Author Archives: Kevin

What Should One Be Doing – Buy Heavy Equipment or Take Them on Rent

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Heavy Equipment serves you in a number of ways as far as your business are concerned. However, it has a high price attached to it and normally businessmen are baffled thinking if they should be buying the machine or take them on rent. Taking them on rent sounds to be a good option but has its own problems. If you take the equipment on rent, it definitely means you’d be using a used machine and hence can’t always be sure that it’s not going to give any troubles. There have been numerous instances where the person taking it on rent had problems with the machine.

At times, it just broke off or it consumes too much of fuel and perhaps isn’t that productive. The common reason to this problem is the people who take it on rent are very much aware that they don’t own it and have to return the equipment once the term of the contract gets over. Therefore, they use it without taking any care for it. Maintenance is hardly done and hence the machine keeps giving some or the other problem. Thus, it becomes imperative to distinguish properly if you should be purchasing a new machine or go for a rented one.

There are few things that one needs to understand before they take a decision. Only on the basis of considering few parameters, one must either buy or take the equipment on rent.

Finances:-  Before you come on to the decision of buying heavy equipments, it’s prudent that you check your financial position. You also need to plan things like wages of the workers, payment of utility bills and any other bills that needs to be paid to keep the business running. You might consider taking a loan but that should struck your mind only if you’ve a fortified business plan where you are pretty confident that nothing can go wrong and you’d end up making money. That will nevertheless help you to pay off the loan amount.

Know your business requirements:-  You should do your homework before you start thinking about buying/renting heavy equipments. Try to know the project you are dealing with and for that what kind of machines you’d need. Once you’re sure of your business requirements, you can chart out a plan where you can state which machine is needed for what purpose and try to streamline your work.

Take suggestion from people in this domain:- You can always take suggestions from people who have spent good number of time in this business. They will be in a better position to guide you. Their experience in this domain will benefit you for good. Thus, it’s important that you reach out to such people who are in your good books and you are sure they will not throw you in the dark.

Take references:-  Once you have taken a decision, you can also ask for some references. You get them from the people who’ve advised you with things. Check if they can help you out with few names with whom you can do business with. They can certainly give out some names from where you can buy/rent equipments.

Heavy Equipment Accidents and How to Avoid Them

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Heavy Equipment Accidents and How to Avoid Them

Construction sites are prone to accidents and one has to be overly cautious when working inside a site. He/she must also follow all the safety measures to avoid a mishap and stay away from a potential danger. Most of the accidents that happen in a construction site are because of the negligence of the victim. However at times, it has been witnessed that a part of the heavy equipment had gone faulty that became the reason for the accident. By following safety measures, one can avoid the accidents that happen without the involvement of a machine; but how can one ensure the safety of others in a construction site when accidents are happening because of heavy equipments that has gone awry and has stopped working as it used to.

Well, the most suitable solution for this would be to replace the faulty part of the machine with a new one and check if it works fine then. If the problem still persists, it is prudent to get rid of the old machine and get a new one instead. This is a quickie. However, its costs a lot to buy a new machine and hence companies search for alternatives when they find their machines would not stretch more from here on. To be precise, they have not enough alternatives at their disposal. What they could have done was serviced the machine at regular intervals which would have revived the wear and tear caused on it over the years. Construction companies should have a maintenance department whose duty would be to ensure that the machines are in good order and they do not falter at work. Maintaining the machine by oiling them regularly and if necessary replacing the old part with a newer one should be the responsibility of the maintenance department.

Construction companies doing huge businesses are highly dependent on heavy equipments. With changes in technology, they need to introduce new machines that are comparatively far better than its predecessors. Not doing so can have serious consequences on the workers operating them. For example:- A person who just graduated from a technical institute have learnt to deal with machines with the latest technology. If he is asked to operate a machine of an older model, he may not understand the functionalities associated with the machine and might end up doing an accident. This means that either you stop recruiting the young guys in your company or change the old piece of metal with newer ones. Changes are bound to happen and in order to conduct business the way you always used to do, imbibing these changes and implementing them in your business will eventually help to avoid accidents in the workplace.

Avoiding controllable error is another significant step in reducing the instances of accidents occurring in the workplace. Controllable errors are errors that can be avoided. They are errors that are within your reach and can be eliminated. Lot of accidents happen due to sheer negligence which is nothing but controllable errors. Once these errors are contained, rest will follow smoothly.

