays an active role. Without these heavy equipment it will be really difficult for the construction laborers to perform their duties. When we are talking about a huge housing plot, one can just imagine the amount of dirt that gets accumulated on the jobsite and to get that cleared off you need the help of a dumper, or a truck.

Then comes the material handling equipment which mostly consists machines like Cranes, Conveyors, and Forklifts. The cranes are used to move heavy slabs and place it on the top. Cranes are required when you are constructing high end towers. They are also used to lift heavy machines which get s stuck for some reason. It is therefore basically used to lift and ferry a heavy item which can’t move on its own from place to another. Conveyors are used to move heavy and bulky materials from one place to another. It is quite common is many construction sites as they all involve moving of heavy material items from one place to another.

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Repo business has good growth prospects

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What if you are given the rights by the bank to take away heavy equipment whose installments are due by the borrower and who presumable does not have any intention to pay them and in return you can earn good commission. Well, you would probably want to have a go in such form of a business. This you may see as a multi-million dollar business if you are able to stick to it for a decade or so and set up god rapport with different banks that are known for lending money to construction companies for buying heavy equipment. We call this business as “Repossession of heavy equipment or simply Repo of machines. This business often demands people who are strong mentally and can withstand pressure. Now when we talk about pressure, it can come from many corners.

Many a time, the borrower is not willing to let go his machine and also will not pay any installments. It becomes difficult to repossess heavy equipment from such people. You can’t even tell that the bank about the borrower’s behavior because it is your work to get it out from him and you got to go to any means in order to get the machine from him. The bank will ask you to show up with the heavy equipment so that they can auction it and can claim the price of the machine. So it all falls on you on how you will manage to get it out from the defaulter.

Moreover, some banks even give you the responsibility to keep a track of borrowers who default payments. So you are also responsible to hunt down men who borrow money to buy heavy equipment but are unable to pay them off. This seems to be quite an effort but it also pays you off real well. A repo agent makes around $400.00 for picking up any small sized machine. The amount increases manifolds if they are to repo big machines. They are paid handsomely for the effort they take to repo the machines and this is why many people are getting in this trade. They find this job to be interesting as they do not have to report to anybody and can wander as per their wish to track defaulters. Simultaneously, they make decent income at the end of every month.

They can also double their income by putting in more hours in a day doing this job. So this is for guys who can handle pressure and can take away the machine without making a fuss out of it. They also need to have contacts with transportation guys who can ferry the heavy equipment from the source to the destination. They at times have to move to other cities and states as well to repo machines. In scenarios like these, they will need the help of the transportation guys so that the construction equipment can be ported from one city to another. They are paid really well when the assignment comes from a different city so they never shy away from taking such jobs.

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Back up cameras on heavy equipment

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Operators experience a real tough time while moving the heavy equipment backwards. There are certain blind spots for which they need signals but the problem comes when there is nobody to give signals and the operator has to move the machine back. If they go wrong with their calculation then there is a big chance of them bumping an object or a person. Therefore they should install a camera through which they can check where the machine is going and if there is any object that is in mid of its path. He can then maneuver the machine by getting inputs from the screen that is installed inside the cabin. Heavy equipment companies these days have stopped manufacturing heavy equipment without a rear camera. Some also have cameras in the front. It actually helps the operator to figure out things that fall in the blind spot so that he can see them on the screen and avoid bumping off anything that comes on his way.

Saves life as well as money:-

A camera at the rear of the machine sounds to be quite effective especially when it comes to avoiding any sort of accidents. A construction zone will always have uneven roads and rough terrain which means that the operator has to be extra careful when it is driving the machine to a spot where he can’t see stuffs that comes on its way. There are always higher chances of him dashing an object or a person and can cause irreparable damage that can’t be compensated monetarily. The construction company on the other hand does not want to get into accidents because that leaves a dent to the reputation of the company. They may get the tag that it’s not an employee friendly company and employees are risking their lives by working with them. Simultaneously, if an accident happen because the operator wasn’t able to locate the object or the individual, it becomes the onus of the company to compensate the loss. So just by installing a camera in the rear can save priceless human lives as well as the heard earned money of the company.

Invest in cameras that last long and are truly effective:-

Cameras that can be installed on heavy equipment come in different quality, shapes and sizes. The cost of the cameras differs based on its features and its quality. It is recommended that you invest in cameras that has the most sophisticated feature and is considered to be one of the best in terms of quality. So before you go ahead to buy cameras for your heavy equipment, do some research on what kind of camera you need? Some cameras have good picture quality in dusty terrain. This means that if you are working in a zone that has lot of dust around, this camera will still be able to give the operator a clear view of the rear of the machine. Also check if they come up with any warranties and the conditions the companies have on such warranties. Only when you are convinced, you should go for the purchase.

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Few basic rules to follow before you rent your heavy equipment

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Before you begin doing anything, you got to follow few very basic rules that will lead to its successful completion. Be it studies, sports or business, there are some rules for everything and you can only do that thing correctly if you follow those rules. Here we will be talking about what one should do while they are renting their heavy equipment. What are the rules one should follow when they are planning to put their heavy equipment on rent.

The very basic rule while you rent your heavy equipment is to identify the machine that you want to let out. Identifying the heavy equipment is done basically by knowing if the machine is being put to any use in your existing projects. If you find the machine is lying idle for months, then that is the one you should be putting on rent.

