Category Archives: heavy equipment

Buy affordable second hand heavy equipment sold by dealers

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If you are a person who wants to stay loyal to a brand and do not want to switch amongst manufacturing companies then you probably have to pay a price for it. But if you are not even willing to pay the price, then perhaps you do not have more options available. However, when it comes to heavy equipment it seems that now you have options. Heavy equipment have always been an expensive item even if it is decade old and small construction companies as well as contractors find it difficult to buy them directly from the manufacturers. This has also lead to a fall in the sales figure but there is another reason which is playing an important role to the sharp decrease in the sales volume and that is people are getting attracted towards second hand heavy equipment and there are dealers who are providing the brand that people want at dirt cheap prices.

So invariably now the dealers are making good chunk of money in a legal business. Though it is a loss for the mainstream heavy equipment companies but certainly a big gain for the small time dealers who predominantly deal with selling second hand construction machines and sees it as a growing business all throughout. Likewise, it has not only attracted the small construction companies but also the mid-sized ones as they all are been buying their stuffs from these dealers. So when the buyers do not see the mainstream heavy equipment manufacturing companies as the only option, these companies will have to work out things that save them from wrapping up their businesses. In fact, some companies have even winded up their businesses from few locations which is a clear indication that people are attuned to buy less expensive machines.

In terms of quality, they are not bad either. These dealers have connections with workshops that work on the old machines and make it look new. They also change the parts that do not work and ensure that they give a new life to the equipment. The cost of repairing a machine is not that high. So they only need to ensure that they put the things in place and make it ready to work. There are few agencies involved in this process. The first is the one who buys the old heavy equipment from the original owner. He gives it to the workshop who brings it back in shape and then it eventually goes to the dealer who sells it to another buyer. More often the agency who buys the machine from the first owner and the dealer are the same. They only need to have good connections with workshops where the heavy equipment are repaired and painted and rest is simple.

The advantage for buyers is that they can buy heavy equipment of any brand at a cheaper price and for guys who are brand loyal, they can manage to buy machines of their brand which is otherwise so expensive that it becomes out of their reach.

How to level the land using a grader

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For a construction activity to begin on a site, it is very important that you have the site leveled so that when the heavy equipment moves on the roads, they do not feel the unwanted jerks and bumps. The work of a heavy equipment operator is never so easy and when you do not have the land leveled it causes all the more trouble to the person working inside the cabin of the machine. He is just not able to position himself properly and this might have some serious implication on his work. It is therefore very crucial to have the ground at a same level so that it makes working for every individual safe and hassle free. Now the machine that can do the work for the construction laborers as well as for the operators is nothing else but a grader.

Generally, a grader is made up of 3 axles. The first axle is located with the engine and on top of the cabin, the second axle is at the front end of the machine and the third one is located at the rear end. It also has a blade in between which does most of the cutting work. So the operator who will be working with the machine needs to check if the blade is sharp enough to do the job and once he is sure about its efficiency, he can begin with grading the land. When we talk about grading it means removing the unwanted substance which is the reason to bumpy roads. So the work of the grader is to cut lose those unwanted substance which can then be disposed in the dump yard truck. A grader is also used to set native soil foundation pads which helps to finish grading quickly before large buildings could be constructed.

Since not all lands are the same. In the same way we can’t use just one type of grader. Graders are of many types but with the basic function to weed out anything and everything that comes in its way. We will normally see a grader with a blade in between but now we can also find graders without blades. Instead of a blade, they have a fork front which becomes fruitful to knock down the hard substance that is quite solidly attached to the ground. The fork fronts of the grader are of different sizes and it also largely depends upon the kind of land it has to work on. If the land is rock solid and quite vast, then the bigger size will be brought to use but if it is for a small place with not much to cut then perhaps the smaller one can do the trick.

The blade of the grader is not only restricted to cutting process but is also used for spreading and leveling. You can flatten a surface if you do not spread soil over it and it sounds absolutely insane for someone to use another machine for spreading soil. Therefore we have the grader taking care of this part of the work.

