There are many tips for renting a crane to consider before you actually rent a crane. With a crane rental solution, you should get the assurance that you will always have access to necessary equipment, regardless of the location of the job site. If you own the crane, you’re responsible for ensuring that the heavy machinery is transported to the work site. This can be a very difficult task for businesses that conduct their operations in numerous states.

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Tips for Renting a Crane in Bay Area, CA

There are several benefits when working with a crane rental company in Northern CA. To successfully rent one that meets your needs, remember these 3 tips for renting a crane.

#1-Find Out How Long the Project Will Take

Cranes can be rented from rental companies and the cost can be either per hour or day. It is not necessary to rent a crane for the entire day if the work you need to get done will only take a short amount of time. Doing so would be wasting money, which can be allocated for other aspects of the project. If, on the other hand, you are working on a project that will take a long time, it is best to rent the equipment per day. You may be able to negotiate a cheaper price if you rent a crane for a longer period.

It is important that you do not underestimate the scale of a project because you may end up spending too much on a crane. There is also the possibility that the rental company will take it away before the completion of the project. On the other hand, you should avoid wasting money by renting a crane longer than necessary. When estimating how long it will take for you to finish the project, it is important to always provide some wiggle room for unforeseen complications, such as the amount of time that will be spent on rigging the load.

Additionally, you should be aware that it is in your best interest to overestimate the amount of time necessary and book the crane for a longer period rather than hiring it for a shorter period of time as the latter can and will result in a greater number of inconveniences.

#2-Assess Your Needs

It is not enough to just rent the crane for the appropriate amount of time. In addition to duration, you also need to be sure that the equipment you rent is powerful enough to raise the weight that you’ll be dealing with. Take some time to carefully measure the load and figure out the cargo’s weight before you contact the crane rental providers.

This way, you will be able to tell the rental company the precise weight/load capacity you’re planning to lift. It will make it much simpler for the company to give a recommendation on the sort of crane that would work best for your project. Take note: you also have to determine the height of a lift in addition to a load’s weight which you’ll be raising. If you have to hoist towards the top of a 12-story building, you will need a rental crane that can elevate your cargo that high.

#3-Choose the Right Crane Rental Company

People who are in a rush for a crane rental in Northern CA are the ones who have negative crane rental experiences. Finding a crane for their projects is something that many individuals put off until a day before the projects are scheduled to begin.

As a result, they end up hiring the first company that they find, which is not always the most suitable option. You need to be careful and methodical if you want to select the most suitable company for you. It is recommended that you start your search at least three or four months before you launch a project.

Do this to give yourself ample time to go to a number of different rental companies and assess the cranes they have available. Make sure you inquire about the reliability and condition of the equipment. You should also inquire about the equipment’s maintenance records.

What’s The Most Important Tips for Renting a Crane?

You don’t need to pay lots of money to rent a crane; however, you shouldn’t rent the one that’s too cheap since you will likely end up with equipment that is of low quality and will be difficult to operate.

Renting from The Leading Crane Rental Company in Northern CA

Apart from the aforementioned tips on crane rentals, remember that it’s also important to only trust a reputable and established crane rental company in Northern CA like Sheedy Crane. What you don’t want is a rental crane to come apart and you’ll be held liable.

At Sheedy Crane, they don’t only have an extensive fleet of specialty cranes, but they also have crane experts that can assist you in operating the rental crane on your job site. For more information on crane rental in CA, contact us at Sheedy Crane today!

If you’ve ever experienced an earthquake, you’ll know that they have an almost incomprehensible amount of power. So much so that it’s a wonder that we can inhabit places where they occur frequently, let alone build cities around or on top of the fault lines that they often spring from. Cities like San Francisco seem like a testament to human resilience when you consider the above, with inventions like seismic retrofitting keeping the buildings upright.

While much of the progress in seismic retrofitting has been made in the last centuries, the idea would have been around since the humans built the first huts in earthquake-prone areas. As with anything, this technology has been honed over time, and finally, the industrial revolution and the more recent computational revolution have seen exponential progress. If you’re wondering about the necessity of seismic retrofitting in your building, then read on to learn what the determining factors are.

