Category Archives: Construction

Construction industry is rewarding – Don’t let other to eat away your business

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We all want to make good money and want to make it real quickly. This is probably the reason why we choose industries that are more rewarding than others and stick to it so that we can grow our business like anything. However, in the entire process we should not forget the fact that in order to set up a business, it takes hard work, determination and a good strategy to ensure that you keep away your competitors from taking away any pie of your business.

It is pretty obvious that the industry that pays us dearly is not restricted to few businessman and others would also want to join in. So you never know from which way you will find a competitor coming up and latch on to your clients thus affecting your business. Thus it is important that while you are running your business successfully, you also keep an eye on the activities of your competitors and check if there is any new one getting in or any existing getting out of the industry.

One of the industries that have given huge profits to its owners is the construction industry and many people want to give it a shot in this sector. Though it is no child’s play to start a construction business and require huge investments, people still flock in to try their luck and it has been often seen that they hook on with this sector for few years, take up some projects and if things click for them they continue with it or just exit when they feel they can’t move any further. So if you have a set business and you see any newbie flocking in your territory, you got to ensure that he does not eat a big piece of your cake or else you will be left starving.

You can’t really do away with competition as it is a part and parcel of any industry but what you can do at the most is keep a check on your competitors by ensuring that they do not overtake your business and you can do that only by having a clear goal of providing top notch quality work at an affordable price to your clients. No clients would like to go to a new guy as long as they find you doing a great job. They would rather like to stick with you since they know your style of working and have a good rapport with you.

Setting up a good relationship with your client also works in times when you have too much of competition. Your clients will not give work to anybody else if you have an extremely wonderful relationship with them. Nobody like to experiment things when it comes to their business and hence they will want to continue with you provided you being good with them.

Experience matters a lot in this industry. Clients usually prefer to give projects to people who are experienced in the construction domain rather than trying the newbie. Therefore your experience will always come handy when you are experiencing extreme competition and will still find yourself in the position of bagging more projects.

 

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Make use of Social Networking websites to grow your heavy equipment business

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Any form of business is directly connected with technology and successful business entrepreneurs make full use of the latest technology to grow their business. They find it to be one of the simplest and quickest ways to reach millions in just seconds which is not possible through any other mode. Running a successful business is an art and not everyone can master that art. The person need to be foresighted and should understand the importance of technology and how it can impact its business. One form of technology that is making rounds these days is social networking. These days everyone has an account in some or the other social networking website and through that they try to stay in touch with their friends and loved ones. However, this mode is also been acknowledged as one of the crucial method of spreading the news of your business. In order for people to know the kind of work you are into, you can make use of a social networking website that is popularly used by many and can create your business profile out there.

It has proven to be a great stuff for beginners who are not a known figure in their line of business. It is difficult to win the trust of your clients when you are new to a business. They have doubts like if you can complete the work in the given time frame, if you have the required resources to get the job done and many such questions that a newbie finds it hard to deal with. People who are from the construction industry or the ones who deals with selling of heavy equipment find social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Snapchat etc. as a wonderful tool to connect with people; many known and some unknown.

Once you are registered member of any social networking website you talk about your business to your friends and people whom you know. You keep posting articles about your work or your achievements which is read by people who can be your friends or your friend’s friend. The sole purpose is to reach to as many people as you can by posting a single post. If you are selling heavy equipment you can talk about your website in your profile and also put the picture of your company’s logo as the profile picture. You can make use of Snapchat to send pictures or videos to all your friends or to people specific.

Having a website of your company is good but social networking sites make it easy for you to connect to people who are not known to you and who do not know anything about you. They may see your company’s logo for the first time on some of your friend’s profile who must have liked your profile picture or any video posted by you. This is how they get to know about you and may go to your website to know more about you. This will eventually help you to develop your business in the long run.

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Cold Weather Diesel Fuel Tips

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It becomes very tough to get your heavy equipment started during winters. Imagine you have a big project in hand and the work has already started somewhere during the mid of the year and it is going in full swing. Just then, the chilling winter arrives and the machine just does not want to start. It is no less than a nightmare and the worst part is that it is happening for real. It is just the cold weather that can create all sorts of problem in your machine. But if you think that you can deal with it then let’s put it in this way. The problem is just the tip of the iceberg. When it gets colder and starts snowing, things become worse. Because it is then that you do not get mechanics to fix the problem and if you are a guy who does not know how to fix issues, then you are in deep trouble. We all know that heavy equipment run on diesel and diesel has the characteristic to become thick during winters. It turns into a gel like substance losing its liquid form. This becomes the cause of all the trouble. You need to equip yourself with alternatives that you can use to keep the machine on move.

