Tag Archives: heavy equipment

Heavy equipment should be checked well before taking it on rent

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We normally have the tendency to check the in and out of the stuff before buying it. We do this to ensure that we buy a worthy stuff and not a waste. Now when we are buying something for our business we need to be double sure that it is of good quality and will last for years. But do we have to check the quality of a product that we will be taking on rent. There should be no question that whatever we take related to our business should be of ultimate quality irrespective of us buying it or taking it on rent.

In the construction industry, companies often take heavy equipment on rent. Taking machines on rent is not a practice that is followed by the small construction companies or small time contractors but even big companies on many occasions have rented different types of equipment. They do it for a very simple reason. Construction companies deal with different types of projects for which they require different types of heavy equipment and it does not make any sense to any matured construction company to spend their money in buying heavy equipment when they have the option to get them on rent.

One of the fundamentals that one should follow before taking construction machines on rent is to check the machine well. If only the machine is in good standing that the company should be going ahead with the deal.

Locate the heavy equipment:-

Primarily you have to locate the heavy equipment that you need for your business. You can check with people in your business circle if they know anybody who is renting heavy construction machines. You can also try to get a review of the person so that you know the quality of machines he gives on rent. You can then call up the person and check if he/she has the machine that you need and if he/she has what you have been looking for then ask him to give you a time to inspect the machine. Do not give any commitment before you have seen or examined the machinery.

Check the working condition of the machine:-

The heavy equipment the person is showing you may look good from outside but you do not know its worth as long as you have not worked on it. Therefore, if you are a person who know to work on heavy machines should take a trial and check if it is working smoothly. Just in case, you do not have the technical know-how of heavy equipment it is advisable that you go along with a mechanic and an operator who will examine the machine and will give you precise suggestions. You should also check with the owner of the machine if they have recently changed any of its parts and has there been any issue with the machine that has been fixed by any mechanic. It should not happen that after you have taken it on rent and some problems resurface and you got to face the music.

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Heavy Equipment and Texting is a bad combo

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We always like to be in touch with our friends and family members but there are times when the medium that you use to stay in touch with them can prove to be fatal. You may say that you are just trying to communicate a simple thing to someone but if you are communicating you should not do anything else other than talking to the person on your cell phone. You can’t be working as well as talking both at the same time. It just does not go well with each other and has every potential possibility to inflict serious injury to you or to someone else.

Most of the accidents happen while the person driving the car is talking to someone and driving at the same time. Now as far as the talk is normal, he has his sight on the road but if he gets to hear something exciting, his attention gets automatically diverted. So you may have your eyes on the road but definitely not your attention. The chances of you bumping someone on the road increase manifolds.

While you are operating heavy equipment in a construction site, you got to be extremely cautious about what you are doing. It has been seen that many experienced operators use their cell phones and keep on texting people while operating the machine. This is a very bad combination.

The operator may be quite experienced and has superb control over the machine but he is still playing with fire by diverting his attention on the cell phone. It has been observed that texting is more dangerous than speaking over the phone. While you are texting, you continuously have to look at the cell phone and therefore you lose your sight on the site. You will not even get to know if something gets on your way and by the time you realize it may be too late for you to control.

According to a research, it has been noticed that while you are texting, your eyes off the road/jobsite increases by 400% and the chances of moving into a different lane is increased by 28%. So one can simply figure out how dangerous it is to text while you are operating the construction equipment. Now the most horrifying detail is that while you are texting, it increases the chance of an accident by 2000%. These statistics unanimously speak one thing. The construction business owners should put a ban on using cell phones while working on the jobsite. The operators may expect some emergency calls but that can be easily dealt by providing the number of the supervisor on duty. So if there is an emergency in the family, they need to call the supervisor and he will inform the operator.

The contractors should also develop a cell phone free policy for all the operators and also construction workers on the jobsite. This will ensure the safety and well-being of all the employees working on the jobsite.