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Earthquake Prone Regions

One of the most determining factors for whether your building will need seismic retrofitting is if it’s located in an earthquake-prone region. These are typically areas that are located on or near fault lines, and subsequently, experience more frequent and higher magnitude quakes than other regions. As a provider of Bay Area hauling and lifting services, Sheedy Crane is acutely aware of how to manage these types of unprecedented situations.

San Andreas Fault

One of the most famous fault lines in the world, so much so that it even has a movie about it, the San Andreas fault extends more than 750 miles through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and Pacific Plate and is split into the Northern, Central, and Southern Fault Zones. The counties within these zones are more or less prone than each other, due to the differences between the fault zones.

Depending on the county where your building is located, seismic retrofitting may be more or less relevant to you. Thankfully, the California Earthquake Authority has a handy website where you can learn about the probability in your county. As daunting as this may seem, it does give you plenty of time to act accordingly now and to minimize both damage and harm.

Date of Construction

The next indication that can determine the necessity of seismic retrofitting for your building is the date that it was constructed. As previously mentioned, leaps and bounds have been made in this field over the past couple of decades, and buildings constructed within this time are more likely to have some degree of seismic retrofitting. Whereas buildings constructed before the 1980s will have relatively primitive earthquake resilience, due to the technology and knowledge that was available at that time.

Records of Construction

It’s not uncommon for older buildings to have received seismic retrofitting in recent years. As the owner of the building, you should have relatively easy access to the records of construction as well as any retrofits that have taken place. These should give you a fair indication of the necessity of a retrofit, as even if it was retrofitted 20 years ago that technology or methodology may have already become outdated.

Soft-Story Seismic Retrofitting

Most apartment complexes, multi-story shopping complexes, and parking garages are considered soft-story buildings due to their having one or more floors with large openings where there would typically be a shear wall for stability. These kinds of buildings are prone to soft-story collapse, which prompted the mandated screening of soft-story buildings in the San Francisco region in 2013.

Since then, many of these buildings have received some degree of seismic retrofitting, although the recent pandemic has affected the rate at which this has happened.

What to Expect from Seismic Retrofitters

Here at Sheedy Cranes, we know that any kind of construction or retrofitting is a stressful prospect for building owners, especially when it affects the workflow or lifestyles of those using the building. When it comes to seismic retrofitting your apartment complex, retail space, or parking garage, you should expect some minor inconvenience, but it’s needed to guarantee the safety of the area’s residents.

To minimize this, it’s best to hire an experienced company who are well-equipped to screen and retrofit as quickly as possible. This will not only ensure the longevity of your building but also ensure the safety of those in and around it while minimizing inconvenience. The need of Bay Area hauling and lifting services will always be prevalent.

Bay Area Hauling, Lifting & Seismic Retrofitting Services: Sheedy Crane

Here at Sheedy Crane, we have almost a hundred years of experience in the San Fransisco Bay Area with all manner of hauling and lifting and have had our part in many of the great buildings that dominate the skyline here. Be sure to contact us to inquire about seismic retrofitting, or check out our website to learn more about our company history and what else we can offer.

Sheedy Crane’s Bay Area crane rental services will perform almost any hoisting, hauling, or rigging, job no matter how big or small. We are industry leaders with over 85 years of hauling, hoisting, and rigging experience. Our foundation of success is built on safety, honesty, and high-quality service. For today’s blog post, we would like to discuss the role of crane operators. Crane Operators like to work outdoors, are great at operating machinery, work well with their hands, and love to build long-lasting things. They move hefty, bulky loads using a crane while spending hours upon hours in the driver’s seat of their cranes.

And they usually work in a variety of places like warehouses, ports, construction areas, and mines. A Crane Operator’s job is never dull.

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What Skills Must A Crane Operator Possess?

