Costs of Crane ownership

[Griff93]

We do a good bit of crane work and are trying to figure out at what point does it make sense to buy our own. We know about having to have the inspection done($600) and general maintenance. Anything else surprising? In our state we're required to be a DOT certified crane operator. We have spent $2300 in crane rentals in the past couple of weeks. This is a pretty regular occurrence. Sometimes we go 2 to 3 weeks without using a crane. We would use one more often for smaller removals if we didn't have to pay $500 for the minimum each time when we would only use the crane for 30 minutes. There are no other tree services in our area with their own crane. Only a handful that the crane rental place will deal with. Sometimes we have trouble getting a crane on short notice for storm damage work etc. We're looking to get a boom truck in the 23-28 ton range. We frequently use a 28 ton, 40 ton, and 70 ton from the rental place. I figure at some point it makes better sense to use the money we are spending on rentals to buy ourselves a crane. The monthly payment on what we want are less than half of what we're spending on rentals. I fully understand there is fuel, upkeep, and insurance costs. Any advice?

 

[Pelorus]

The $500 minimum seems worth paying (and passing on to the client) far more than the headache of ownership.
I'm guessing the fuel, depreciation, maintenance, insurance, etc. will be considerably greater than the other half of what your current rental costs are. I dunno. Stressing about (hypothetical) big bills in the night played a major part in my decision to get rid of my old bucket truck. No regrets.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Odd the DOT has anything to do with a crane.

 

[beastmaster]

I worked for a company that had a 60ft knuckle boom crane. Because of the size and weight of the truck it was exempt of a lot of fees and regulatory stuff that a bigger crane must suffer throu. We used that little crane a lot. A million uses when all you have to spend is fuel. We still had to call in the big guns every once in the while.
So I'd check on local regulations see if you could squeeze in under the radar with a smaller unit. Insurance alone can be crazy i hear.

 

[Griff93]

Problem with the $500 minimum is it make us not competitive on smaller removals. A lot of smaller trees get taken down around here for $800-1200. A fair bit of these are right next to houses so a crane would be nice instead of having to rig down small pieces or cut and chunk small stuff to avoid hitting the house. Our usual crane bill per time is closer to $1000 than the $500 min anyway. The other issue we run into is not being able to get a crane for urgent jobs. We usually have to wait a couple of weeks to get a rental.
We would still rent a 70 ton when needed as buying a crane that large is definitely cost prohibitive. It's also very heavy and large so putting it in certain places is a problem.

Here the operator is required to be a DOT certified crane operator but there is no license tag requirements. Our DOT views cranes as pieces of off road equipment. No tags are on any of the rental places machines. Other than the annual inspection, there's no other regulations/fees. My insurance is already insuring us to do crane work. The only difference for us would be the actual equipment coverage as long as I'm only doing tree work with it.

 

[no tree to big]

Do it! First talk to your insurance company, find out what a boom truck is then what a crane is then buy the biggest boom truck you can! Cost of insuring a crane vs boom truck was close to double through our ins co. We run a 18t and do a ton of work with it. a 92 or 100 footer would be so much better tho we do so many trees that are not normally crane trees but in half the time and it only cost a few bucks in fuel

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[crotchclimber]

The company I work for has a crane. 38 ton with 140ft reach. It's great. One of the company's owners went to crane school and then worked for the crane service we got the crane from for a week to get certified. It was expensive. Had to get a loan. You better have a big chipper and truck to feed the huge pieces into to make it economical. Also a big dump trailer for the logs. Our mini skid also usually goes on crane jobs to move the pieces. If you don't have a bucket truck I'd say get that and all that other equipment before buying a crane.

 

[Griff93]

We have two bucket trucks, two mini skid steers, a full sized tracked loader, a grapple truck, two chipper trucks, an f750 dump, a 25 ft equipment trailer for big logs, an f350 12' dump, an f350 tool truck pulling a dump trailer, two 12" chippers, and a 9" chipper. We're doing several crane jobs a month usually. We normally use a mini to help set down big picks and to feed the chipper. We have been kinda looking at 18 inch chippers as well. I definitely know what I'm getting us into with doing crane jobs. It's more important with rentals to be able to process the picks quickly when you're paying $200 an hour.

I have checked into crane operator school and certification. It looks like around $1200 takes care of it the first time and $200 every two years after.

 

[crotchclimber]

We got a Morbark 2400XL Hurricane and International 4700 dump with the same loan as for the crane. The 2400XL is perfect for crane work. 18" with larger feed wheels and about 200hp. We have a 2400 18" as well but with a smaller engine but that rarely goes out on crane jobs. The two 12" never do. Sounds like you're about ready for a crane with all that equipment. After we got one we do about three jobs a week with it.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

I bought a 16 ton two years ago. We have a lot of equipment to go with it though. 12" and 18" chippers, two large chip trucks, two buckets, dump truck, log truck, dingo, ASV RC 50 and SC372. The crane goes out 2-3 days a week. Its super useful. Makes some jobs that would be a nightmare a breeze. Especially with the 18" Bandit chipper. Whole pine tops the crane can lift, lower down and straight through in one shot. Huge time saver. We use it a lot on large hardwood removals too. Saves on lawn damage. Together with the log truck works well too. I'd like to get another larger unit, 26 ton or so, rear mount. Rear mount is the way to go for trees. But our little crane works super well too, just often you gotta be really close and that makes life difficult. For $1200 you probably should have experience going into the class too, otherwise it might be difficult to pass the practical.