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Selling heavy equipment – Must to have a mentor

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We all want to excel in our career and lead a prosperous life and for that we try and do everything under the sun to make that happen. One such profession where you need not be ultra-qualified is being a salesman. However, that does not imply that anybody can become a good salesman. It requires lot of hard work and determination without which it will be futile to dream of a prosperous life. Now when we are talking about sales, we are dealing with a difficult chapter. When you are into selling something, you are winning someone’s trust first and then selling him the product. This also means that if in any case the product goes faulty, the person will lose his trust from you for eternity.

Therefore it is important that you sell the right stuff to the right person. But when you are a beginner you do not know how to deal with situations and how to crack a deal. This is where the need of a mentor surfaces. Ideally, you be a part of any industry, the need of a mentor is always required there but it is probably more needed in the profession of sale because you are not only dealing with the reputation of the company but also with the trust of people and you just can’t allow that to go for a toss.

For people who are selling heavy equipment, the need of a mentor increases in their case. One can just imagine the situation of a newbie who after graduating gets into selling heavy equipment about which he knows nothing. He must be having nightmares to come to office every day and may even think of moving to some other job or some other industry. Well for people like these, there must a guy who will guide them with the things he is supposed to do and the things he should stay out of. Since he will be completely new to this environment, he should first meet his mentor before his starts working for the day. No wonder his mentor will fill him up with positivity and will try to clear any hurdles that he must have experienced during the sale.

Selling heavy equipment may not be as simple as selling some financial product but it is also not a very difficult job. It just depends on how well you take it and the kind of support you get from your mentor. You should be sharing possibly everything pertaining to the job with him. Right from meeting the client to the kind of questions that were asked to you by the client and also the answers you gave should be said to the mentor. By that he will judge the areas where you are lacking and will give necessary advices to work on. You should take them positively and hone your skills further. It takes time to become a good heavy equipment salesman but with the help of your mentor, you can do it without much effort.

How to tighten the tracks on heavy equipment

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Though been one of the most important components in the construction industry, heavy earth moving equipment is sadly the most ignored element of all. Construction companies are all running a race against time. All they know is to complete the assigned work in time or for that matter before time so that they can catch up with another piece of work and in this entire process they fail to remember that they need to give a bit of attention to an important segment which is the earth moving heavy machines. Construction companies are heavily dependent on mechanics whenever they see an issue with any of their equipment. This is not a bad thing to do but depending completely on something can also take a toll on your work when you do not find the team around to get your work done and you do not know how to get things moving in the absence of the team. This can certainly leave you in a high and dry situation and can also cost a fortune to the company.

So the ground rule is you got to take enough notice of your heavy equipment and learn a few things that you can do to fix things in the absence of a mechanic. One of the most common problems is with the track of the heavy equipment. They come out way too often and you are unable to figure out how to get rid of this issue. Well, you will not be able to get rid of it completely but maintaining the overall machine on a timely manner which also takes into account the track of the machine can certainly reduce the frequency of the problem. But when you have encountered a problem like this and have nobody around to help you out, here are few things that you can do yourself to get it track back.

Firstly, you have to ensure that you turn the upper part of the machine so that the boom is at a 90 degree angle to the travel direction. After that you got to check that the bucket floor level is to the ground by positioning the arm upright to the ground. You then need to press down the boom so that the track is elevated on one side and then gradually it is completely suspended above ground level. Once that done, you need to ensure that the track makes several revolutions so that the debris and other dirt can come out. Once that’s done, stop the track from moving and move in the cab. Ask your assistant to measure the bottom of the track frame to the track shoe and compare it with the measurements given in the user manual.

You may also have to inject grease in the small hole of the track frame and for this purpose use a grease injector. This will help to tighten the track. Once the tracks are tightened, make use of a wrench to loosen the fitting and get the track on the ground. Just in case you see any issues and can’t figure out to fix it, stop there and seek help of an expert.