Manual dexterity
Physical flexibility and strength
Quick to react
Keen depth perception
Excellent eye-hand coordination
General familiarity with crane operation
Able to repair equipment when necessary
Can think on their feet
Has good judgment
An impeccable organizational skill-set

Do you think you have what it takes to be a Crane Operator? Let’s find out more.

What does their job entail?

As a Crane Operator, you’re responsible for the crane’s maintenance, assembly, inspection, and its overall control. You may work with tower cranes, boom trucks, and mobile cranes. And needless to say, crane safety is paramount in your Crane Operator role.

You can expect the Following Day-To-Day Activities:

A Crane Safety Check
Crane Set-up and Operation
Following a project plan, place the required materials around the project site.
Keep an eye on and assess the crane’s stability.
Load up, balance, and adjust weights
Conduct and read hand signals while operating the crane
Coordinate safety of the site with a designated signal person
Repair the crane when necessary and perform scheduled maintenance.

Additional Skills That Would Be Useful For The Job

An ability to work well in teams

A calm disposition and the ability to have patience and not overreact in emergent situations

Excellent attention to the small details

Skilful spatial perception

Now that you know what skills are needed and what a Crane Operator does, it’s time to explore job requirements and any certifications you might need.

However, along with the skills mentioned above, you’ll need to be certified or licensed.

In fact, the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that all Crane Operators must be licensed or certified based on the crane’s type and capacity. It is also an excellent way to differentiate yourself from other candidates.

And because OSHA also holds your employer accountable for the operation and safety of their cranes, most provide comprehensive training for all crane-related operations.

NCCCO Certified Crane Operator requirements include:

You must be over the age of 18

You must follow and meet the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO’s) Substance Abuse Policy

You must pass a written examination for core competency and at least one other specialty along with a practicum or practical exam to demonstrate crane operation mastery within twelve months of passing the written examination.

You must commit to the NCCCO Code of Ethics.

All candidates must take the core exam regardless of the additional specialty they hope to be certified in.

Successfully passing the exams will get you a five-year certification and a laminated photo identification card at no cost.

We recommend that you log onto the NCCCO website to gather more details on certification.

You may be interested to know that Crane operators are in demand across the entire construction industry, and they’re needed on virtually every job. Job openings are expected to increase by 8 percent over the next decade. Therefore, you should think about becoming a Crane Operator.

As one of the leading Bay Area crane rental services, rigging, and heavy hauling contractors, we can help you learn more about becoming a Crane Operator.

The Role Of Crane Operators: Premier Bay Area Crane Rental Services

If you are interested in becoming a crane operator with the best team in the Bay Area, contact us at Sheedy Crane today!

Sheedy Crane has been planning custom heavy lift services in the western U.S. and Bay Area for nearly a century. Together with our state-of-the-art equipment, engineers, field crews, and support staff, we provide innovative solutions for any rigging job imaginable. All projects are planned, engineered, and executed with the highest degree of coordination, safety, and professionalism. Using modern AutoCAD modeling programs, an in-house fabrication shop, and some of the most experienced field hands in the industry, there is nothing we can’t lift or move. Have you ever wondered what rigging is or what a rigger does? Well lucky for you, we are here to give you all the details. Let’s explore what a rigger is and what a rigger does, and how our bay area crane rental services can provide one.

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The Basics

A Rigger is someone who sets up and repairs rigging at manufacturing plants, shipyards, logging yards, construction sites, and film sets. They are responsible for aligning and anchoring the machinery, attaching the loads, controlling the heavy equipment movement, and ensuring the rigging is safe.

The following job description and the required skills and qualifications are general and may differ from company to company. So, check with your crane operating company to see their job descriptions and required qualifications.

A riggers job descriptions contain a variety of functions and roles, including:

Inspecting and preparing loads that need to be moved.
Setting, aligning and leveling heavy equipment machinery.
Selecting the appropriate rigging gear.
Preparing the rigging equipment, including beams, pulleys, clamps, and bolts.
Inspecting the rigging before its final use.
Ensuring compliance with state and company safety procedures.
Communicating with the rigging and construction team.
Breaking down the rigging equipment and conducting post rigging inspections.
Monitoring and maintaining rigging equipment.
Maneuvering loads using heavy equipment machinery by hand.

