Why it is important to keep a regular check on engine oil?

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Do you own a car or even a motorbike? Have you ever gone through its manual? If you have, then you must have seen the frequency in which you need to change the oil of your vehicle. But, do you follow this instruction? Probably no!

The problem with engine oil:

Many people, just like you, do not consider the importance of changing the engine oil in their vehicles. Just as the commercial vehicles, private vehicles and transport vehicles, the heavy construction equipment too needs a regular engine oil change. Having a check on the engine oil is the least expensive maintenance service that you can have. Still, owners want to skip this service thinking that it would save them a huge lot of money.

However, in reality, it actually costs them way more than usual, once the vehicle or the engine completely stops working. The engine oil is the lifeblood of the engine and the engine is the heart of the vehicle. If the engine stops working, there is no way that the machine will move an inch.

Importance of engine oil:

Before you understand why you should be changing the engine oil frequently or as per instruction, you need to understand its importance.

  • The carbon and varnish that accumulates on the engine, is reduced by the engine oil
  • The extensive amount of heat that is generated every minute in the engine, due to the small explosions constantly taking place in the engine, is reduced to a great extent by the engine oil
  • It pulls away the heat and thus, prevents the engine from blowing up.

Because of the accumulation of the varnish and carbon from the engine in order to keep it running smoothly, the engine oil gradually becomes sludgy and reduces it liquidity. Regardless of how expensive the engine oil is or which brand of engine oil you are using, the additives of the engine oil gets used up and in that case, it requires a change. Otherwise, the engine will get permanent and severe damage.

Change the engine oil timely to keep expenses low:

Many people mistake that changing the engine oil is an added expenditure. It is actually a way to save you loads of money. Opening the engine, changing it or cleaning it is way more expensive than changing your engine oil. If you delay your engine oil change, it will affect your engine and this will actually cost you very high.

Checking the engine oil regularly and changing it as per the instruction manual of the heavy equipment or any other vehicle is as important as any other maintenance services. It is very affordable and you do not have to do anything extra or expensive to do this. Just as you take your heavy equipment to the professionals for servicing it, you can check and change the engine oil. But of course, using the right type of engine oil is important. There are different types of engine oils available in the market for different types of engines. Choose the one that is best suited for your machine.

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Be careful while dealing with contractors that you have not worked with

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Trust is an important factor in any form of business. You got to trust the person before you start working with him and if you are not able to generate the trust and comfort then it makes no point in working along with them. At some point or the other you will get stressed up and you will have to do away with the other guy. When you are entering into a partnership with a person you do not know much about, you got to be very cautious. Ideally, it is recommended that you do not get into any partnership with an unknown person but in case if you have to then you are needed to remain ultra-careful and monitor his business activities. You should not trust the person by not knowing him in complete or else it might lead you to serious issues.

There is a popular saying in the construction world. “Do not trust an unknown person. He carries with him the potential to back-bite you”. This is very much a possibility in an industry where there is cut throat competition all over the place and people are ready to negotiate with their ethics without giving a second thought. Since the construction business has been considered such a rewarding business many people are turning into it to make it their career. They will often consider toppling anybody that they see as a potential competitor and therefore if you think of getting into partnership with one such person you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Contractors in specific can cause you more harm than others. They are the ones who do most of the work in a project for you and are paid as per the contract. Now if you get engaged with a contractor that you do not know much about and he does not intend to do his work properly and is associated with you to make some easy money by doing shabby work, it can lead you to serious problems. It is therefore important to know the credentials of a contractor before you give him the contract.

You need to know if he has worked previously in any such project and try to get his conduct from that company. Such information can be availed with ease. Construction companies do mind giving out conduct report about a specific contractor as they understand that the contractor is not bound to work with just one construction company. They can work with multiple companies at the same time. So if the contractor is worth getting some work, you will be informed about it or else they will give you a negative report.

If you have been working with a contractor for a long time and you know his quality of work is splendid that generates a certain degree of trust in you and you can focus on other stuffs by submitting the entire assignment to him but this can’t be done in case of an unknown contractor with whom you have been working for the first or perhaps the second time.