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Heavy Equipment Salvage

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Every living and non-living thing has an expiry date attached to it which means that it will most likely get redundant or become obsolete after a certain span of time. Heavy equipment also have an expiry date which is not known. It all depends upon how you use the machine and what care you take to ensure that the age of the machine is lengthened. Having said that, there will be a time when you have to finally do away with your most lovable heavy equipment and bid adieu to it. Does this mean that you get nothing for the machine for which you spent so much? Well, there is something that you can do to get some money by selling the equipment to a heavy equipment salvage company. These companies are ready to buy the entire equipment or just parts of the machine and will pay the correct price for it.

When would you know that it is time that you need to approach the salvage company? The moment you realize that your heavy equipment is costing you more on maintenance and is also causing issues while working. These are signs that it is time that you do away with the machine and replace it with a new one. Simultaneously, it is would be foolish to just give away the metal for nothing when you can make some money by selling it. This is perhaps the right moment when you should approach the heavy equipment salvage company and sell them the machine that does not function at all. If you feel that they will not buy the stuff, then you would be happy to know that they will be pleased to take it from you. What they do is they extract the good parts from the machine and sell it to users who are in need of that part. In case, if the part is not working fine then they will repair it and then sell it in the market.

The heavy equipment salvage company deals with all kinds of heavy equipment right from bulldozers, excavators, graders, forklifts, cranes and loaders. You give the machine in working or in non-working condition and they will take it from you. One thing that you must be aware before you sell the machine to them is the price they offer you. It is advisable that you approach more than 1 salvage company if you want to do away with your existing machine. Try to get the rates from them that they are ready to offer you and then take a calculative judgment. Your decision should be quite rational and you may also consider using the amount received from the salvage company towards paying the down payment for the new machine.

In this way you do not have to lose anything. It is kind of a win-win situation for you. In case if you want them to come to your place and take the machine as you do not wish to pay the shipping cost, they might even be ready to do so. However, it is better that you talk to them about it in advance

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Heavy Equipment Operator Jobs

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Jobs that demand excellence pays handsomely to whose who has the ability to do justice with it and the temperament to deliver it without any delay. There are many such jobs that are ready to pay good money. However, the only thing that they demand is quality work and highly skilled labor. It is not that the ones who are semi-skilled are not fit for the job. It is just that they are not yet ready to claim the high package which an expert in the same domain is. So the thumb rule is that in order to deserve a high package, it is very essential that you show some character in your work. You will be rewarded only when you fit in the category of people who deserve the reward for their hard work.

If you are looking for such a job that truly rewards people who their hard work and excellence, you should be aspiring to become a heavy equipment operator. When you are an operator, you get the opportunity to learn a lot of things about the machine. Many operators also know how to fix the machine they are working on in case there appears to be some sort of problem. They do not lay their hands in grave issues though but ideally knows how to solve a particular problem.

Heavy equipment operator jobs are in plenty across United States. Many construction and mining companies are looking for experienced and skilled operators who have been operating different kinds of machines for a long time. They are also ready to pay them handsomely but the only crisis is with getting competent operators. Construction companies are experiencing serious problems in recruiting skilled operators. For some projects they can’t take the service of semi-skilled operators and only want skilled men for the job. These projects are quite important for them and hiring a person who has limited knowledge or experience in operating heavy equipment can be a big danger for the project as well as the people involved with the project. It may also rupture the rapport with the client if the clients does not get to see quality work happening.

It is very crucial to join a renowned institute or a training center that deals with teaching people how to operate heavy equipment. They may have different courses. They may have something for the beginners, then for the ones who want to learn more and finally advanced courses. After which, they get the opportunity to work with expert operators during site visits. They get the chance to interact with them, shoot questions at them and get suitable answers. They can even try their hands on the machine under the guidance of the expert operator. Once they are through with the training program, they can apply as apprentice in a construction company from where they will start getting exposure into the practical aspect of being an operator.