Clearing debris using heavy equipment

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The entire construction industry is largely dependent on the use of different kinds of heavy equipment. It can be used for many purposes like road construction, digging deep inside the ground, rolling down an existing structure or simply removing debris out of the site. Well, removing the debris can be a painful task for the workers if they exclude the involvement of heavy machineries. It may take weeks if not months for the workers to just remove the debris out of the site if they had to do this manually and without the participation of heavy equipment. In a nutshell, it is just not possible. You can’t take a hit on your finance and delay your project just because your employees are busy clearing the debris. That sounds completely insane from the perspective of a construction business owner.

So in a situation where you got to take care of the debris, it is advisable that you have your heavy equipment in place that are especially used for such work and get the work done in few days. The entire purpose of using heavy equipment to get the work done is to save your time as well as the time and energy of your workers and also to speed up the work a bit. The heavy equipment that are ideally used to clear debris are excavators, backhoe loaders, front loaders and any machine that can have an attachment either in the front or at the rear and can attach a bucket out there are fit to do this work.

Many construction companies or for that matter demolition companies use a dozer to demolish structures and then use the same machine with a different attachment and clear the debris. All they do is fit in a bucket in the front and the operator makes sure he gets the job done in a day’s time. So a bulldozer is a favorite for many demolition companies. Though there are some who prefer a backhoe loader for the same job but many find dozers to be more compatible than any other form of heavy equipment.

Excavators can also be used to remove debris. The claws of the excavator can be used to draw the debris in it and then it moves at the back of the machine and dumps the stuff inside the bucket which is then moved and eventually dumped in the truck. Excavators are the ideal heavy machines for the ones who got to dig deep inside the ground and then carry the dirt and dump it in the truck. So the construction and mining companies who are into building huge apartments or who goes deep inside the ground in search of minerals find an excavator as a perfect machine for their job.

Backhoe loader is such heavy equipment which is primarily used to remove debris. It has a bucket at the rear of the machine and the dirt is filled inside the bucket with the help of the boom that’s attached on its front. It is also used for excavating work; therefore has similar features of an excavator.

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Make customized heavy equipment straight from the workshop

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We all have some specific requirements and in order to fulfill those requirements we need special tools. Similarly, when we talk about the construction segment we would like to have heavy equipment that suit our needs. Heavy equipment makers take lot of care to produce machines that matches our needs but that may sound pretty expensive and the heavy equipment produced by them are bought by big construction and mining companies. Small contractors and sub-contractors form a major part of the construction business and frankly they can’t afford to buy machines that are tailor made. They ideally made some amendments to the heavy equipment they are using like adding some attachments and try to do their job. However it is not an impossible task to use customized heavy equipment. All they have to do is give the existing equipment to the mechanic who has a workshop and who not only fixes construction machines but also modifies them. They only have to be a bit specific about their requirements and consider the job as done.

Not all mechanics modify heavy equipment:-

You got to do a fair deal of research before you land up to one such workshop and also remember that not all mechanics modify heavy equipment. They may have a workshop where they repair your machines but they do not participate in modification works. Either they do not have the expertise or they want to keep their business simple. Some mechanics know to modify machines but still stick to the repairing business. It is definitely not an easy job. When you modify a machine you got to take care of many other things that are connected with it. If you want something to be changed, you may have to forcibly change some other component as it may not be compatible with the changed item. This is why there are special workshops which have trained men/women for the job and you need to take the equipment to them for any kind of modification.

Can also buy customized heavy equipment:-

If you are looking to buy heavy equipment that will serve some special needs for your business you can again look up to mechanics that makes heavy equipment considering your needs. These heavy equipment will be way too inexpensive as compared to the one manufactured by heavy equipment companies. It will not hurt your budget and you have a machine that serves your purpose. However, it is important that you prepare the specifications of the heavy equipment along with the operator. He will be the guy who will eventually work on it and therefore he can mention well about what all he needs in it.

