Your choice of crane type makes a big impact on construction performance.
When Mike Brys, Site Superintendent for the Paric Corporation, was about to embark on a massive construction project in Kirkwood, Missouri, he was aware of the general preference in the area for using mobile cranes, like a rough terrain crane or the standard hydraulic crane.
The job was called Aberdeen Heights, which was over 600,000 square feet of senior housing construction, including four- to five-story wall-panel construction and huge trussed roof with center courtyards.
However, instead of mobile cranes, the Paric Corporation decided on two San Marco tower cranes: an SMT 551 on a mobile base (with 105-foot under hook and a 180-foot jib) and an SMT 522 on a mobile base (with 118-foot under hook and a 170-foot jib).
The two San Marcos were rented from Custom Service Crane Inc. and they turned out to be the only two cranes used to service Building B for the project.
Directly adjacent to their site, another framing contractor was working on Building A, which was a very similar four-story structure. However, the obvious difference on their site was that they were using four mobile cranes to service the project.
“Progress on the building using the two tower cranes was substantially further along,” commented Randy Huffman, Owner of Custom Service Crane, Inc. It was a clear example of how tower cranes gave a noticeable advantage over the more traditional mobile cranes.
According to Jeremy Pokorny with Con Tech Carpentry, the tower cranes outperformed the mobile cranes. In the midst of the project, Pokorny said, “Both buildings were on similar schedules, but we’ve completed, and they haven’t. There’s no comparison between tower cranes and mobile cranes, the tower cranes could reach everywhere, and the mobile cranes couldn’t.”
“The other contractors using mobile cranes definitely had to work harder on their project,” observed Brys of Paric, “and since they are still in production, they are obviously paying higher costs’.
“The decision to go with the San Marcos came with a big pay day,” said Pokorny. “Everything ran smoothly. We could reach everything we needed to reach, and we didn’t need to move materials for the crane to get access. If we had to do it over again, we’d do it the same way, no doubt.”
The San Marco SMTs are known for their efficient technology and simple operation. Based on that, the two tower cranes were able to access materials and every part of the large construction site without delay and without site roads. The tower cranes created direct cost reductions because there was no need for off-road forklifts, rough terrain or mobile cranes, or other forms of rented onsite hoisting equipment.
The bottom line was the fact that contractors could rent a tower crane for the same or less cost as other temporary crane services, while cutting other major costs.
“I would definitely encourage Con Tech Carpentry to keep using the San Marco SMT Tower Cranes for future projects,” said Brys. “Because of their simplicity to set up and use and their reduced need for a staging area.”
Custom Service Crane is the Bigfoot Crane dealer for Illinois, with service into Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan.
Photo courtesy of David Gosse
Photo courtesy of David Gosse