It will be only through experience that they will garnish their skills and knowledge and their quality will be reflected in their work. Once they become competent, searching for a high paid job will not be difficult.

Patience is the key for any construction business

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The ground rule of any business being big or small is to be patient and hit hard when you get the opportunity. Business is all about different phases. You may be doing well in your business but soon you will discover that things are not going well for you and with each passing day you see things moving out of your hand. These are instances that test your nerves and check how calmly you can manage situations. You should not get paranoid and let the situation take you on a royal ride. On the other hand, take control of the situation and lead from the front. Ups and downs are parts and parcel of any business and one got to deal with it quite maturely. Throwing tantrums may not be the solution. Complaining about things may again not be the viable option but taking complete charge of the matter may take you out of troubled waters.

Patience is required the most when it comes to businesses that are volatile in nature and are mostly dependent on market forces. So if anything goes awry in the market it may have a lasting impact on the business as well. This means that you got to keep your nerves cool and face the situation as it comes. Construction industry a matter fact is one such industry that is known for its volatility and is easily affected by the market forces. Since you do not have any control on the market, you just have to move with the flow. The one thing that you need to take notice is of picking the right things while you move on. When things are tough, you better lie low. This is where patience comes into picture. You may be quite an aggressive person when it comes to business but at times you need to replace your aggression with calmness as it does not do well at all times.

Being aggressive in an industry like construction is often considered as a virtue and not many can maintain the same aggression throughout. They often tend to be aggressive in the beginning but in the mid they begin losing it. This is in no way a positive sign for a construction company. Similarly, when there is high unpredictability you got to give upon on your aggressiveness as well and try to remain patient till you see the right time to hit back.

There have been numerous instances of many huge construction companies going bankrupt as they maintained their aggressive policy when it was time to remain calm. They were of the opinion that they can’t shed away the natural instinct of the company which was indeed the primary reason of their debacle. They could have stayed down for a while and waited for the right moment. They severely lacked patience. It is somewhat difficult to stay afloat in turbulent waters but once you manage to take the right decision during wrong times, things becomes smooth once the phase gets over.

Rent heavy equipment after carefully deliberating the pros and cons

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It is pretty obvious that you do not want to keep your construction equipment lying idle and want to make some use of it. In case, you are running out of projects and do not have much work to put all your machines to some use, you might consider to rent them. But by just renting the machine can’t ensure that you do not have to worry about it any longer. No wonder that you can start getting rental money on each and every month but there is something you are losing in this bargain. Well, you are definitely not losing your equipment but if you hand it over to the wrong chap, then you will without doubt get scrap in return at the end of the rental term.

It is therefore very crucial to identify the pros and cons of renting the machine before you actually go for the deal. Knowing the benefits and the disadvantages can help you a long way in taking a concrete decision on how you should be going ahead with the deal. If you have been renting machines in the past, then you would be knowing about how to deal with situations but if you are a newbie, then you got to learn things first before you go to strike a deal.

Identify the heavy equipment you want to let out:-

It is very critical to first identify the heavy equipment that you want to put on rent. You may not want to give a new one on rent as you may want that for your projects. You can play around with the older stuffs that you have. Check your inventories, know what you have and rent the machine that are not being used by you any longer. Do not let out the new equipment if you have any and especially not the ones that you feel are doing great guns in your company. You should pick out the ones that are lying idle for long, the ones that are not technologically advanced and are probably a little out of date.

Renting heavy equipment has high possibility of it getting worn out before than ever:-

If you have decided to let out your heavy equipment, you should also be ready to acknowledge the fact that you will not get it back the way you gave it to the taker. When you rent your heavy equipment, the user uses it exclusively to complete his projects on time and he may use the machine the way he wants without paying much attention to the wants of the machine. This may end up in deteriorating the quality of the machine and at the end of the rental period you will find the machine to be in a bad state. You may also have to spend lot of money in getting it repaired so that you can probably rent it again or just sell it to another person.