Looking For Seller/Dealer of Heavy Equipment – Read This to Find Out

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Be it a businessman who has newly started his construction company or someone who is running the business for a while, both are always in need of new machines. This means that they both need sellers to provide them with the heavy equipments they need to meet their business requirements. If not the one who has been in this industry for long but certainly the beginners would have a hard time to locate sellers who can sell good stuffs to them. Most of the times, it has been seen that the newcomers find themselves tricked by the dealers and are given something they have not asked in the first place and then they have issues in getting it replaced. Thus, it is very important to know whom you can trust and therefore continue the business with them.

Having said that, we don’t mean all sellers/dealers trick buyers who are naive as far as heavy equipment or their parts are concerned. It may be just a handful of them who gives more importance to money rather than business ethics and buyers should be watchful of such sellers. The more cautious you are, the better it would be for your business.

So the vital question is how one can find sellers/dealers on whom they can lay some trust and buy those expensive heavy equipment.

Through proper reference:-  It’s said that a word of mouth is the strongest mode of advertisement and therefore you should first reach out to folks who’re pretty old in this industry and check from whom they buy heavy equipment. They should be in a position to tell you whom to approach and whom you should avoid. Having dealt with different sellers and dealer all through their life, they must have seen the many faces of this industry and would be the right set of people to guide you. They may also let you know if you can expect any discount of stuffs.

Most of the times, the seller offers discounts on machines if you give them the reference of the buyer who’s been dealing with them for long. So it often helps you save some amount of money and then you can gradually develop your relationship.

Search the web:-  Internet is another strong medium to locate sellers selling heavy equipment. You can 2 major options. The first one is you can directly visit the website of the company and check if they have a showroom in your city. The second option would be to just enter the thing you’re looking for the in the search menu and the search engine will throw multiple options related to your concern. You can then choose the best available option and can get some information from it.

Similarly, you can also make use of online shopping site which allows you to buy heavy equipments online. You get to see the specifications in the listing which also mentions the price of the item. If you feel it’s too high, you can as well contact the seller and check if they are ready to negotiate with the price. However, before you contact the seller, it’s advisable that you check the feedback of the seller. If only the seller has a goof feedback score or has received many positive reviews from different buyers, you can reach out to him.

These are few simple ways to locate the seller/dealer and get some good deals from them.

Installing a Fuel Filter Will Prolong on Fuel Consumption

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The construction sector is often hit with factors like finances, land acquisition, environmental issue etc that plays a major role in the fluctuation in the price of this industry. In addition to this, the rising cost of transportation and other essential commodities required to keep the construction sector running has become a deeper worry for construction companies. Keeping all these into consideration, any increase in the price of fuel works as the last nail in the coffin. You require fuel to run the heavy equipment and a rise in the price will definitely bring you in a high and dry situation. It can also hamper your business if you are not able to cope up with the problem. However, the question here is do we have any option to get through with this issue?
Well as a matter of fact, there are few options available which we can use to contain this issue if not eliminate it for once and for all. Heavy equipment manufacturing companies are in the process of designing heavy equipment that runs on electricity. It means that this equipment will not require any fuel to run. All you have to do is just charge the batteries of the machines and it will be good to go. This sounds like a wonderful idea but there has to be a catch behind this new stuff. Well, it ideally doesn’t have a catch to be precise but the problem is they would be very expensive than their predecessors and since they are in testing phase, one cannot guarantee if it will be as effective as their precursor. Also, being in the testing phase, the first option isn’t of much use to the construction houses and hence they might look for other alternatives.
What can be done in this scenario is install your machine with stuffs that help to reduce the consumption of fuel. You might also want to change fuel filters every 250 hours or less or find alternatives that consumes less fuel. The clean fuel filter simply prolongs the consumption of fuel which makes it an all the more expensive affair for companies to operate these machines. The fuel filters are though important for your machine needs to be replaced only if you can install something that is capable of doing the work with the same intensity. In order to know the alternatives, the best available option would be to contact an expert who has studied in length on machines and has equivalently worked all his years with them. These experts will be in a position to advise you with the various alternatives available that can be installed in place of a fuel filter without compromising the quality of the work and also help in reducing the consumption of fuel.
Alternatively, you can also make use of internet and try to search options that can help your cause and simultaneously can bring down the consumption of fuel. There are many articles written by experts where they write on giving up the fuel filters and use an alternate in its place. You may also find the name of the companies/brand that you can use in your machines.