Compare the price before you give an order:-

Before you go with ordering customized heavy equipment, it is imperative that you check the quotation from different mechanics. You got to be wise enough to choose the best. Try to get reviews from people who have got similar work done from them. If at all you get recommendations from someone in your business circle, you can give that special consideration but try to analyze the situation well and then place yo

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What happens to heavy equipment whose payments are defaulted

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Not every person who has borrowed money from a financial institution pays it off on time. There are few borrowers who for some reason or the other turn defaulters. It is not that they do not want to pay their debts off but the circumstances somehow do not allow them to pay the debts. Many people who take up their career in the construction industry take incorrect decisions that have a hard hitting impact on their finances and eventually it leads to non-payment of monthly dues. There are handful of borrowers who simply lack the intention to pay-off the debts but these kinds of people are quite rare as people are aware that any default in payment can have a strong impact on their credit rating which they do not want to see tainted. Now the heavy equipment whose payments are defaulted are usually repossessed by the banks.

Banks do not want to incur losses when they realize that the borrower is unable to make any further monthly payments and therefore they give the work to repossess the heavy equipment to a third party who specializes in towing the heavy equipment from the borrower’s place to the bank’s garage. Now the work of the repo guys is tougher as it is not easy to tow the machine without the approval of the borrower. It is quite likely that the borrower will not approve the repo guys to just take away the heavy equipment. They may cause problems for them and the job of the repo guys is to tow the machine without creating a furor on the spot.

The financial institution has to pay decent amount to these repo guys for their hard work. Other than that, every other repo agent has different charges based upon their experience and their ability to repossess heavy equipment. So once the machines are handed over to the bank, the bank has to arrange to auction the heavy equipment and sell it at a price so that it can cover up the principal amount. Now the question that comes up is does the bank get any buyers for these used heavy equipment. Well, as a matter of fact, the banks get lot of buyers because the deal they will get during the auction, they can’t expect it anywhere else. Such auctions are just the thing any buyer would want to have.

However, the irony is they have to take what they get in the auction. They may not find the equipment they wanted for their business. For instance, if the bank decides to auction few equipment which are basically dozers and graders and people who are in need of an excavator may find the auction worthless. So it does not serve the purpose of everybody who is present in the auction. But for people who want to buy heavy equipment at lower price so that they can then rent it out, for them it is a fair deal. They have to pay the amount in cash and take away the heavy equipment.

The beginners should be backed by the veterans

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You be a part of any industry and you need some guidance when you are new to that form of business. You seek guidance from the tenured guys who has been working for that company or have being a part of that industry for years and you believe that if at all you come across a problem, you have people to bail you out. You depend a lot on them. Simultaneously, it also becomes the responsibility of the experienced men to take the onus and give proper advice to the newbie so that they can steer away from any issues and learn to deal with problems. The need of such veterans is needed a lot when it comes to selling heavy equipment. Sales in itself is a difficult job and not many are able to find this to be their cup of tea and there are many who after striving for a while generally give it up.

Not quite good with product knowledge:-

One of the major problems that has been seen amongst the newbie is that they find it tough to understand heavy equipment and therefore when they approach a client, they are not confident enough to pitch in the product and subsequently unable to sell the stuff. They lack good product knowledge and are most of the time confused as to what they should learn from this vast topic. Heavy equipment is undoubtedly a vast topic with so much to understand and one can only grasp it completely with time. So, we can’t expect a newbie to learn everything just after he is done with his training. A veteran can step in here and advise him on the areas that he should concentrate. He may not have to learn everything but just few important things that are relevant to sales.

Not all days are good days:-

In the daily life of a salesperson, he has to go through a lot of ordeal. In order to make one sale, he probably has to work hard for the entire month and heavy equipment being an expensive item; it certainly takes time for a contractor to make the decision to buy the machine. On the other hand, he should also be ready to take up insults at times which can be very embarrassing. There are times when the client do not buy the stuff but is also not rude to you but such clients are few in numbers and you get mostly people who for some reason turn out to be a bit rude when they deal with sales guys. This needs to be addressed by the experienced lots and they can always comfort the beginners by saying that this is a part and parcel of the business and one has to go through this in order to grow.

Sales trick are important to be shared:-

Every form of business has a trick that helps to complete the job faster. The veteran salespersons should share those tricks with the new guys. Do some role play with them where they will act as client and the beginners will be salesperson? In this way they can sharpen the skills of the beginners and generate a new confidence in them.

