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Guide to Hiring the Right Crane for Your Project and Save Money

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When you are looking to hire a crane for your project, you want a crane that will not only perfectly handle your project, but also save you money, right? If this is the first time you hire a crane from crane rental services, here are tips to ensure you hire the right unit.

When you have a small site

You need a small crane if you have a low-intensity site with a small number of workers (12-15) and a required lift capacity of up to two tonnes.

A classic example is when you are building a timber frame or conventional house using pallets of bricks, blocks, and mortar. In such an instance, you need a small tower crane controlled by a remote control.

You can considerably cut your running costs by employing this type of crane with one worker loading the hook and operating the crane controls.

You should teach many site workers to undertake this function, allowing you to continue operating in the event of an absence rather than waiting for a single trained operator to return.

As you can tell, this keeps the crane operational and the project on track. You also don’t rely on one person to do all the work.

When you have a large or busy site

A tower crane will be more appropriate if your loads exceed two tons at 30 meters, and your project will take 20 weeks or longer.

Saddle jib or flat-top cranes are available in various height and jib configurations, making them more versatile and less expensive to hire than mobile cranes with comparable lifting capabilities.

Be cautious of the height of the crane.

The height of a crane significantly impacts costs. The tall crane is not only expensive to hire, but also requires a larger and stronger base to withstand the stresses, which necessitates a lot more concrete and steel.

Taller cranes also require more electricity and emit more carbon emissions. As a result, even a modest reduction in the height required for your lifting requirements might significantly impact your overall costs.

Before you hire a crane, take your time and find out if there is any way you can hire a slightly shorter crane than you would ordinarily need. This calls for you to work closely with experienced contractors who know what they are doing.

Watch where you position the crane.

The placement of the crane, as well as other construction site factors, will impact your final expenses. A common example is when a materials shop is placed in the middle of a courtyard or the center of the site.

This means that if you have more than one crane, when one is loading, the other cannot get to the materials and must sit idle, wasting time.

This configuration significantly increases the likelihood of collisions and makes site operations complex and inefficient.

To save time and money, set up the materials store conveniently. This way, you will have maximum hook time and low crane-hire expenses.

Ensure you have enough power.

Three-phase power is required for sites installing a lift shaft, as most tall buildings do. Wherever possible, you should install power as the first thing, allowing you to use mains power for the tower crane during construction.

This is substantially less expensive than using a generator with its related hire charges, fuel tank, and fuel.

Be cautious of the rental company you hire from

The rental company you choose to hire from has a significant impact on the crane you hire and your experience.

As a rule, don’t hire from a rental company with a single or a few cranes. This is because you won’t get a replacement crane in the event the one you are using breaks down.

The best way to do it is to hire from a company with many cranes. As much as the company is expensive, you should note that you might save a lot of money in the long run.

This is because if the crane you are using breaks down, you need to notify the rental company, and they replace the crane at no extra cost on your part.

Hire a well-maintained crane.

How well-maintained the crane is is important as it determines how well it functions, not to mention how much money you spend.

As a rule of thumb, you should hire a crane that is in perfect shape. This calls for you to do a double or even triple-check on the maintenance records of the crane and ensure that it’s well taken care of.

You should avoid a poorly maintained crane as it will keep breaking down, and you don’t want this.

A well-maintained crane will indeed be a little expensive to hire, but in the long run, it will be cheaper as it will function more efficiently and won’t break down too regularly, which means that you will complete your project without many complications, and within the shortest time possible.

Parting shot

You don’t have to be complicated when it comes to saving money when undertaking crane hire VA. You only need simple modifications to lower your expenses throughout a building project, both in one-time hire prices and continuing operational expenditures.

When doing the hiring, don’t hire from any company. Instead, take your time and hire from a reputable company with many cranes to hire from.

As a rule of thumb, don’t hire from a small company with a single crane. Even if they give you a great offer, they might be too expensive.