Does One Require a Forum on Caterpillar Equipments?

Does One Require a Forum on Caterpillar Equipments?

By now we understand the importance of having a forum on heavy equipments. It educates us on different kind of machines available and their uses in the construction or mining industry. There are many big heavy equipment manufacturers who day in and day out are producing machines of high quality by upgrading its technology to match the one of their competitors. While this is done, it puts the purchaser in a state of confusion as to which machine he should be going for. Every company claims their machine to be the best in the industry and talks in volume of its durability and its power to perform. The buyer in this case is often baffled with too many options and lands up in a zone where he needs an expert opinion to help him take a decision. Perhaps this is where he decides to join a forum where he can read to experts giving their point of view on different machines and can also key down his question to them.

Joining a particular forum does help you to get answers, but if you can join the forum that is created by a brand that will help you know more about their machines and the changes in technology that has taken place over the years in those machines. Let’s say a person needs some information on Caterpillar excavators. He has few options to get those details; He can either directly go to their website and search for the details or can simply join a forum. Searching the details in the website might help him to a certain extent as it may not contain the information he is actually looking for. In other words, the information in the website is not specific in nature and hence one has to look for a substitute. The substitute in this case could be a forum. The person in order to get the desired information can go to the caterpillar forum and ask the question there in the forum. The experts may reply to him either on his email or on the forum itself.

Caterpillar has at regular intervals invited its experts and technicians to speak at several forums. They are being asked to speak on different machines and how it is useful to the consumers. The audience here gets a wonderful opportunity to speak directly with these experts and shoot their question to them. The experts give their opinion based on their understanding on the machine which has been often proved to be very helpful to the listeners. Caterpillar not only provides a platform where consumer can ask questions online but also holds forum where they can meet the experts in flesh and blood and can get their questions answered.

Caterpillar forums in general has been very beneficial to the consumers at large and they expect the company to carry on with such activities on a larger forum where human minds from different places are invited and they all can have a healthy conversation of different heavy equipments that will only help to enlighten the thoughts of the audiences.

Thinking of Renting John Deere Heavy Equipment – We’ll Show How to Do It

You have a strong business plan, have allocated human resources, also have few contracts in your pocket but have problems in getting the machines just because you can’t afford them? Well, money should never be a problem when you have the skills and are committed in delivering to your clients. This is perhaps all you need to become a good and successful businessman. Rest all are just things which supports your cause and should never become a hurdle for you. There are many big construction houses which had once started in a small office and now have an inspiring story for the beginners. You can also form one such story by taking up the challenges and meeting them with all your might and intelligence. As far as heavy equipment thing is concerned, you have options to deal with it.

Firstly, you need to decide the machines you need to get your work done. After having analysed the kind of machines you require, you may chalk out the company which produces the best of those machines. Well, to make this easy, there is one such company by the name John Deere who is committed to produce quality machines for their customers. Unarguably, the machines are quite expensive and for a beginner it would be a hasty decision to buy a brand new piece. In such a scenario, it would be recommended to take the machine on rent and use it until you can afford to buy a new one. Once you have your business rolling, there might be no looking back for you and you would be in every position to purchase a new metal for your business.

There are few alternatives from where you can get a good deal. You can try to browse the net and check things there. You might get astounded to see plenty of people having listed their heavy equipment for sale or to lease them for a period of time. You can take this opportunity to contact the person who has listed the item and try to have an appointment. You also have the chance to compare the stuff with other seller and can find the best deal for yourself. However, before you have an appointment, it’s highly recommended that you go through the specifications of the model you want to take on rent and also check out the features of it. If possible, have a chat with the lessor first, checking if the machine had any accidents or any of its parts were recently changed or fixed for having caused some problems. If only you’re convinced by the lessor, you may go ahead and book a meeting with him.

Once you go there to check the machine, it’s better that you take an expert with you who can probably do a test on the machine to know if it will work smoothly till the contract ends. The experts would be in a position to tell you if you should be going for the deal or should continue your hunt.

Ideally, John Deere machines don’t have many issues with them. However, that also depends on how it was maintained by the person using them. In the end, if you find a good deal, John Deere heavy equipment would never let you complain.