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Acquire young talents at lower costs

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Irrespective of you having a big or a small construction company, it is very instrumental for you to acquire young guys to work with you. No matter if they are not experienced and do not know their job, all that matters is their determination to stick around with your company and learn the work. They are turn out to be great assets to your company if they are trained in the right fashion. All they need is somebody who can guide them and help them understand the thing they would be doing. You have to show them a bright career for them to focus on work. Construction industry is one such industry that has the potential to offer the youngsters the future that they are looking for. The only thing the industry wants from them is to learn things and try to become an expert. It does not take long for a person to learn few tricks of the trade of the industry if he/she has the appetite to learn.

Can offer jobs to thousands of people in a country:-

Construction industry is on such industry that can offer jobs to thousands even millions. It not only just provides them with a job but it also shapes their career in a way that they become disciplined and inclined to grow in life. Countries like Dubai and other middle-east countries are spending a fortune on numerous construction projects as they have the idea to turn the place into a tourist hub for which they need quality workers to complete the projects.

Thus, people who not mind moving to other countries can find this to be a fabulous option and can get the exposure of working in an alien environment. He/she may probably get to learn more than what he/she can do working in US. There he/she may get to work on heavy equipment that are highly advanced and not many companies in US are using them. This really means a lot to them and will carry a lot of weight to his/her resume if he/she ever decides to make his way back to his homeland and search for a similar job.

Company can save a lot by hiring fresh minds:-

Construction companies like any other companies have to pay more for experienced work force. If they try to keep a balance of experienced as well as fresh workmen, they will be shelling less money as pay package to the young lots. It is quite evident that the young lads/lady will not negotiate much when it comes to salary. However, that does not imply that you got the right to exploit them. You are bound to give them the standard package as per the norms of the industry. You will still be able to save a lot if you follow this process and the money you save doing this can be utilized for other developmental purposes.

By employing young people, you are not only providing jobs to the unemployed but also giving them a career that they can pursue for long.

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Sharing your knowledge on heavy equipment by writing blogs & articles

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Sharing knowledge always helps. It may help the person who wants to know things which perhaps you know and in return you can make some money or can generate contacts through which you can get some business. There are various platforms available where one can share information that can be helpful to the mass. The most common platform is internet where one can write things on his blog and the entire world gets to read it.

Other than this, you can also post information on magazines, newsletters or can even make it to Television. Sharing knowledge on the internet is sought to be the most convenient and favored method in today’s time. If you write something in a newspaper, that will be only read by people who reads that particular newspaper. Newspapers are area/city specific. So if you have written something in a newspaper, it will not necessarily reach out to many people. This is why writing blogs and articles on the internet make more sense.

Articles on heavy equipment are read by many who are associated to this industry and needs to update their knowledge on the subject. There are people who know in depth about different sorts of construction machines often uses internet to spread their message to the public. They have in a way become a brand by writing numerous articles. People do not intend to read any new reader as they do not trust anybody other than the person they have been reading. It is quite a powerful tool and hence should be used with caution. The writer should mention things with caution in his article and must maintain that he does not put in something that he is not so sure about. If he is not sure about anything, he should mention that in the footer of the article.

Good way to share one’s experience:-

An article is perhaps a better way to nice one’s experience to the people. An expert who knows the in and out of construction machines can pick up a different topic and write on it sharing his experience, his knowledge and what he feels should one do in a certain situation. He should also invite others to come up with questions or any doubts after having read his article so that he can clear them all by answering them. He should also share some stories that have indeed happened, the mistakes that he has committed or have seen people doing so that it can be avoided by others. The articles could act as a learning curve for many who are new to this industry and do want to make the same mistakes which the writer has done.

Talk about different kinds of heavy equipment:-

When you are writing articles on heavy equipment, it should not be contained to limited equipment or machines of some selected brands. You have to speak in totality. Most importantly, you should not only speak about the goodies but also point out the negatives. People want to read about different kinds of heavy equipment so give them what they need.