Let us first talk about what happens to diesel fuel during cold weathers and what can be done to ensure that the machine works when it is expected to.

There are ideally two types of concern that we should prepare ourselves to deal with. The first one is gelling and the second is water contamination. Under “Gelling”, the fuel (diesel) turns into a gel-like substance and is not able to flow through the fuel filter. As a result of this, the engine may run irregularly. Often there are more chances of the engine getting turned off during the mid of work. There are also chances of the engine not starting at all. In order to avoid this problem, it is advised to use Diesel One fuel. This kind of fuel has shown positive results in preventing the fuel from turning into wax. Thus, it has been highly effective in keeping the engine intact and has also increased the efficiency of the machine during the winters.

Water Contamination is another problem that hits diesel run heavy equipment hard. Water when it comes in contact with the fuel has the potency to contaminate it in no time. During winter, it becomes very simply for water to get mixed with the fuel thus contaminate the fuel and breaks down the equipment. Water also has the capacity to freeze in fuel at a temperature of below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the supply line of the fuel is freezes, it evidently does not allow the fuel to pass and leads to issues. Just in case, it fails to freeze, then it will definitely become a place for microbial contamination and will have the potency to destroy the important parts of the machine. What can be done to avoid such a situation is using engine block heaters. They are used to keep the engine hot while it’s working. It keeps the engine hot for the next day. So the driver has to unplug the heater and then start off his work.

 

 

What does LGP (low ground pressure) stand for?

Heavy equipment are very heavy and can cause serious damage to the ground if they do not have proper low ground pressure. This is a subject that many people using heavy equipment may not be aware of. It is only because that this subject doesn’t affect their work in any way. However, people who have studied heavy equipment as their subject may know how important low ground pressure is to keep the ground away from much pressure from the heavy equipment. The equipment if do not possess low ground pressure can significantly damage the soil which can be dangerous especially for farmers because they will then slowly and steadily lose the quality of the soil. It may be also possible that the soil may become infertile. Therefore, it becomes very important to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment and the keep the quality of the soil intact.

What can be done to reduce the ground pressure from heavy equipment? Well, one of the most important parts that can be done to reduce the ground pressure is replacing the steel tracks with hard plastic tracks. That will significantly bring down the pressure to a larger extent thereby keeping the quality of the soil undamaged. There are few companies that produce such plastic plates that can be used as ground tracks for heavy equipment. Nylatrack plates are one such plate produced by “Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products” that comparatively brings down the weight of the machine. It is said that they are 80% less weighty that the steel plates thus exerting less pressure on the ground. Similarly, there are many more such plastic plates manufacturing companies that play a mighty role in today’s modern engineering and also keeping the ground pressure low.

Another benefit of using plastic tracks is they can easily work on soft grounds which is difficult for heavy equipment with steel plates to do. They can also work on pavements which again may not be so simple for heavy equipment with steel tracks. Exerting low ground pressure will have almost no side effects on the ground. Other than replacing the steel plates with plastic plates, there is one more way to lower the ground pressure. Just by reducing the noise, one can also reduce the ground pressure. The equipment vibrations are soaked up by the plastic plates which only happen if the tracks are flexible in nature. By installing plastic tracks, the tracks of the machine become quite flexible which in turn absorb the vibration coming out of the tracks and thus the noise of the undercarriage goes silent. This means that there is less stress on the drive chain that happens predominantly because the plastic track plates absorb the bending force.

The plastic track plates manufactured by companies are immune to oils and seawater which makes it a machine that can work in extreme conditions. Since it has plastic plates, it is very unlikely that the soil will stick with the plates. This will prevent any sort of damage to the ground.

Volvo Articulated Trucks vs. Caterpillar Articulated Trucks

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Trucks play a very important role in both the construction and mining industries. They do not get directly involved in any of the activities but both the sectors can’t even move an inch further without the help of trucks. They are the ones which is responsible to ferry important items from one place to another. Be it heavy equipment to sand or bags of cement, they are all transported using these trucks. It can also be referred as the lifeline of both the sectors. It is also extensively used to ferry huge piles of debris from the construction site to the dump-yard. As you can’t think to function without heavy equipment, in the same fashion you can’t think to begin or complete your job without putting the trucks to any use.