Therefore, do not spend all that you have made from the rental income. Save some money to get the stuff repaired.

Selling heavy equipment that are on the verge of becoming obsolete

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Heavy equipment being so expensive, we use them to the fullest and then when we see no further use we try to sell it off to someone who may need it in his business. But as years passes by, we see a lot of changes in the technology of a machine and people ideally do not wish to buy something that is very old. They like to go with heavy equipment that are known to the operators and they do not experience a hard time to work on it. Now in a situation like this, if you have a machine that has been with you for decades and now it just can’t be used at all, you are perhaps left with no other option than to sell it as scrap. A person with a sane mind will never buy it with the intention of using it in his construction business. It will simply not work.

In case, you sell the heavy equipment as scrap, you are not getting anything out of it. Just few hundred dollars and you are done. But what if a company is ready to pay few thousand dollars for the same piece of metal. It sound to be unrealistic but as a matter of fact there are some companies that deal with age old heavy equipment and buy them by paying decent amount of money which a person selling it can’t even expect to get for that old stuff. These companies are always in the hunt of old heavy equipment that people are happily willing to do away with.

The modus operandi of these companies is to buy the machines at real cheap rate and change their parts with newer ones. They work to give it an altogether new look and also installs gadgets that are currently in demand. Overall, they make it look like a brand new heavy equipment and sell it at a price much less than the ones that you normally buy from the heavy equipment manufacturing companies. These companies have engineers working for them. These engineers have loads of experience in producing heavy equipments. They are also provided with all the equipments that are required to manufacture construction machines. It is just that they can’t use the name of the brand on the machines or else they mostly produce machines which are a bit less than par to the original ones.

It makes a lot of sense to sell old heavy equipment to these companies. They are ready to buy machines that are not bought by anybody. So before you plan to sell it off to such companies, it is better that you first check the number of such companies available in your city. You can contact them and check the price they are ready to pay. Do not commit to anybody but speak with as many people as you can and know the price they are ready to pay you. You can then sell the machine to the person who can pay you the most. In this way, you can get rid of very old heavy equipment and can still make decent money from it.

Lien property that your heavy equipment was on

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There is always a danger that you will not be paid for your work from the person for whom you are working. This can result in huge loss for your company as you have to pay the dues to your employees which is quite obviously not going to be a meager amount and if you are unable to collect the money from the guy for whom you have been working then that will lead to big problem for you as well as for your company. In order to avoid this loss, you can place a lien on the property that your heavy equipment was on. Placing a lien will ensure that you have the right to dispose of the property after the completion of work to any third party if you are not paid for your work. In case you dispose it off, you will be able to get your dues paid and in turn you can even pay the dues of your employees that is liable on you.

We would be discussing the reasons on which you can place a lien on the property your heavy equipment have been working.

Being paid slowly or not in time:-

This is one of the indication where you should act and act fast in placing a lien on the property. If you paid fairly slow or are paid not in time, it only indicates that the person is either not interested to pay you the entire sum and is paying you a bit so that you continue with the work and once it is done he can just shrug off the responsibility to pay the entire sum of the work. Many small construction companies have suffered huge losses as they failed to put a lien on the property and it finally resulted in non-payment of their dues. You not have much to do later once you are done with your work. You have to get off the place with your machine as you have to take care of other businesses as well.

The project giver disputing your work time and again:-

This is another usual instance that many construction companies experiences in their career span. The person for whom they are working will come out with very lame and silly reasons and will make a huge mole of a mountain. You may not know if they are doing it so that they do not have to pay you the promised sum or are they genuinely unhappy with your work. It is recommended that you take their feedback and work as per their needs but if they still complain and threats not to pay you, putting a lien on their property should be the next step you should take to protect your rights.

Small contractors not getting paid by the project owner:-

At times small contractors who do not own the project directly and work for somebody else are also at risk of not getting paid by the project owner. They can also place a lien on the property and ensure that they are paid in full for their work.