Buying or Selling Second-hand Construction Equipments

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Buying or Selling Second-hand Construction Equipments

We are often compelled to ponder on what we get can rid of the second hand construction equipments that is perhaps no longer needed for the business. We really can’t afford to sell it off as scrap as we’re pretty sure it’s only going to fetch peanuts if it goes to the scrap. So are we left with any other options? As a seller, we are left with few alternatives that will definitely work our way. We can either get it out on rent and can earn some money on a monthly/weekly basis or can simply sell it off with a great price.

Rent it to buyers:  You may come across a good number of prospective buyers who would like to take the stuff on rent. Buying brand new construction equipment is not a joke and one has to invest hefty sum of dollars to get one. Other than that, they also have to spend a fortune to keep the machine well maintained. Taking all these into due consideration, buyers are keen to take the equipments on rent rather than buying it at one go. They end up paying a small sum of money at the end of each month and can return the equipment once the project gets completed. Thus, there are fewer hassles involved as compared to buy a new machine and subsequently they also end up saving few dollars of their company.

Buying second-hand construction equipment:  This is another option which should be utilized only if the buyer has enough funds to buy the used piece of steel and also can run the project without any financial deficiencies.  The buyer also has the chance to inspect the machine and check if everything is in order before striking the deal with the seller.  Thus, as long as the buyer is sitting on limited cash to fund his project, he should be wise enough to understand what works better for him.

Since we have covered both the perspective of a buyer as well as the seller, we now need to understand where the seller can sell the used equipments. Both the seller and the buyer need a common platform where they can initiate the trade and finally execute it by paying for the item and the seller subsequently shipping the item to the buyer’s address. There are many online auction sites or trader sites which has given both the parties the much needed platform to transact. Things are pretty transparent in an auction site and hence the chances of fraud happening is very rare. Either of the party that has indulged in any sort of fraudulent activity can get a negative feedback which is visible to all other buyers/sellers. This will deter others from transacting with a person not adhering to the policies of the online auction site.

From the viewpoint of the seller, it should not be a difficult task to sell their used construction equipment to prospective buyers especially when they have such innovative tools at their disposal.

 

 

Looking To Buy a Bulldozer – Your Search Ends at John Deere

If you are in a construction business, you may perhaps know the importance of a bulldozer in your industry. It’s one of the most important machines that are needed in this form of business and one certainly can’t think of getting into this business without having a dozer with him. If you are working in a redevelopment project where you are required to bring down the old construction and rebuilt a new one, you need this mighty stuff to break down the old settlements. You also need them for constructing roads, wherein they are mainly used in moving the earth from one place to the other and also levelling the land. The engineers has designed the machine keeping into consideration the fact that it has to go through laborious chores on a daily basis and the person using it can’t expect it to break down at any point in time.

Bulldozers being a tough machine differs in quality and many manufacturers claims to be the best in the industry. Well, that ultimately depends on the user as to how they rate the machine produced by a particular user. Though surveys are conducted on timely basis to find out the company that manufactures the best of machines and it has been often found that John Deere has always managed to give an edge to its competitors. The quality of their machines unarguably excels at every parameter making them the number one producer of bulldozer in terms of excellence.

Let us now talk about its features and utilities. Most of the dozers are fitted with “Interim 4 Tier Emission” engine which lengthens its durability for good number of years. The engine also has side-by-side coolers which ensure the engine remains cool after working for long hours. Other than this, it uses wet-sleeve cylinders liners which give uniform cooling. This enables the dozer to work tirelessly for days and without any breakdowns. As a matter of fact, every contractor hates taking their machine to a mechanic and getting it repaired. They want their machine to work endlessly without any hiccups.

The engineers have worked to better the hydraulic and hydrostatic systems by sealing it completely with common fluid and filter codes which removes the chances of cross contamination. Doing this ensures that the dozer remains in good state and you don’t have to worry much about the maintenance issues. The dozers are also gifted with an optional feature known as “Integrated Grade Control”. Having this feature in your machine empowers you with laser levelling technology which means you can automatically control the hydraulic grading functions.

Well that was all about the machine and its engine, now let’s talk about the person who would be operating it. The cabins of the operator have been built by taking into consideration his comfort and knowing that he got to be sitting in the cabin for a long time. The cabin is fitted with air condition to keep the person inside cool and comfortable. A suspension arm chair can be fitted inside to keep the operator productive. However this is optional and not inbuilt.

John Deere’s bulldozers are a popular brand by now and most construction and mining companies always game for their machines.