Use Water Trucks to control Dust on the jobsite

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The sight of a construction site is not restricted to just heavy equipment or workers working on the site but you can get to see something more, something that is dangerous in nature and it is huge proportion of dust flying on site. It is pretty natural for a construction site to b dusty but that is also taking its toll on the workers. They are getting vulnerable to various kinds of respiratory ailments which is making them weak from inside. This is a very serious issue and not much is being done to restrict this menace.

Researchers working with human health benefits organizations and other environmental friendly techniques suggest that the growing problem of dust in a construction site can be contained by spraying water which has the potential to settle the dust for some time and the workers can continue with their businesses. Since this idea has been implemented in various construction sites, there has also been a debate on the effectiveness of this method. Many feel that this is only leading to the waste of the most useful natural resource and water is not able to contain the dust for a long time. The moment water is evaporated from the soil; it gets dusty again which means that it is time to sprinkle water again on the ground. This in turn results to wastage of gallons of water just to contain the dust. Moreover, the mechanism used by construction companies to sprinkle water is also questioned.

Most of the companies sprinkle water using large pipes. That only covers a portion of the construction site but not the complete area. It makes no sense to pour water to contain dust only in one particular portion of the site. What is indeed needed is a mechanism that moves all over the site and sprinkles water everywhere so that the land is wet and dust is off the site for few hours. This gives need to the use of water trucks that can go all around the site and do its work. Construction companies are now changing their methods of dust control from using pipes to carrying water in trucks and spraying them all over the site.

These water trucks are specifically designed to carry water and can move on the site. Though they are used precisely for carrying water but can also be used to transport debris from one place to another. They are made to move real slowly so that they do not become the reason of accumulating dust and spraying it all over. They also make use of pipes to spray water but the outlet of the pipe is made in such a way that the water gets sprinkled on the ground thus restricting wastage of water.

Almost all heavy equipment producing companies manufactures water trucks. You can check the website of any such company that is into manufacturing heavy equipment and you will get to see the different models of water trucks produced by them.

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It makes sense to buy attachments of heavy equipment

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Once you are a part of the construction industry, you have to deal with many things and there are few things where you decision to buy some machinery or take it on rent will matter a lot to the company. So when it comes to buying heavy equipment or taking them on rent, it completely depends upon the situation you as well as your construction company is in. If you have surplus funds available and can easily buy a machine or two, you can opt for buying them but if you see scarcity of capital and are struggling to keep your business afloat then you better go with taking it on rent.

However, when it comes to the buying attachments of heavy equipment and you know that you will always need them irrespective of the project you are in then it makes more sense to buy some attachments rather than taking that on rent. You will simply pay monthly rent on an item that you know you will need as long as you are in the business. Therefore buying the item altogether will solve the problem of contacting an owner to provide you with the attachments.

Since we know that heavy equipment are highly expensive items their attachments are not less expensive and can cost a good amount of money especially when you are buying them from branded makers. You also can’t compromise on the quality of your work and therefore can’t use an attachment that is manufactured by company that you have never heard of. You have to buy the attachment of a branded company to keep the pace of your project going. So what you can do is get hold of dealers or companies that deals with used machines and attachments.

There are a lot of such dealers who sell attachments of almost every company under the sun and that you can name of. In case if they do not have the stuff in their shop then they will make sure that they get it for you in few days so that your business does not suffer. They sell these attachments at a comparatively lesser price. They usually buy old and dilapidated attachments from people and then give it an altogether new life. At times they buy it directly from the company and sell it to someone with a promise that they will buy it back from them at a decent price.

This is why many people buy attachments from such dealers and take the assurance home that once it gets old they have a place to sell it off. This is how you get different kinds of attachment of different heavy equipment and that too of different heavy equipment companies at a lower price. By taking attachments on rent will never let you own one. You will simply use and return it to its owner. Your only gain is that you get to use the stuff when you need it the most but for the next project you again have to hunt for another owner making the entire process complicated. This gives enough reason why one should buy the attachments than taking it on rent.

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