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Important Questions to Ask When Hiring a Crane

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Are you preparing to begin a commercial building project? You will need a crane. If purchasing a crane is not an option, renting one from a crane rental services provider may be a more cost-effective solution.

You need to get in touch with a reliable crane rental company to discuss your requirements. To have a great time and rent the right unit, you must ask yourself several crucial questions. These questions include:

What do you want to lift?

Understanding the weights of the heaviest items you want to lift is critical. Knowing the weight of the load may appear straightforward, but there may be more to it than meets the eye.

You should learn the actual weights of your loads because it will determine the size of the crane you need to hire. The weight also has a significant impact on safety and efficiency of the unit.

Some people will advise that you guess the weight of the load, but don’t do this. You also should never randomly add weight.

You may think you are saving time, but doing this causes an error that may bother you later.

Adding a “contingency” load of a reasonable value to your load is best done directly and with the crane company’s input.

So, if you aren’t sure about the exact weight you want to lift, consult the crane company, and it will help you estimate it.

You can adjust the value of this contingency as conditions change and the project evolves, and you’ll always know where you stand.

The load’s dimensions is another thing to consider, so pay attention to it. Large items may be difficult to transport, so be cautious of their sizes.

While you are at it, know the location of the center of gravity. An excellent way to do it is to consult the fabricators’ designs. If your load’s center of gravity is not specified, let the fabricator help you estimate it. Don’t do it alone, as you will likely mess up.

How long will you need to hire the crane?

Before renting a crane, you must determine how long you will need the crane. The longer you use the crane, the more it costs.

As you are coming up with the cost of hiring the crane, consider the cost of deploying the crane. All-terrain cranes are designed to be driven on highways and are more cost-effective to transport than crawler cranes.

Larger all-terrain cranes typically require one or two truckloads of counterweights. Crawler cranes may need anywhere from a dozen to several dozen truckloads to get there, which means they will be expensive to transport.

The worst mistake you can make is hiring a crane only to find that you need it longer than you estimated. To ensure that you are hiring the crane for the right amount of time, work with professionals who will help you analyze the magnitude of the project and the amount of time it will take you to complete it.

Who will operate the crane?

The crane operator you hire significantly impacts the quality of experience you have with your crane. When you hire an inexperienced crane operator, there is even the risk of the crane collapsing and causing an accident.

To be safe, hire a contractor that knows what they are doing.

Most crane rental companies have two types of services. A service where they hire you the crane with the operator and one where they simply hire you the crane, and then you find your operator.

To avoid complications, hire a crane together with the contractor. This way, you are sure that the contractor is well-versed with the crane, and they are less likely to cause an accident.

They also are more likely to take good care of the crane as they use it regularly.

When you visit the rental companies, don’t just accept the operator recommended by the company. Instead, take your time to review their certifications and ensure they are experienced enough and authorized to work in your area.

Do you need to prepare the site?

Sometimes, you might need to prepare your work site to reduce the chances of accidents. Before renting a crane, bring a geotechnical expert to examine the area and recommend the best place to install the crane.

When hiring, find engineers supplying you with the ground-bearing pressures your equipment will exert on your location. If these pressure levels need to be reduced, the engineers will work with you to devise solutions to reduce the values to acceptable levels.

If the intended crane position is on disturbed soil, you may have to compact the soils. Remember that you shouldn’t erect cranes on disturbed or freshly backfilled soil, so you must give the soil time to settle before you bring on the crane.

Occasionally, the ideal site for the crane is above utilities, pipes, vaults, vessels, or other vital objects that may impact the crane’s capacity to support its operation at that location.

You must know about these subsurface problems to avoid damage.

To avoid accidents, work with engineers with extensive expertise in dealing with these difficulties and are eager to collaborate with you to find a solution.

Parting shot

When hiring a crane from crane services DC, you should ask these questions. As a rule of thumb, take your time hiring the crane.

Take your time and find a crane that is the right size and type for your project.

You also should hire an experienced crane operator who will minimize the chances of accidents and take good care of the crane.

Finally, properly prepare your work site. As a rule of thumb, work with experienced engineers who will adequately prepare the area and, at the same time, guide you on the best procedure to lift your load.

4 Mistakes You Might Be Making With Your Crane

Did you know that you could be doing the wrong thing with your crane without knowing? Here are some of the ways you could be making crane mistakes:

Using the wrong crane for the job

If you have visited crane rental services, you must have realized that there are many types of cranes you can rent.

One of the major mistakes people make is choosing the wrong crane for the job. To help you out, here are some of the major cranes you will find in the rental companies and how you can properly use them:

Carry deck cranes are highly mobile ones that feature excellent rotation and easy setup. While they are great, their major flaw is they don’t handle rough terrain well.

Rough terrain cranes: Although rough terrain cranes can’t travel on public roads, they tend to handle difficult grades exceptionally well and will get the work done when working on tough terrain.

Crawler cranes: Since they use tracks instead of rubber wheels, crawler cranes are excellent for sites with soft terrain.

All-terrain cranes: They have the advantage of being able to travel on their own to the job site, and they handle the rough terrain extremely well when they arrive.

You have to rent the right one to get the most from your crane. If you aren’t sure about the right one to go for, get the input of a professional.

You ignore load limits.

Different cranes have different load limits, and you should be ultra cautious of the limitations of your unit to prevent an accident.

As you are loading your crane, remember these things:

  • A crane will hold more weight when it’s on an outrigger than when on tires alone.
  • The crane will hold more weight if the boom stays over the front of the crane throughout the lift, whereas the capacity will be lower if the boom needs to swing.
  • The higher the load radius, the less weight the crane can lift.
  • To ensure that you never overload your crane, work with load charts.

You don’t read the operator manuals.

Even with highly experienced professionals, you should note that cranes from different manufacturers have unique controls, failsafe devices, and features. This means that even the most experienced professionals might not know everything about a crane.

This means that before you start working with the crane, carefully read the operator manuals and ensure that you understand everything pertaining to the cranes when it comes to:

  • Load capacities
  • Safety mechanisms
  • Operator controls
  • Stabilizers and counterweights

If you are having a problem understanding certain things in the manual, don’t ignore it—ask the technicians working in the crane rental companies.

You don’t inspect the crane.

After you have confirmed that the crane is in proper working condition in the rental stores, your work is done, right? Well, no.

For peace of mind and to reduce the chances of accidents happening on your site, you should regularly inspect your crane and ensure it’s in perfect working form.

Some of the inspections you should undertake include the following:

Pre-start checks: From their name, these are checks that you do before you start the crane. Your crane operator should check the tire condition, seat belts, oil levels, air reservoir, battery, and other factors.

Engine start-up checks: Before you start the daily work, the crane operator should start the engine, check the fuel level, pressure gauge, horn, signals, brain system, suspension, and other units and ensure they are in perfect condition.

Safety system inspections: To prevent catastrophic accidents, you should do safety system checks. During the inspections, evaluate the anti-two block, outriggers, and rated capacity limiter and ensure they are in perfect shape.

If there is a problem with your unit, regardless of how minor it is, don’t ignore it—fix it before you do the day’s work.

You work with the wrong professionals.

You shouldn’t hire just any contractor you meet. For the best outcome, take your time and hire experienced professionals that know what they are doing. The best contractors to work with are those from your local crane hire companies VA.