There are specifically two companies that are renowned for manufacturing articulated trucks. The first one is Volvo and the second is Caterpillar. Though caterpillar is known for making premium heavy equipment, they are also into manufacturing articulated trucks. We will talk in brief about the specifications of trucks manufactured by both the companies.

Starting with Volvo A40D, this truck has been in the news for all the right reasons. The company has marketed it well and it seems to be doing pretty well with the buyers. The spec for this truck is as follows.

The gross and the net power of Volvo A40D is 426 and 420 hp respectively with a displacement of 732.3 cu in. The total fuel capacity of this truck is around 126.8 gallon. The hydraulic system fluid capacity, cooling system fluid capacity, engine oil capacity and the transmission fluid capacity is 66 gal, 30.9 gal, 13.2 gal and 12.8 gal respectively. The operating voltage of the machine is 24 V and the alternator supplied amperage is 55 amps. The maximum speed that it can take is 34.8 mph and the total number of forward and reverse gears it has is 6 and 2 respectively.

The total weight of the truck when empty is 31270 kg and when it’s full the weight is 68270 kg. The weight of the front axle when loaded is 19170 kg and 16300 kg when empty. The weight of the rear axle when empty is 14970 kg and when loaded it is 49100 kg. The overall length, width and height of the truck is 37 ft in, 10.7 ft in and 12.3 ft in respectively.

Talking about the CAT articulated truck; we would be speaking about the much known CAT 740 articulated dump truck.

The gross and net power of the truck is 464 hp and 445 hp respectively with a displacement of 927.6 cu in. The total fuel capacity of the truck is 147.9 gal. The hydraulic system, cooling system and engine oil capacity is 61.6 gal, 21.1 gal and 10 gal respectively. The maximum speed of the truck is 34 mph and the total number forward and reverse gears are 7 and 2 respectively. The total weight of the truck when loaded is 70840kg and when empty it is 32840kg. All the other features of this truck is pretty alike the Volvo A40D with very minimum deviations.

Overall the customer will not be at loss by going for either of the truck as both will be highly prolific for him.

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Heavy equipment that is used by the military

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If we think that heavy equipment are used only by the construction or the mining industries then we are only partially correct with our thoughts. There is another sector which is presumably larger than the both the sectors which also uses number one quality heavy equipment and accessories and this is the military. The US military uses various types of heavy equipment for its different uses and they give the order of its requirements to some top notch companies. The requirement is given to the heavy equipment manufacturing companies and they in return give the quotation to the military officials. Once they get the clearance from the higher officials, the procurement process starts off.

The reason why military needs advanced heavy equipment is that they always get involved in activities that can’t be done without the use of sophisticated machines. Machines that some construction companies have probably never heard or have seen are procured by the military for doing everything that a logical mind can think of. They use bulldozers, excavators, cranes, loaders, crawlers etc. and they train their men for the work. They at times also recruit operators from outside but for work that is done in highly confidential places, they prefer to put their men at work. Therefore, they also provide training of operating heavy equipment to the men in uniform so that they can curtail the use of civilian operators in highly confidential zones.

The heavy equipment used by the military may not be similar to the ones used by civilians. They are more sophisticated and technologically advanced and have the potential to do the work at a comparatively lesser time than the machines used by big construction houses. You may have witnessed some companies using machines that seemed to have served the military. Well, it all works this way. Once the heavy equipment gets older or outdated and the engineers in the military feel that they no longer need their services, it will auctioned at dirt cheap price to the civilians. These heavy equipment still have their worth in sectors other than military and therefore you will get to see large number of potential buyers interested to buy such machines.

Other than that the quality of metal used in such machines is outstanding and hence everybody knows that they will end up buying something worthy at a lesser price. The US military not only used heavy equipment produced by American heavy equipment manufacturing companies. They do not mind going for machines that are produced by French, German, Canadian or Australian companies. They primarily need quality to be number one and second the machine should deliver by consuming less time.