Selling used heavy equipment is a thriving business in US

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In the construction sector, you are always in need of heavy equipment. When the construction is at full swing you just can’t afford to go short of machines. You have to be prepared with heavy equipment that are needed for the project and can’t go to buy one at the eleventh hour. It is not that you will not get the machine you want at the eleventh hour but it is just that it will be too expensive for you to afford and you have no option left other than to buy it. It is crucial that you keep on analyzing the ground situation and ask your men to prepare report on regular basis. On the basis of the report and the analysis that you have made yourself, you should come up with a decision to buy machines. This fact particularly shows that there are enormous buyers for heavy equipment. It is just that they are all waiting for a good deal to come their way and once they get a deal that they consider being worthy they simply go for it.

It gives ample of opportunity for sellers who want to get rid of their used heavy equipment. They may want to sell their machines for various reasons. One could be that they have bought a new one and do not see any need to keep the second one sitting idle. The second reason is that they do not want to continue to be a part of this industry which is why they want to do away with their machines. So for sellers of heavy equipment, they can hear a very clear message going to them and that is there is a big customer base who wants to buy second hand heavy equipment. It is just that they should know how to reach them.

Leave an ad on your blog:-

If you are a person who has his blog and is quite active on it, you will certainly have a lot of fan following. You will have readers who read your blog and know you by that. So if you want to sell your used machine, you can write about that on your blog and ask those who are interested to buy it to call you on your number. This is perhaps one of the most efficient and affordable methods to sell your second hand heavy equipment. People who read your blogs and articles will also try to spread the word to other people who are connected to the construction industry. In this way you will never be short of prospective buyers.

Reach out to people on your own:-

You may know a lot of people belonging to the construction industry. Your friends, business partners etc can become potential buyers. Your part of job is to reach out to them and spell out your intention to sell your old machine. If they see a need to buy it, it will revert to you. You generally get someone from your business circle who becomes ready to buy the machine.

Renting a motor grader has now become simpler

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Construction of roads has now become a healthy business and many small contractors are lining up to get a piece of the cake. They want the road construction projects to be given to them so that they can make good money once the work is done. The overall cost of the project is understandably much lower than the actual contract price which is why contractors find it to be a comfortable one to get into. Now in the road construction project, motor grader plays quite an instrumental role. The primary function of the motor grader is to grade a piece of land and level it so that while you go to construct the road, there is no unevenness found on the surface. This process is normally done before placing asphalt on the surface of the road. In a nutshell, without the application of a motor grader, you will not be able to construct good wide roads.

Though these graders are not so expensive to buy but still contractors prefer to take them on rent. The reason is these machines are not used through the road construction process. It is only used wherever some sort of grading work is required. Alternatively, if someone owns a motor grader, he may not use it always. The need of a grader is quite specific and once the need is fulfilled the machine is left idle for most of the time. Therefore it makes absolutely no sense to buy a machine that has a lot of importance while building roads but has a very specific purpose attached to it and can’t be used for multipurpose work. The best option is to take it on rent for few months and once the work is done and you no longer need the machine, you can give it back to its owner.

This limited need of the machine gives rise to another form of business and that is renting of motor grader. There are some companies who buy graders in bulk and then they let it out to the ones who need them for road building. These companies work in close nexus with contractors who are primarily engaged in road construction work so that if ever anybody requires a grader, they can make it available for them. The rental amounts they charge from these contractors are a bit lesser than the rentals charged normally.

Now for individuals who have bought a grader and do not need it for some time can rent it on websites or can simply approach these companies who in turn will route the machine to someone who needs it. They may charge a certain amount of fee for their services. An individual can first try it out on a website and check if he gets some response and in case if things do not work out for him there, then he has these guys who can get it done for him. Overall, a grader is such a machine that has pretty decent demand in the construction arena and will never find it idle if someone wants to rent it out.

