used cranes
- Thread starter PCTREE
- Start date
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25k sounds kinda scary cheap, like if that's the price maybe you don't want that crane. Then again, I'm not the mechanical/fix it wizard you are, maybe you aren't afraid of a crane that has been used hard and might need some work.
Fruitbowl
Treehouser
I personally don't like the sound of "cheap crane". We do around 30 crane jobs a year and I prefer to rent. Rear mount is for sure the ticket. I guess if you owned one you would want to rent it out to other tree guys with you at the controls?
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
I wouldn't aid the competition.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
I think the best advice I can give is before you buy anything is take somebody with you who knows the machinery .If you have to slip them a little cash for their time it will pay off in the long haul .
squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
If I had a crane I wouldn't rent to my comp no way. I would think you'd have to try to hire it out for other types of crane work to keep it turning dollars.
bonner1040
Nick from Ohio
The cranes we use are from these people: http://www.leimeistercrane.com
They have a full service tree division and a crane rental division.
They send one crane and a guy and charge between $100 and a $175 per hour depending on the crane. All with 4hour minimums. I think renting yourself as an operator and your crane is a lucrative proposition, not to mention easy on the body. Maybe renting the crane primarily outside of your service area would be more appealing to some? Leimeister is over an hour away from our 'area', so we pay two hours of travel on top of our jobsite time. We still regularly bill over $100/man hour with the crane (after rental expense).
My last boss was going to buy either a crane or a mini loader the year following when I left. When I asked him how those two items fit the same budget he looked at me like I was dumb. He had a $15,000 crane lined up and I told him he would have to find someone else to work with it.
My personality would lend me to finance a newer unit, over buying an older one. You have to consider I couldnt fix my chainsaw if it broke though!
They have a full service tree division and a crane rental division.
They send one crane and a guy and charge between $100 and a $175 per hour depending on the crane. All with 4hour minimums. I think renting yourself as an operator and your crane is a lucrative proposition, not to mention easy on the body. Maybe renting the crane primarily outside of your service area would be more appealing to some? Leimeister is over an hour away from our 'area', so we pay two hours of travel on top of our jobsite time. We still regularly bill over $100/man hour with the crane (after rental expense).
My last boss was going to buy either a crane or a mini loader the year following when I left. When I asked him how those two items fit the same budget he looked at me like I was dumb. He had a $15,000 crane lined up and I told him he would have to find someone else to work with it.
My personality would lend me to finance a newer unit, over buying an older one. You have to consider I couldnt fix my chainsaw if it broke though!
PCTREE
Treehouser
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #33
My thought process is the cheap crane wont break the bank and if I got it I would sell my knuckle boom . As I have never financed anything my credit sux so I would be hard pushed to buy a "nice crane". No I wouldnt even think about working for other people. To do that you are held to a whole new set of standards from what I understand. My buddy who has the cheap crane is one of those guys who buys everything on credit and has a huge house and I guess lots of credit. He told me that he cannot believe how much work they can get done now with this ... I kinda know I should buy what I WANT not what I can easily afford but old habits die hard.....
bonner1040
Nick from Ohio
I am sure whichever path you choose it will work out for you.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
If I was an operator and willing to rent my crane out to other tree companies, there would be some questions that I would want to ask before agreeing to a job with a first time customer. You could get some kind of shoulder problem moving the stick back and forth to try and free up stuck saws. Think of the potential stress!
rangerdanger
TreeHouser
How well do you trust your buddy that's selling the crane? Is it a one owner crane? Take someone to inspect it with you who knows what they're doing.
Personally, I'd never really hire out a crane I owned to other tree companies. The only exception to this is if it was a friends company, where I knew the skill set of the climber and felt comfortable doing crane work with them. I'd hire out the crane for standard crane rental projects, but beyond that not much. Crane rental can be a real lucrative business if you do it right. Standard crane work is generally very safe and easy, because you'll always know the weigh of your pick, its normally a static pick, and you can set it back down if its out of capacity, one or two guys can make a lot of money without putting the stress on their body and crane that tree work does.