There is not set model of a machine. They may produce a dozer and make it look like something else. It may not look like a dozer that we all know. It may not necessarily be deceptive but the model that is used for military purpose is quite unique but will be highly reliable and efficient.

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Announce a bonus to your staff this Christmas

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It has been debated in numerous and in different occasions about the fact that does the employees for a construction company are really paid for the kind of hard work they do for the company. Most of them feel that they are underpaid and there is also a certain section of the population that feels that they are correctly paid on the basis of time they give for the work. But at the same time, there is something that needs to be done for the people who work tirelessly for the entire day on a construction or mining jobsite and what better it will be than declaring a bonus for the month of Christmas. Though money can’t buy happiness but it undoubtedly plays a very significant role in bringing happiness at home. The children of construction workers want their fathers’ to bring gifts to them. They do not understand the debate if his/her father is under paid or overpaid. They expect something extra from their father during this season and fulfilling their dreams will eventually make the man happier.

There are several companies that offers their employees with several gifts and do not wish to pay them via cash. They on the other hand give them gifts which obviously make them happy. However, the gifts given to the employees will only service their purpose and in case if someone wants to buy a gift for his children and he does not have enough money with him, the gift given to him by his company stands meaningless. This is why giving money in cash and in kind makes more sense.

Once he cashes the money received to him as bonus, he can buy whatever he wants to and is not restricted to the item that he receives as gift. He can take back home the thing that his family needs. Giving your employee a gift only becomes meaningful when he can make good use of it and you do not know which employee needs what and therefore it is better to declare a bonus to everybody so that they can buy things that means the most to them. They can even use that money to plan their vacations which was not possible if he was merely given a gift.

Christmas is also a time when maximum people plan their vacations irrespective how rich they are. They definitely want to go someplace which they could otherwise not afford and they can realize their dream of going to an exotic location with the help of the bonus money. Some companies also offer vacation tickets to the best employees of the year. This sounds really great to the guy who gets it. He can go off for a week and just relax without have to think about any work.

Another option that you can adopt is announce a bonus that will be a mixture of food coupons or shopping coupons and some cash with it. This will allow the employee to go at an expensive restaurant with his family and have a great time out there.

Maintaining good relation can be helpful to get construction business

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The construction sector is a business of huge competition where you are always in the race of surpassing your competitor so that you can get more business. However, having said that, it is also very important that people belonging to this kind of business have and maintain good relation with each other. You will need the help of the other person at some point of time and in case you do not have a healthy relation with the next guy, you may land into a temporary trouble. In many cases, businesses also come through references. So it means that somebody has spoken good about you and has referred the business giver to you. Now that can be anybody. Right from your client to your business competitor, it could be anybody and yes you heard it right. Even your business competitor can at times be helpful to you only if you share a healthy rapport with him.

The few basic pointers that one should do to create and maintain a strong bondage from people concerned to your business.

Do not try to eat away everybody’s business:-

Undoubtedly, the construction business is quite a tempting business that will entice you to get more and more businesses. While you are in the mode of getting businesses, ensure that you do not become an encumbrance into someone else’s business. You garner businesses on your merit and not by bribing someone and if you see any of your competitor who is not in good shape and trying to get the same project, try to let that go to him. You may not want to eat everything that you get. Let the other guy know that he deserves the business and which is why it has gone to him. He will appreciate your help and will someday return your favor. Please understand that while you are in the construction arena, you will have both good and bad phases. It all depends how good you have been to people when things are good with you. Your generosity will help you during your hard times.

Establish yourself as a clean businessman:-

Being a businessman who causes no harm to others is liked by everybody in the business circle. No one likes to be in the company of a chap who is way too greedy and has the potential to cause damage to other’s business. Good clean people always have a place in everybody’s heart and when you are good to people then you have fewer enemies to bother you. In this way, you can establish a healthy relationship with people sharing the same business and at times can also get some favors from them.

Too much of gluttony can be harmful for your business:-

You must not keep your mouth full that you find it hard to chew. Concentrate on the quality rather than giving more attention to the amount of businesses you are getting. You will get more business on the basis of work you do. If you just keep on adding work without being able to complete them, it will become utterly chaotic for you to handle. On the contrary, you can suggest few names of your competitor who are known for their quality work and in this way you create a good relation with them.