Treat your employees fairly

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We do not like our boss to be prejudice towards a certain employee for some specific reason. This can irk one and all and can spread an emotion of discontent all across the company. Eventually, the employees will not feel the place worthy to work and they will start looking for some place else. This means that you end up losing your valuable employees and can also see it as talent drain. These employees can get better pay by joining a company that is related to the same line of business and can hope things to be better out there. In the end it is you who will be at loss just because you have been unfair in treating your employees. What you could have done is you could have been fair to all your employees and treated them equally.

People appreciate when they see their bosses pick the best talent and reward them. But if you pick the person and reward him who is simply not worthy to be rewarded, it is then the rift will be created. This can have a lasting impact on the prospect of your company.

Select the best men/women for expansion projects:-

If you have expansion plans and have already allocated few projects through which you will expand your business, the first thing you need to do is select the best men who has the ability to take the expansion process ahead. Here you need to check the guys who have been phenomenal in terms of performance, hardworking, have taken less leaves and are highly productive. When you give such people an opportunity they will leave no stone unturned to ensure that they get the results you have expected to get from them. Give opportunities to the deserving and the loyalists. They will stick to your company and will work hard to take the organization to the next level. You can only grow in the construction business if you have the knack to pick the best men to do the job for you.

Do not make anybody your favorite:-

It is a big “NO” to have a favorite in the construction world. You may like someone’s work which can even lead you to make him your close associate. You can always give an ear to his advices but you should never believe him blindly or walk as per his direction. That is never going to be healthy for your business. You should have a group of men/women who will be your advisors and listen to everybody before you take a decision.

 Make people feel they are special:-

When an individual feel that the company no longer sees his importance in the company, he/she starts getting demoralized. For you, he/she may be a wonderful employee but you have never let him know about it. This will lead him to start his search for a new job where he can get some sort of importance from his boss. If a person has stayed in the organization for a long time, it certainly means that he/she see his/her future in that company. The efforts of such employees should be acknowledged and appreciated and they should be thanked for their hard work.

Related articles across the web

What are hybrid excavators?

These days we are getting more accustomed to things that are produced in a hybrid manner. Well, hybrid means culmination or union of two things into one. When you adopt two or more different technologies and make a product out of it, we can call it as a hybrid product. Technology has taken the center stage in today’s times and therefore the products that we use or consume should be tech oriented. A lot of people have shown immense interest in hybrid cars because they look jazzy, they are fast and also safe. Hybrid cars will soon become the need of the day as more and more people will prefer them instead of the cars that are made conventionally. This means that the ones that we are using will soon phase out. Similar in the case with heavy equipment. The construction industry is one such industry which is always in the hunt of heavy equipment that has better features and one can only bring new features by amalgamating different technologies into one.

When we talk about heavy equipment, excavators deserve a special place. They are known for performing multiple tasks which reduce the need of deploying other heavy equipment that are known for doing a certain type of work. These heavy equipment are bit expensive than the conventional ones but people prefer to use them instead of the former. The reason is pretty simple. They save a lot of fuel and deliver the work with utter accuracy and precision. The operators have also these excavators to be far worthier and claim that they can complete the work in less time. Thus, the hybrid excavator serves the purpose of both the construction company by saving good sum of money through limited fuel consumption and of the operator who finds it to be far convenient and user friendly.

Reduces CO2 emission:-

Almost every country is concerned about the environment and where it will reach if we continue to mistreat it in the same manner. Countries like US have vowed to reduce carbon footprint and is also working stringently in this direction. The construction sector which is considered as a major contributor of carbon emission should take this issue and work towards reducing the emission level. This is one of the many reasons why many construction companies have switched over to hydraulic excavators which is again one form of hybrid heavy equipment. Most of the countries are building their infrastructure like ports, railways and water sewage that needs hybrid excavators to work on it. It is believed by industry experts that soon these hybrid excavators will take over the ones that are being used.

Hybrid excavators can work for longer duration:-

Construction companies that are already working with hybrid excavators are of the view that these metals can work for longer hours. This in turn means increase in the productivity. Simultaneously, it has an automatic idling stop which will stop the engine of the machine if it is idle for a given period of time. This leads to less fuel consumption.