As mentioned, a small crane company has no replacement crane when the one you are using breaks down. The consequence is you are forced to hire another crane from a different company, which, as you can tell, is too costly.

What Should You Consider When Renting A Crane From A Crane Rental Company?

Are you looking to hire a crane from a crane services provider? There are plenty of factors you should consider when hiring. These factors include:

Hire the crane from a professional company

Many people looking to hire a crane go online and key in search terms such as “crane company near me” they then proceed to contact the first company they come across and hire it. This is wrong.

Just because a company ranks high in the search results doesn’t mean it’s the best.

The right thing you should do is to contact five or more companies near your area and request an interview. During the interview, you should ask as many questions as possible that help you know more about the company and the nature of its cranes.

When you are in the rental stores, ask to see the cranes they have to hire and check their maintenance records. For peace of mind that the crane will give you great service, you should work with a properly maintained crane. If you come across a crane that isn’t up to date when it comes to maintenance, don’t work with it.

During the interview, you should also know who will be responsible for the installation and service backup. To save money, you should work with a company with technicians who will install the crane and help with the maintenance.

The company should also have a team of crane operators and riggers. This way, you have peace of mind that you won’t need to hire a professional to help with the crane operation and rigging work.

Have a clear plan of how you will do the work

It’s often said that you are planning to fail if you don’t have a plan. This means that for your project to succeed, you should have a solid plan on how you will go about it.

Before you even head to the rental stores, you should know the route the crane will use to get to your destination. If there are obstacles, you should get them out of the way, so you don’t waste too much time with the crane.

If you are getting the crane from a distance away, you need to plan how you will move the crane from the rental stores to your site.

If this is your first time having a crane project, it might be hard to devise a solid plan for executing everything, so it’s wise to work with a professional who will help you out.

Know the crane you need

What crane do you need to do the lifting? You should know about this before you head to the crane rental stores. This is because when you hire the wrong crane, you increase the chances of an accident happening.

Hiring the wrong crane also increases your money on the project. For example, when you hire a crane that is too small for your load, you will spend too much time with the crane hence you end up paying too much money for hiring the crane.

To be safe, you should work with a professional who will help determine the right crane for the work.

Hire an expert crane operator

You shouldn’t hire just anyone to operate your crane—you need to ensure that the professional you hire knows what they are doing and won’t cause an accident on your site.

As mentioned above, the best place to find a reputable crane operator is from the crane rental services VA providers.

The cool thing about hiring an operator from the crane company is that you have peace of mind that they are conversant with the crane. You are also sure that the rental company won’t entrust an unqualified person with the crane, so you can be sure that there are fewer chances of an accident on your site.

Common Crane Accident Causes And How To Prevent Them

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Since they are large, heavy, and carry heavy loads, cranes are often prone to accidents brought about by a number of factors. Which are these factors? Here they are as given by crane services:

Improper crane assembly

This happens when you improperly set up the crane. The reason why your crane won’t be properly set up is when you hire inexperienced professionals.

To avoid an accident from coming about due to improper crane assembly, hire the right professionals. As a rule of thumb, hire professionals with significant experience with the crane. You will even be better off hiring professionals working in the crane rental company.

To add another layer of safety, have the workers inspected by a senior competent and qualified professional.

While these professionals will charge you a little extra, they will be worth it as you will be sure they know what they are doing.

Improper training

Like other machines, people handing cranes need to be properly trained on proper crane handling and how to use them safely. To save money, some people hire the cheapest workers they can find.

In most cases, the cheap service providers are untrained and inexperienced, so they have a high chance of doing the wrong things and causing accidents.

To avoid accidents due to improperly trained workers, never hire untrained contractors. All the crane workers should be expertly trained in properly handling and using cranes. They also should have completed OSHA courses on proper crane operation.

Even if you have hired the best-trained workers, you should still train them at the work site to remind them of the crane dangers and how they should conduct themselves in an emergency.

Mechanical failures

Accidents due to mechanical failures happen when the crane stops working in the middle of a lift. Thankfully, you can easily prevent these failures by adequately maintaining the crane.

