TAKE ADVICE FROM HIRERS

At Vibroplant Brian Hardy, works and service manager of the company's Washington depot, highlights the inefficiencies that prove costly to contractors: 'Probably the greatest single way to efficient plant hire utilisation and better cost control is to specify the right machine for the the right job. It sounds simple enough, but all too often we receive hire orders third or fourth hand and the original message has often become distorted.

'It's far better for the person on site to speak to our hire controllers directly so that he or she can specify exactly what they want using our specification brochure. Two or three times a week we will arrive on site to find that entirely the wrong machine has been ordered. It's costly in journey time and downtime on site.'

Other complaints from hirers are that some contractors under-specify and are unfamiliar with site conditions. Too often a hire results in a mini excavator being confronted with an application for a loading shovel or skid steer being asked to carry out the job of a backhoe. As a result the machine fails to do the job in the given time and other tasks are held up.

In essence, hirers urge: order the right plant for the right length of time; check that what you're getting is what you've ordered; know the local site conditions and then look after the equipment .

A dumper, recently returned to Vibroplant, had been so poorly treated that it took several hours on the part of the depot manager, armed with a 'windy pick', to return it to its original condition. Instead of hosing down the concrete splattered machine, the user left it to dry. The cost of the clean up - œ30 - was immediately passed on to the contractor. A not uncommon example of needless site waste.

Although there is a tendency among contractors to go for shorter term hire, hirers argue that this sometimes more costly since contractors have to re-hire plant at short term rates.

Long term rental delivers significant benefits. Rental companies such as Ridgway Rentals, a member of the the Rajmech Group, which operates predominantly Case equipment, offers total service back up with its long term hires. The service encompasses all aspects of machine service repair, and with the exception of damage caused by vandalism or abuse, is all included in the rental rate. An increasing number of customers who both purchase equipment from Rajmech and also rent from Ridgway are now negotiating service agreements for their owned equipment with Rajmech product support.

Sandy Findlay, chief executive at Hewden Stuart, who cites the 12m, 3t, four wheel steer, 4WD telehandler as one of today's key players in improving site productivity levels, said: 'Sometimes contractors compromise on quality in order to get a cheaper rate - in our experience this is a false economy. Not only is the equipment less productive, it is more likely to break down.'

Findlay's views are echoed by Mike Shearstone, managing director at Sheriff Holdings: 'Why do contractors insist on saving a couple of pounds a week on a sub-standard mixer or œ20 a week on a fork truck when, at a sensible hire rate, a modern, properly maintained machine is available. Sub-standard equipment not only carries a real risk of breakdown, but it also threatens the site's production sequence.'

Ensuring contractors get the right machine, Hewden Stuart's crane hire service vets each client's application before recommending a machine. To date, no such service exists for other items of operated plant, if it did, more contractors would get it right first time.