Simple tips to choose pumps for construction work

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Dewatering is a crucial factor which enables most of the jobsites to carry the construction works smoothly and safely. It poses a variety of challenges like picking up the right pump and its accessories for the successful implementation of the pump while working, taking prompt decision regarding the release of the water and its management at the site. All these tasks are quite difficult especially when you have to do them keeping in mind every relevant rules mentioned by Environmental Protection Agency.

Things to consider

The foremost step regarding the plan development of dewatering at the jobsite is to find out the needed capacity, lifting power of the suction and the discharge of used water at the plot. The speed at which water should be released is fathomed in gallons/minute. The upright distance of the suction in the equipment suction lift has to be swamped by the pump to take in the fluid. This vertical distance is actually the gap between the top of the pump and its suction end. The head of the discharge is the perpendicular altitude of the outlet pipe. To properly select the pump from the manufacturing company, at first it’s better to calculate all these factors.

Questions that help in selecting the pump

To make the right choice, try to answer these questions very carefully:

  • Why are you purchasing the pump?
  • What kind of fluid will be sucked by the pump?
  • Will the fluid in the pump consist of solid particles?
  • How afar the fluid has to be pumped out?
  • At what speed the water has to be removed?
  • Is your jobsite is competent enough to carry out its work with any auxiliary pump machine?
  • Where you are going to keep the pump?
  • Where you are going to discharge the water?
  • Will the usage demand any type of filtration?

Capabilities of each pump vary from high pressure to low pressure. Some of the pump machines are strong enough to pump the water vertical as compared to the others. There are some pumps which are comparatively more efficient in removing the solid materials from the water whereas others block the outlet while dealing with the same situation. The latter types of pumps are cost-effective but generally most of the site owners try to avoid them because of their inferior quality. These kinds of pumps are fragile and can easily break if any trash is pumped through it.

Most of the pumps are either skid-mounted or trailer-mounted. The trailer-mounted pumps are big sized but are portable. If your jobsite have limited space, you should opt to skid-mounted pumps. You should also use active systems of treatment to regulate the pH and minimise the turgidity of the fluid which is to be evacuated from the site to a satisfactory extent. At the conclusion of the article, you surely have got a clear idea on how to make a wise selection of the pump needed for your business. For best outcome, your supplier of the machine should assist you in selecting and analysing the appropriate system fulfilling all your requirements.

Heavy Equipment being used in the Military

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The role that heavy equipment play in the construction and the mining industry is known to all of us but few know the importance it has in our military. The United States Military depends a lot on the heavy equipment and they go for the best in the market. Therefore, you will get too see machines manufactured by CAT, John Deere, Hitachi and other popular brands being used by them. One of the most common reasons why the Military requires heavy equipment is to load the weapons in a truck and then transport it from one place to another. It is pretty obvious that the kind of weapons US Military has can’t be lifted by ordinary machines and the need of big strong machines are evident.

The Military also needs heavy equipment to build their bases. They ideally do not give works like these to any private contractors due to reasons of security. There is a wide possibility of intelligence information may get leaked in case they hand over the job of building bases to private contractors. It is therefore that they buy the equipment directly from the company and use them to construct the bases. The use of different kinds of heavy equipment is more in constructing air bases and air strips. There you need the strip to be absolutely smooth take-off and landing and for that you require the best of heavy equipment to put them in use.

The heavy equipment manufacturing companies majorly produce customized machines for the Military. They first receive orders from the Military upon the kind of equipment they are looking for and in turn they present few designs which are based on the needs of the Military. The Military in turn approves the design and give them the order to manufacture “X” number of machines. This is how they go about manufacturing heavy equipment for the defense sector and probably this is why you will hardly find any similarity between construction equipment used by a contractor and the ones used by the defense personnel.

The heavy equipment manufacturers also ensure that they dedicate few employees to service the machines built for Military purpose. These men are not given any other job and are only entitled to service the machines the companies have produced for the defense. These men are given special ID’s that suggests that they belong to a private concern but are allowed to work inside the military compound. At times, these men also have to work on naval ships, sometimes on the water and at times beneath the water.

The companies have to ensure that the service they offer to the Military is of top notch quality and they do not receive any sort of complaints from them. The US military is using all sorts of heavy equipment right from dozers to grader to loaders. Special training is also given to the military personnel to operate the machine. It is evident that the guys in the force do not have much knowledge how to operate it and hence giving proper training to them becomes very ess