Inspect the crane as you are hiring it from the local rental stores. While there, insist on seeing the maintenance records and, as a rule of thumb, ensure that the crane is in top shape.

You also should make it a habit to inspect the crane before the start of the project and before you do any lift. This way, you have an easy time identifying issues with the crane and fixing them before you do the lifting.

Besides the crane, you also should inspect the rigging materials and confirm they aren’t worn out and are free of tears.

Overturned crane

What would make a crane overturn and cause an accident? The most common reason is overloading the machine. When you make the machine carry a heavier load than it’s supposed to, it will overturn.

The other reason is hiring an inexperienced crane operator. The same way some people hire unskilled crane workers is the same way they hire amateur crane operators. As you can guess, when the crane is under the control of an inexperienced operator, chances are high that it will overturn, among many other risks.

To prevent the crane from overturning, you should only load it the maximum allowed weight. Before you begin your project, check the manual to tell how much weight the crane can carry.

Some people try to cut costs by hiring a smaller crane for their project. Don’t do this. While you will save some money by hiring a smaller machine, you increase the chances of overloading the machine as you have to make it carry more weight so that you can complete the project on time.

The other way to prevent your crane from overturning is to ensure that it’s under the control of an experienced crane operator that knows what they are doing.

For peace of mind, hire the operator from the same rental company you hire the crane.

Ensure that the crane operator you hire is certified by a nationally accredited crane operator testing organization such as the National Commission for the certification of crane operators (NCCCO).

Parting shot

These are some common causes of crane accidents at the work site and how to prevent them from happening. To avoid accidents, hire a properly maintained crane from the crane hire VA.

You also should ensure that you work with experienced professionals that know what they are doing. You don’t want newbies that will mess up your project, do you?

Crane Rental Tips Every First Timer Should Know

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Is this the first time you are renting a crane from crane rental services? There are plenty of valuable tips you should put into place. These tips include:

Do proper scheduling

Most crane rental companies will charge you by the hours you are with the crane. This means that the longer you have the crane, the more you will pay for it. The unfortunate thing is that most of these companies begin charging you the moment you pick the crane from their warehouse.

This means that the time you spend on the road will be considered when coming up with the final amount to pay for the machine.

To save money, you should hire a crane from a company close to your worksite.

It’s also wise to transport the crane at a time when the traffic isn’t too hectic, so the crane arrives at your site fast, and you start your project.

If you need the crane for more than one task, such as lifting and moving materials, schedule hiring the crane when all things are in order. The last thing you should do is to complete one task then start planning for the next.

Don’t wait until the last minute.

Many people hiring cranes for the first time wait until a week to the commencement of their projects to look for a crane. While it’s good to wait until all the materials are in place, beginning your search too late might blow up on your face.

This is because you will be in a hurry, so you end up hiring a costly machine. You also sometimes end up hiring the wrong machine. For example, you hire a tower crane instead of a crawler crane.

To avoid all this, begin your search at least three months before the commencement of your project. This way you have time to visit different companies and compare the machines they have. When you have enough time, you are patient to negotiate the prices to get the best deal.

Don’t hire any company.

We have mentioned that you should hire the crane from a company close to your worksite, but this doesn’t mean you should hire just any company—you should take your time and hire the right one.

An ideal company should be certified to work in your area, have all the necessary permits, and be insured.

The company should also have the crane that you are interested in. And it shouldn’t have just one machine, but several of them. You might be wondering why this has to be so while you aren’t renting all of them, but it’s vital that you rent from a company with several cranes as it gives you peace of mind and saves you a lot of money.

When you work with a company with many machines, you have peace of mind as you know that should the crane you are using break down, you need to get in touch with the company and get a replacement, often at no extra cost.

This is completely different from when you hire a crane from a company with just one machine. Should your crane stop working, you have to hire another company which means you pay more than you planned for.

