Time is money. You've heard the saying before. In an industry like construction, where so many variables can get in the way of completing jobs, it’s an even bigger deal. Every construction job has plenty to coordinate around: equipment, workers, other crews, budgetary constraints and the weather. Not to mention the unpredictable surprises lurking underground or inside the walls of a building. These factors aren’t always within our control, but we can control what equipment we purchase.
Construction Equipment and the Bottom Line
We've all done it before: purchase a lower-level piece of equipment to complete a job in hopes it will hold up. While this decision can make things less expensive upfront, it can also cost more in the long run. Equipment quality can impact numerous aspects of a construction job. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Efficient Operation
Low-quality equipment operates less efficiently, which means jobs take more hours to complete. Additional design features that go into high-quality heavy machinery, like hydraulic functions and bi-directional operation capabilities, enable crew members to accomplish more in less time. At the end of the day, running inefficient equipment means reducing the number of jobs a company can take on each day, week and month.
Machinery Breaks Down
All machinery requires maintenance and breaks down from time to time, but low-quality equipment breaks down more, especially during high-stress applications. High-quality construction equipment is built with stronger steel and higher-quality motors and components. This allows operators to work without worrying about bending or breaking.
Durable machinery pays off in every step of a construction job, whether it’s prepping the area, completing the job, or cleaning up. Choosing low-quality equipment can cause workers to stop mid-job to conduct repairs—or even worse, quit for the day to wait for replacement parts.
Unpredictable Weather
A lot of construction jobs are weather dependent, and depending on the time of year or location, your crew might have a small window of time to complete a job. When that window does open up and you have your crew on the ground, the last thing you want to deal with is faulty or low-quality equipment. This is especially true for areas with unpredictable daily weather and shorter seasons overall.
Maximize Operations with High-Quality Construction Equipment
Unlike lower-quality counterparts, high-quality equipment helps construction crews consistently remain operational. As a result, they’re able to maximize the amount of work they can accomplish in a window of time. While it might not be possible to control the weather or increase your operational budget, planning your approach to heavy equipment purchasing can lead to a more profitable outfit.
