For Ducks sakes.

[V8Druid]

But time is money!

so you charge travel, same as any other mobile plant - crane hire was/is depot to depot - or if left on site you charge for operator collection / delivery, unless the customer can either lend you a vehicle or transport you - 's always been the way that works AND if left on site it's the hirer's responsibility to ensure its safety

 

[Storrsy]

so you charge travel, same as any other mobile plant - crane hire was/is depot to depot - or if left on site you charge for operator collection / delivery, unless the customer can either lend you a vehicle or transport you - 's always been the way that works AND if left on site it's the hirer's responsibility to ensure its safety

Sods law ill get rid of it at all the right work will come in. It was pretty handy back in Feb as had local work on and stuff where tracking a machine out to would have been a pain. In an ideal world a small 2ton towable excavator and a duck makes a lovely combination.

 

[Stroppymonkey]

Sods law I’ll get rid of it at all the right work will come in. It was pretty handy back in Feb as had local work on and stuff where tracking a machine out to would have been a pain. In an ideal world a small 2ton towable excavator and a duck makes a lovely combination.

Get a bike to hang on the back of the duck and cycle home.. as you say it’s quicker

 

[V8Druid]

Sods law ill get rid of it at all the right work will come in. It was pretty handy back in Feb as had local work on and stuff where tracking a machine out to would have been a pain. In an ideal world a small 2ton towable excavator and a duck makes a lovely combination.

's all about the right combi for your work, for sure ...
's why I ran 5 cranes from 7t to 45t ..
and if the work disappears for a particular 'range' - out it and replace with more suitable kit -- my two 25s were a great size - could go out as 15 to 25t and get into places a 15t would - same with my 30t Demag on 3 axles - outed a 4 axle 30t that didn't fit the market any longer.
had the 45 quite a while, but then ppl were after 55s or 60s on 3 or 4 axles so it went and didn't bother running that size - cross hired or passed the work on to Russ, when he ran his fleet of 10 m/cs
Russ's 50

King's 60

all priced into the jobs - plus a bit

 

[Storrsy]

Get a bike to hang on the back of the duck and cycle home.. as you say it’s quicker

I have seriously thought of that , but I like to moan about cyclists. Actually I'm thinking of this all wrong. Surely I should position the duck in front of the cyclists and see how they like being held up for a change.

 

[Storrsy]

's all about the right combi for your work, for sure ...
's why I ran 5 cranes from 7t to 45t ..
and if the work disappears for a particular 'range' - out it and replace with more suitable kit -- my two 25s were a great size - could go out as 15 to 25t and get into places a 15t would - same with my 30t Demag on 3 axles - outed a 4 axle 30t that didn't fit the market any longer.
had the 45 quite a while, but then ppl were after 55s or 60s on 3 or 4 axles so it went and didn't bother running that size - cross hired or passed the work on to Russ, when he ran his fleet of 10 m/cs
Russ's 50
View attachment 73492 View attachment 73494
King's 60
View attachment 73491
all priced into the jobs - plus a bit

That Rangey has to be yours too!?

 

[Storrsy]

's all about the right combi for your work, for sure ...
's why I ran 5 cranes from 7t to 45t ..
and if the work disappears for a particular 'range' - out it and replace with more suitable kit -- my two 25s were a great size - could go out as 15 to 25t and get into places a 15t would - same with my 30t Demag on 3 axles - outed a 4 axle 30t that didn't fit the market any longer.
had the 45 quite a while, but then ppl were after 55s or 60s on 3 or 4 axles so it went and didn't bother running that size - cross hired or passed the work on to Russ, when he ran his fleet of 10 m/cs
Russ's 50
View attachment 73492 View attachment 73494
King's 60
View attachment 73491
all priced into the jobs - plus a bit

I think you could safely say crane hire is far more specialist then excavator hire though. Its not like you can nip down to your local hire place and get one for the week for a few hundred quid. specialist kit and skills people expect to pay for it.

 

[V8Druid]

That Rangey has to be yours too!?

yeh - ran that for a long time ... job on, installing those new presses from Sweden - think I might have put summat up about them before, but can't recall where

 

[V8Druid]

I think you could safely say crane hire is far more specialist then excavator hire though. Its not like you can nip down to your local hire place and get one for the week for a few hundred quid. specialist kit and skills people expect to pay for it.

But try hiring a duck like yours ?

 

[Storrsy]

But try hiring a duck like yours ?

But you can get a 8 ton tracked machine where delivery is £65 each way. I bought the duck with the intention that for those odd jobs where hiring in an 8 tonner it would enable me to be self sufficient with out relying on either transport or hiring. Don't think I ever really had it in mind to go out on day rate with it, but yeah for a one day hire it would definitely work out better than hiring in the equivalent tracked machine- any more than a week and I doubt it would so much.