Should you wait for the rental company to fix the machine, you delay the project’s completion, which can end up being too expensive in the long run.

Know the machine you need

Many types of cranes do different tasks. Some are best suited for lifting, others for carrying workers, others for moving items from one place to the other, and so on.

To save money and ensure that your project progresses according to plan, you need to know the crane that you need. This will be informed by the task you want to undertake.

If you aren’t sure about the right machine to go for, get the input of a professional.

Most of the technicians working in the crane rentals VA will guide you on the right machine to go for.

Some will require visiting your worksite so that they can understand the nature of the project while others will base their decision on your description of the project so ensure that you give accurate descriptions of what you want done.

Crane Services: 6 Things You Should Know About Tower Cranes

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Tower cranes are the go-to units when you are putting up a high rise structure. If you don’t already have one in your business, you should rent from a reputable crane services provider. To properly use the crane, there are plenty of things you should know. Some of these things include:

Parts of a tower crane

Just like other cranes, the tower crane has plenty of parts that help it in its working. These parts include:

Base: It’s bolted to a large concrete pad that supports the crane. The base connects to the mast that gives the crane its height.

Slewing unit: It’s attached to the top of the mast and allows the crane to rotate. Parts attached to the slewing unit are: operator’s cabin, machinery arm, and jib.

The jib or the working arm is a horizontal element that carries the load. It has a trolley that runs along its length.

The machinery arm is a shorter horizontal element that holds the load-lifting motor. It also contains electronic controls, concrete counterweights to keep balance, and cable drum.

Finally, the operator’s cabin consists of a space where the operator handles all the crane functions.

Mast: Also known as the tower, the mast is connected to the base and its supporting structure that gives the crane its height. The mast has a triangulated structure that gives strength to the crane.

Why don’t tower cranes fall over?

When you look at a tall tower crane, you might have the impression it will fall over as it lacks wires holding it in place. unfortunately, this isn’t the case. One of the reasons it doesn’t fall over is due to its strong base.

The construction company pours a large concrete pad a few weeks before the crane arrives. Typically, the pad measures 30 feet by 30 feet by 4 feet and weighs 400,000 pounds.

In addition to the large pad, the company also embeds large anchor bolts deep into the pad supporting the base of the crane. The mast rises from the firm foundation ensuring the crane doesn’t fall over.

How do tower cranes grow?

When you hire the crane, it arrives at the construction site on 10-12 tractor-trailer rigs. The crew uses a mobile crane first to assemble a 40-foot mast that consists of slewing gear and two vertical mast sections.

You should assemble the jib and machinery sections then place the horizontal members on the preassembled mast sections. You should then add the counterweights.

To raise the crane to its maximum height, you should grow the crane one mast section at a time. Most of the rental companies will provide you with a crew that uses a top climber or climbing frame that fits between the top of the mast and slewing unit.

Once the project is complete, you reverse the process. You disassemble each mast at a time until you bring down the entire crane.

How much weight can the crane carry?

A typical crane has the following specifications:

Maximum unsupported height: 265 feet (80 meters). The crane can have a total height much greater than 265 feet if it’s tied onto the building as the building rises around the crane.
Maximum reach: 230 feet (70 meters).
Maximum lifting power: 19.8 tons (18 metric tons)
Counterweights: 20 tons (16,3 metric tons)/

The maximum load that the crane can lift is 39, 690 pounds (18 metric tons). Some cranes can even lift higher weight if the load is positioned at the end of the jib. As you are positioning the weight, remember that the closer you position the load to the mast, the more weight the crane can carry.

Hazards to be aware of when using the crane

Even if you have a high-quality crane, plenty of things can get out of hand so you should be cautious of hazards that might come about. Some of the things you should be aware of include: overloading, electrical hazards, and many others.

Renting a tower crane

You should be cautious of the crane rental services VA company you rent the crane from. Since the crane needs installation and disassembly, the company should have experienced experts that will help you with the work.

The company should also have properly maintained cranes.