Cranes are the way to go for tree work though, in all honesty. After working with Keith I became convinced of that, and we hope to acquire a crane in the next 3-5 years. We've been trying to think ahead though and finance some equipment like my Gehl and the new trailer to start building up a good credit. With how low interest rates are right now, and the return on investment the equipment brings, it seems like a no brainer to me.
Personally, I'd never really hire out a crane I owned to other tree companies. The only exception to this is if it was a friends company, where I knew the skill set of the climber and felt comfortable doing crane work with them. I'd hire out the crane for standard crane rental projects, but beyond that not much. Crane rental can be a real lucrative business if you do it right. Standard crane work is generally very safe and easy, because you'll always know the weigh of your pick, its normally a static pick, and you can set it back down if its out of capacity, one or two guys can make a lot of money without putting the stress on their body and crane that tree work does.
Cranes are the way to go for tree work though, in all honesty. After working with Keith I became convinced of that, and we hope to acquire a crane in the next 3-5 years. We've been trying to think ahead though and finance some equipment like my Gehl and the new trailer to start building up a good credit. With how low interest rates are right now, and the return on investment the equipment brings, it seems like a no brainer to me.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
I wonder how difficult it is to acquire the skills to operate a crane safely? Most operators learn with static picks before moving on to doing tree jobs. Some never move on. 
Knowing from the cutting side what is required would certainly speed up things when learning what is needed at the controls, but tricky jobs require experience. I'm thinking that great caution would certainly be in order, and the time required before you could relax with it. Not doing it everyday.... A deft touch is definitely an advantageous thing to have, knowing how much pull to put on a pick, and the jobs that are borderline out of reach that call for not in the manual creativity. On the other hand, though it is unusual, I have seen some highly skilled operators get complacent. Most I observe have their eyes glued to the glass, as it should be. Isn't going to some sort of school required before you can legally operate a crane? That's the case here, seems like it should be a worldwide requirement.
Knowing from the cutting side what is required would certainly speed up things when learning what is needed at the controls, but tricky jobs require experience. I'm thinking that great caution would certainly be in order, and the time required before you could relax with it. Not doing it everyday.... A deft touch is definitely an advantageous thing to have, knowing how much pull to put on a pick, and the jobs that are borderline out of reach that call for not in the manual creativity. On the other hand, though it is unusual, I have seen some highly skilled operators get complacent. Most I observe have their eyes glued to the glass, as it should be. Isn't going to some sort of school required before you can legally operate a crane? That's the case here, seems like it should be a worldwide requirement.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Most of the operators I have to deal with are sub-par doing treework. It sucks.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
That is a hassle, MB. I guess I have worked with around four or five crane outfits, from large concerns running many cranes to small outfits with a single crane The number of operators that can go out on tree jobs is very small compared to the ones that go to construction sites, etc. Still, there is usually at least one guy in the operator's pool that can do trees. Some guys are exceptionally good, and know what is on the mind of the person up in the tree. Cool to feel safe and have fun. Matsumoto crane I call the main tree work operator, Igarashi san, on his cell phone, don't even go through the office anymore. If he is free, he'll quickly run out to have a look. I like to hang with him, full of interesting stories, and always kind to discuss things. Bummer when he retires, which he is talking about.
bonner1040
Nick from Ohio
The crane co we rent from also works for the company I used to work for... Here is a shot of them in action
squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
Ummm. What's happening there?
Tucker943
Bamboo Plantation Owner
We did a big removal with this ancient 15 ton last week. 90' with the jib on. Ratty looking, but even though its old, its rock solid mechanically and being set up right at the tree this thing took some man sized picks.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
I think unusual, Squish.
bonner1040
Nick from Ohio
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
That's my guess.
rangerdanger
TreeHouser
Wow, that's crazy.
mccauleytree
TreeHouser
I agree!
CurSedVoyce
California Hillbilly
Just wow....
flushcut
TreeHouser
Scary!
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