Sage Construction completed its first home build using a Potain self-erecting crane and reports that by using the crane to enable a new method of construction, it was able to deliver time, money and labor savings on the project.
The contractor used a Potain Igo MA 21 for a log home construction project in the mountains surrounding McCall, in western Idaho. Sage Construction relied on the crane to help build the two-story home from the ground up, move materials around the jobsite, from equipment to bags of cement, to flooring and roofing materials.
“This crane is a huge cost saver, and it also saves us time and labor,”
said Pete Loerzel, owner at Sage Construction. “We’ve used other cranes many times in previous jobs, but it’s our first time working with an electric crane and the advantages are just obvious.”
The Potain crane’s electric operation enabled workers to communicate more effectively on the jobsite, Loerzel said.
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It’s so quiet. We are able to have multiple trades on the job at once and everybody can hear each other. The operator can give his instructions, and everybody can hear him clearly. It just makes safety a gigantic bonus on the job.
Another advantage of the Igo MA 21 is its easy mobility. The crane has a permanently installed transportation axle and ballast so it can travel in one load down roads and highways and quickly maneuver into position on the jobsite. At the McCall project, the crane’s compact size enabled workers to get it up a narrow dirt road driveway and place it in a tight space between several trees that otherwise would have had to be cut down.
There are a lot of properties in which you’re building between existing buildings, and when you can get a compact crane to do that work, it’s a huge cost saving,
Loerzel said.
The Igo MA 21 also aided roofers in moving their materials. According to Loerzel, this help came in handy since otherwise the team would have needed to use scaffolding and some kind of lift, which would have proved exponentially difficult, as the home’s driveway was not constructed.
If it’s not obvious yet, yes, I would recommend this crane to everybody. It’s a machine that’s going to save time. And time is of the essence on a construction job,
Loerzel said.
Rocky Mountain Crane, a Potain certified dealer based in McCall, provided the crane for the project.
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