Simultaneously, you also need to check if the machine is in order or is it lying down there because it is no longer in working condition. If this is the case, then you have to firstly get it repaired by a good service guy and then look at the possibilities if it can be absorbed into any of your existing projects. If you do not see any need for it then you should think about renting it. However, if you see that the machine can be accommodated into any of your projects, then the question of renting the machine does not arise.

After having identified the heavy equipment and also finding it qualified to let it out, the next step would be search for someone who would need the heavy equipment and would be ready to pay you the rent for using it. You may find this to be little difficult. It is not easy to get hold of someone who will treat your heavy equipment like his own, service the machine at regular intervals and keep good care of it.

You need to place ads in various websites or newspaper classifieds from where you can get people interested to take it on rent. The most viable option is to place the ad in a recognized website. A website that many follow to take heavy equipment for rent should be your next target. You need to identify such a website and place the advertisement out there. The remaining process may follow swiftly. You may receive calls from people interested in your heavy equipment. If you are willing to negotiate the price, you can do that over the phone or else you can strictly state “No Negotiation”.

Once you get a person, the next process will be to draft an agreement. You can catch hold your attorney who prepares such drafts. There you need to state in all the terms and conditions and it should be agreed upon by both the parties. Once the draft is legitimized, both the parties are bound to follow the terms of the agreement. After the agreement is done, you can hand over the machine to the user.

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Need heavy equipment – You are never out of options

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There are perhaps millions of ways through which you can acquire heavy equipment to meet your business needs. However, the real question is which way is the best way. You can’t just test and try each way to find out your best way. You may just ruin up everything if you wonder to take up that option. On the contrary, what is required to be done is you need to understand your requirement and on the basis of that check your resources and finally take the call on what you should be doing. Having lot of options does not mean that you are going to try them all. It simply means that you will never run out of it and will always have something that will go exactly the way you want it to.

We will be referring to few options that one can take when he sees the need to procure heavy equipment.

Buy a brand new one:-

This is perhaps the most common option that you may get. Buying brand new heavy equipment has a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages. It lasts long without much maintenance issues; is pretty high on performance, saves good deal of money when it comes to spending on maintenance and proves to be a reliable machine. Having said this, it also has few demerits, the biggest being its cost. Not many are able to afford the price of brand new heavy equipment or even afford to approve a loan for it. So you will find a good chunk of people failing to pass the preliminary prerequisite which is to have sufficient funds at their disposal. So let us move on to the next available option.

Buy a second hand machine:-

If not a new heavy equipment then the next best option would be to buy a second hand at a lower price. However, if one does buy a second hand machine, then the advantages that we spoke about for buying a new machine will act as a disadvantage in this context. It is very oblivious that a second hand machine will not deliver like a newer model and will have lot of maintenance issues. It also depends on how its previous owner used the machine and what care he took to lengthen the life and health of the machine. It is ideally this that defines your experience with a second hand machine. However, the irony will be that you will not come to know the correct history of the machine as long as you start experiencing issues with it. Therefore at times this option may the most apt one but it can’t be forever.

Take it on rent:-

The third option may be a little user friendly. Here you use a machine without owning it and pay an amount to the owner that has been agreed upon before you start using it. There are lots of people who want to let out their machine and make some money out of it. If you have a project where you require the machine during the initial phase, you can rent one and return it back once you see your job is completed.

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Expect good rental income from a wheel loader

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Moving stockpiles within the construction site can be very arduous when you put people to do the work. Also, you can’t make use of big heavy equipment to just move stuffs from one place to another within the jobsite. You need something that can take care of this business and does not cost you more for it. This is when a wheel loader comes into picture and does the work for you. A wheel loader has a big bucket in the front which is used to carry the mud by dragging the bucket on the ground, fill it with the dirt and then dump it on the truck. The size of the bucket varies a lot and it starts from 1 cubic yard for smaller types of loaders to 20 cubic yard for the larger models. The bigger ones are particularly used for mining applications.

You will find a number of wheel loaders on a mining jobsite. Also they will all be big in size and not that are owned by small contractors. This also suggests that there is a wider market for selling or renting wheel loaders to such enterprises. Now if we talk about renting wheel loaders to big mining houses, you will generally see good money coming out of the deal. As long as the wheel loader is in good working condition, the mining companies are ready to pay the price you quote. They only check the quality of the machine and if they find that to be in order, they are ready to pay for its value.

This also leaves us with the question that do big mining companies take wheel loaders on rent? Well, as a matter of fact, they take most of the heavy equipment on rent. They hardly have anything that actually belongs to them. The reason they do this is every different project requires different kind of heavy equipment and they can’t afford to spend everything they have on buying machines. This is why they prefer to take equipment on rent and return it once the work is done. At times, they sub-contract the work to different contractors who are given specific responsibilities. So a contractor who is supposed to take care of one part of the job will not look into any other departments. These contractors predominantly take loaders on rent.

You can take help of any heavy equipment rental company who can crack the deal for you. These rental companies are in close nexus with different contractors and construction companies. They may know who needs what and accordingly they will create a platform where both the parties can meet each other and complete the transaction. They will charge you some fees for their service but it is really worthy. They will also take care of the agreement part and will ensure that nothing goes haywire. Conducting a smooth and fair deal is part of their responsibility. However, doing a bit of research on the rental companies always helps. It is better to be prepared from your end.

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