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New CAT heavy equipment are more user-friendly

Heavy equipment are bought by keeping few things under consideration. For instance, the owner of a construction company will prefer machines that consumes less fuel and are more productive. They will also give reliability utter preference. Similarly, the operator who would be actually working on the machine will look for convenience and space. No wonder he would also want the machine to be productive enough to be able to complete the job in comparatively lesser time.

Apart from this, they will also prefer heavy machines to be simple and easy to operate. When you have less buttons inside the cabin you always feel at ease. You know that you got to deal with these many buttons and you have no other business apart from these many buttons. This makes the heavy equipment more user-friendly and is also liked by many operators. Some of the operators are highly brand conscious and they will simply not work on heavy equipment of another brand.

CAT has been for a long time the number one choice of most of the construction companies, contractors and operators. It has been able to hold its position due to several reasons but the most important of them is that it provides lot of comfort and ease to the guy who indeed works on it. You need not have to be a highly experienced operator to work on a CAT machine.

The new series of CAT heavy equipment are extremely sophisticated when it comes to state of the art technology. They have been built by keeping into perception the overall needs of the users. The designers and engineers that were behind building the new series of machines made sure that they give the top quality stuff to their customers. CAT as a company conducts surveys at various levels where they take suggestions from the users and on the basis of those suggestions they bring in new technology.

Various functions can be done via joystick:-

All you need is a basic understanding on how to operate heavy equipment and you can operate any CAT heavy equipment with ease. Most of the functions in a CAT machine can be controlled with the help of a joystick. So you basically need to spend few days controlling the joystick and to understand the various functions that are done using the joystick and once you have known that it becomes a child’s play. However, you got to remember that no all work can be termed as child’s play and therefore if you have to work on rough terrain or bad weather, you need to be sure if at all you can do the work or else you seek the help of an experienced operator.

May be slightly expensive:-

Since you have new technology being adopted in the new series of CAT machines, the price may be slightly high. However, construction companies are certainly not shying away from buying them even though they find them to a slightly over budget. They believe that at the end of the day they are investing in CAT heavy equipment which will last for long.

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Work with your team rather than putting pressure for non-performance

We have often encountered a situation wherein we are reprimanded for the non-performance of the entire team. Especially if you are the person who is in charge of the team and if your team is not able to perform as per the expectation of the company, you get to hear the nasty stuff from your boss. Well, we do not like to fall in such a situation but things always do not work as we want it to. Now let’s take this situation as an instance. You have a boss who is not at all grumpy and always loves to stay in a pleasant mood. He gets to know that your team is not doing well and therefore summons you. To your surprise you see him not yelling at you but trying to know what could be the possible reason for the team’s non-performance. He tries to set up an environment where you feel like discussing things with him and finally coming to a conclusion on how to deal with things.

Well this is how things should be when you are the owner of a mighty construction company. In order to get things done, you should keep your mind calm and try to see things from an angle that others do not. You will get to know the cause of the problem only when you sit for a discussion with the person who heads the department. When you see all the departments doing well other than one, it suggests that there is inevitable some problem associated with that team and you got to get to the bottom of the issue. Unless you unearth the problem, you may find things not going well in that department and soon you may see issues pervading to other departments as well.

Understand their grievances before you react:-

We normally have the tendency of over-reacting before we know what has led to a problem. The moment we see things have not worked as we want them to, the first thing we do is over-react on the situation and then once we calm down, we hear the problem. Well, what we should be doing is the opposite. Listening is an art and when you are running a big construction company, you should be master this art first. Listen to the problem first before you react to it. Understand the position of your fellow workers and try to make things simple for them. Do not exert pressure to get any work done from them. That will be a temporary solution but issues will brew up soon and then it may be out of your control.

Change in plan of action may work:-

One of the most suitable methods to deal with the issue of nonperformance is to change the action plan. Do things a bit differently and it may work for you. Not everything happens the way you want them to but changing your way to get the work done might help.