Komatsu Excavator – A Name that All Can Trust On

Before we talk any further on Komatsu Excavator, we first need to understand what an excavator is and what use it is of. An excavator is heavy equipment machine which is mainly used in construction and mining sites and is seen moving earth, layering the land, so on and so forth. The machine seems to have a neck like a giraffe and on top of it; you will find a rectangular bucket which is used to dig the mud using its sharp edged like fingers and after collecting the mud in the bucket, it moves to dump them. This is what an excavator is meant to do. This may sound easy but technically one need to learn a lot of things before they could start working in an excavator. With development in technology, many new changes come up on a regular basis and this is why the operator needs to upgrade his knowledge on operating the machine.

After knowing what an excavator is, let us share some thoughts of the brand that is known to produce one of the best excavators in the globe. We would be talking about Komatsu excavators and how they have managed to make their way to the top.

Komatsu has produced excavators of various models and each one has its own speciality. Not going into the specifics of each model, we would be speaking on the utility and efficiency of the machine and how Komatsu has inched higher making itself a brand in the world market.

Komatsu has developed compact excavators which can be used for many purposes. It’s mainly used for digging the earth and loading it in a truck. This sort of excavator has the potential to function in a confined area as it can swing easily and turn around with comfort. The operator is given a big cabin which is also known as “house of the operator”. The cabin is quite spacious which allows the operator to freely move himself inside the cabin and do his work with absolutely no difficulty.

The engine provided in the Komatsu excavator is diesel powered and it helps to drive the travel motor and the hydraulic pump. Hydraulic pressure is generated when the hydraulic oil which is inside the hydraulic pump sends out the oil to a cylinder that finally moves the excavator. The levers located inside the cabin allow the operator to do back breaking work with ease. Komatsu engineers have taken special care while designing the different parts of the machine. They wanted to ensure that the operators do not experience any difficulty in performing their duties and the most laborious work is done with extreme ease.

It is noteworthy that the work equipment of the excavator which is the long neck it has is quite similar to a human arm. It allows the machine to move itself just the way a human moves his arm to do his work. In this case, one can remove the bucket and attach some other equipment to perform a various other work. This makes the machine multifunctional and one doesn’t require any other machine to get the work done.

Komatsu is working hard to bring further changes in its machines by adding new technologies and making it user friendly.

How important is appraising value of heavy equipment

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How important is appraising value of heavy equipment

When you are in a construction business, you have those big machines that were bought by spending huge dollars. You used it for many years and then you feel like selling it off as it may have grown too old and you thought you should be replacing it with new ones. This is when you see the need of appraising the heavy equipments so that you can know the right value of those machines in the present terms. There are several companies who work as appraisers and their job is to check the number of years the machine has worked and what could be its value if you want to do away with it. Getting the heavy equipments appraised on an annual basis is very important as it gives you the value of the stuff every year and by this you know at what rate is the value of the equipments getting reduced year after year.

Here, we would be talking about the role of an appraiser and on what basis does he appraise the worth of equipment.

Who is an appraiser?  An appraiser is the person who can analyse the worth of the equipment you have been using for years. He can help you to determine the estimate value of the machinery using some calculations. There are good numbers of companies who are certified to do the work of an appraiser and the figures that they have evaluated are accepted throughout the country.

Why does one have to appraise their equipment:  Normally, there are three major reasons for getting your stuffs appraised. It starts with knowing the cost of your equipment, to find out its market value and to determine the income. All these factors play a crucial role in determining how an appraiser takes up the work. At times, the business owner also approaches the appraiser to simply know the worth of his machines. He perhaps may be looking to compare it with a brand new stuff available in the market and thus by appraising his machine with the one available in the market, he can get an estimate of how much more he needs to spend in order to get the new stuff. The appraiser on the other hand has to be very careful while evaluating the worth of the machine. They need to do their part of the job by maintaining proper standards set upon them by their regulatory body.

Criteria of appraising the equipment:  There are many important parameters that an appraiser has to follow while appraising the heavy equipment. In order to provide a good estimate of the worth of the machine, they do a thorough research of the items history. They also need to check the present value of similar items which can be compared with the item they are appraising and then can come to an estimate. Another important criterion is to get information from the client whose machines are getting appraised. You can hope the information you get from them are true and in any case you see any discrepancies, you can cross check it and bring that in your report.