 

[TiltyShaun]

's all about the right combi for your work, for sure ...
's why I ran 5 cranes from 7t to 45t ..
and if the work disappears for a particular 'range' - out it and replace with more suitable kit -- my two 25s were a great size - could go out as 15 to 25t and get into places a 15t would - same with my 30t Demag on 3 axles - outed a 4 axle 30t that didn't fit the market any longer.
had the 45 quite a while, but then ppl were after 55s or 60s on 3 or 4 axles so it went and didn't bother running that size - cross hired or passed the work on to Russ, when he ran his fleet of 10 m/cs
Russ's 50
View attachment 73492 View attachment 73494
King's 60
View attachment 73491
all priced into the jobs - plus a bit

Good advice for all to think about.
I have been having a good run of work with both 8tonne machine, 3 tonne machine, 6 tonne dumper and roller all on the same site. Doing a lot on my own on a site for 10 houses but will make me have a think when this job comes to an end. Can only sit on one machine!!!

 

[doobin]

Good advice for all to think about.
I have been having a good run of work with both 8tonne machine, 3 tonne machine, 6 tonne dumper and roller all on the same site. Doing a lot on my own on a site for 10 houses but will make me have a think when this job comes to an end. Can only sit on one machine!!!

But if you own them all or the finance is not crippling, it doesn’t matter which you are sat on. More machines means more chance of work for one locally, which is important for me as I can’t stand travelling for jobs.

You all know I’ve got a silly number of machines for one bloke, but I’ve always stood by one day equalling one months finance/ and it really doesn’t matter which machine it is that I use.

 

[V8Druid]

But if you own them all or the finance is not crippling, it doesn’t matter which you are sat on. More machines means more chance of work for one locally, which is important for me as I can’t stand travelling for jobs.

You all know I’ve got a silly number of machines for one bloke, but I’ve always stood by one day equalling one months finance/ and it really doesn’t matter which machine it is that I use.

yep - all mine were paid for - If I couldn't afford it, I didn't have it -
and if someone insisted on only needing a 15 and a 25/30 went out, it worked to a 15 duty chart - if they wanted/needed a 25/30 for the job and a 15 wouldn't have been capable, it got re-negotiated and charged accordingly - simples - ppl soon learnt not to take the p*ss
not saying either that I swapped m/cs rapidly .. took time to assess what the market needed in my area, but if it did change dramatically - I tailored the fleet to suit the demand and was never worried about 'em standing - the rate was the rate and none of them were available if I couldn't get it.
the big boys used to send 50,s/60,s/70,s even, out on a 20t rate, just to have them out - race to the bottom jobs - didn't cover running costs and a lot of the time struggled to get these monsters into tight spots

 

[Furniss]

I don't know how you got all that kit without borrowing money, must of been a lot more profitable game after years of feast or famine it actually worked better for me when financing kit

 

[V8Druid]

I don't know how you got all that kit without borrowing money, must of been a lot more profitable game after years of feast or famine it actually worked better for me when financing kit

A lot of hard work, long days/weeks, no/limited holidays, employing labour and having my finger on the pulse 24/7 .... oh and not creaming the profits off - most of my blokes took home more than I did - just kept ploughing it all back in Kev - it eventually pays/paid
Finance was not so attractive back then
had a 10 year biz loan from the bank to get going and offed that in six
and probably a decent amount of luck in some respects - plus careful decision making on who/who not to work for

 

[Storrsy]

Finance can be a handy thing to get you going or obtain a machine otherwise unobtainable but these i days i don't like anything hanging over me so only tend to buy what I have the money for, I find it far less stressful myself but each to their own.

 

[Furniss]

Like i say had years of ups n downs money wise - I got told to buy on finance ...pull on the business a bit - worked for me.

But i didn't do borrowing before I had steady work and customers, maybe 10years in.

No offense @V8Druid but most of us who started with nowt will have done the hard work too

 

[V8Druid]

Like i say had years of ups n downs money wise - I got told to buy on finance ...pull on the business a bit - worked for me.

But i didn't do borrowing before I had steady work and customers, maybe 10years in.

No offense @V8Druid but most of us who started with nowt will have done the hard work too

none taken Kev --
it's the only way to make it work -
work first -
everything else second --
for a considerable time until you're well established and have earned a good reputation, which I'm sure all of our 'regulars' have on here
helps considerably when folk are prepared to wait for you, because of your rep. (and pay that little extra to have you do a job once, properly)

 

[Stroppymonkey]

I don't know how you got all that kit without borrowing money, must of been a lot more profitable game after years of feast or famine it actually worked better for me when financing kit

Some of us have ex wives / and or kids which can negatively affect the optimum crane / digger ratios. Luckily my kids dont know how many diggers I could have had instead of them

 

[Furniss]

Oh yeah no doubt - without the mrs pulling in the same direction its a BIG ask !