Option to become a heavy equipment operator freelancer

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When you are the best in performing an activity that has good demand in the market you will never find yourself short of opportunities. You will be loved in your organization for your good work and will always remain a valued employee. Now this is what we all want to become at the end of the day. A person who will be known for his wonderful piece of work and respected for his job is probably the dream of many. On the basis of your experience and your performance you get rise in your pay. Your performance is assessed at the end of each year and then you are given some points. On this basis of those points you are given a raise in your package. For people who want to earn more as they feel that they have the capacity to work harder, they always have an option to become a freelancer. A freelancer is the one who is responsible for his job and is also his own boss. He does not have anybody to fire him (other than the person for whom he is working).

Heavy equipment operator who has loads of experience in the construction industry working with all sorts of machines can have a great future becoming a freelancer. As long as he knows what he is doing and how to get it done he has every chance to earn handsomely being a part of the construction industry. So if you are a person who has spent almost all his life working on heavy equipment, try to move to the next level and become heavy equipment operator. Finding projects will not be a problem if at all you are known to people in your business circle. You only have to pervade the message that you also work as a freelancer and you will see people coming to you with projects.

Set up a website:-

If you have already thought of become a freelancer the best way to start is by creating your website. You may dealt all your life with machines but now you also have to work a bit on tech savvy stuffs. This will take you closer to become a full scale freelancer. Once you become a full scale/fulltime freelancer you do not have to stick to your salaried job. You can let that go and simply focus on your business. However, to make that a reality you have to start with your website. Fill in everything that you know about yourself. The companies that you have worked with and the kinds of machines that you have operated should be stated in the website. People should know about your qualities which will help you to get work from them.

You can work as a freelancer with your current employer:-

When you decide to become a freelancer, it does not mean that you no longer can work with your current employer. It only means that you will not be salaried and will be paid as per the terms of the contract which may be more than what you usually get. However, you have to put in more hours of work in that case. You will still find that to be satisfying and enjoyable.

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Heavy equipment mechanics

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We take a lot of care of stuffs that is dear to us or to our business. For instance, for a person who is a carpenter or a plumber, he will be very careful with where he keeps all his tools of work. His tools are his bread and butter and if any of the equipment is not there in place, it may lead to a big problem for him. Similarly, when it comes to construction business, heavy equipment are considered to be the most crucial of all other equipment that is used in a construction site. The operators just can’t work if they find the machine out of order. They depend solely on the performance of the machine. If the machine works they can be productive as well. They are also perhaps the first person to know if there is anything wrong with the machine and this is the moment that determines the longevity of the machine. If they act at that very moment by getting in touch with a mechanic, they only help in increasing the life of the machine.

Detect the problem and act swiftly:-

Getting hold of a mechanic comes into place only when you are able to detect the problem. Well to detect an issue in heavy equipment is no rocket science. The machine will itself give you enough indication; but if you still compel it to work and ignore those indications then you are only inviting trouble for yourself. Therefore it is crucial that you detect the problem and act swiftly. Do not pass on the work for the next day because the next day you will again get busy with work and will once again pass it further and eventually this will lead to a bigger complication in the machine which may then go out of hand.

Don’t change mechanics as long as it is really required:-

Competent heavy equipment mechanics are hard to get. So if you mechanic is a bit expensive, it should not be the reason why you will start looking for another mechanic. Big time contractors and construction companies pay a lot of money to get the services of qualified and competent mechanics. They just do not care how much they are charging to get the machine up and running. It is because they understand the importance of those machines to their business and in order to get the heavy equipment fixed in no time they pay good sum of money to the mechanics. Also you do not know how skilled the new mechanic with heavy equipment. So it is recommended that you should refrain from taking such unnecessary and unwanted decision to change mechanics.

Try to learn basic problem fixing techniques:-

You can experience similar type of problems multiple times on your heavy equipment. It makes ample sense to try and learn few problem fixing techniques so that you can resolve those basic issues that you often experience on your machine. You do not have to be completely dependent on mechanics for that purpose and in this way you also will be able to save good deal of money.