A rigger typically needs to have or acquire these common skills and qualifications.

High school diploma or GED
Prior experience as a rigger
Familiarity with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standards.
In-depth knowledge of rigging equipment and heavy machinery.
Excellent hearing and vision.
Ability to work at heights and in noisy environments.
High-level mathematical skills.
Physical fitness and the ability to lift heavy equipment.
Ability to work outdoors in harsh weather conditions.

Now that you know what a rigger is and what they do let’s explore what rigging is and how rigging equipment is a vital part of a heavy lift. Rigging equipment is used to successfully lift and roll loads from one destination to another. Commonly, construction and industrial sites move large, heavy, complex loads from various places at different heights and sometimes tight and confined spaces.

Particular types of components are needed which have been manufactured and crafted not to twist, buckle, deform, or collapse when strained under heavy loads. Selecting the right rigging equipment is vital otherwise, the rigger will not be able to secure and move the load effectively.

The five most common rigging hardware includes:

Blocks and Pulleys help reduce the force required to lift heavy objects.

Various types of blocks and pulleys are available on the market, including snatch blocks, swivel blocks, single and double pulleys, and square blocks. Pulleys are typically used with rigging ropes.

Eye Bolts come in multiple sizes and materials, so you can choose the one that best fits your needs. Eye bolts are just another anchor point for various rigging applications.

Some of the most common include shoulder eye bolts and straight eye bolts, but screw eye bolts, U-bolts, and lag eye screws are also available for special lifts.

Shoulder eye bolts are used in angular connections, while straight eye bolts are used in straight line applications.

Rigging hooks differ in strength, capacity, and design, and many are available for different applications.

Applications differ depending on whether it is a hoist hook, lifting/rigging hook, or a sling hook.

Wire ropes and accessories are widely used in rigging, mooring, and lifting. They are usually manufactured using stainless steel and come in classification with 6 x 19, and 6 x 37 are the most common.

Accessories include clips, thimbles, sleeves, and stops, among others.

Stainless steel nuts use typically depends on the various rigging applications. Hex nuts, ball ends, dome nuts, wings nuts, and lifting eye nuts are some of the standard stainless-steel nuts.

Sheedy Crane: Professional Bay Area Crane Rental Services

Bay1 Area Crane Rental services provide modern techniques using novel approaches. We operate a fleet of more than 100 trucks, trailers, cranes that you can rent, and other heavy-duty lifting and hauling equipment. We are one of northern California’s leading crane, rigging, and heavy hauling contractors. Contact us today at https://www.sheedycrane.com/contact-information/ or call our corporate offices at (415) 648-7171 with any questions. We would be happy to provide you with an estimate for your project.

Sheedy Crane’s heavy haul trucking services services offers phenomenal work, but hauling as a whole goes further back than that! As Americans, we’ve been hauling things across the country since our earliest days of colonization. Once upon a time, this was only possible with trains and horse-drawn carriages, but thankfully we’ve advanced well beyond then. Nowadays, hauling is easier than ever, so it’s time to look at how hauling can impact your business.

When you work with heavy machinery, you’ll often be limited by the different forms of transport you have available for moving said machinery. This can make it difficult to compete, especially against larger companies that have fleets of trucks at their disposal. As a provider of Bay Area crane rental and hauling services, we can help your business expand your serviceable area, let’s look at how.

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The Need to Expand

Many businesses are finding that in the metropolises we base ourselves in, we find countless other providers of similar services. While this is convenient for the customer, it spells disaster for those businesses with heavy machinery which need constant upkeep. The need to expand is usually driven by a need for more money coming through the business, so while hauling may add to your costs, it may also provide much-needed financial relief.

Determining your Range

Before making your services known, you’ll need to know exactly how far you can haul your equipment. This will usually be determined by the hauling rate, which considers both the distance and the equipment being carried. If you have different sets of equipment for different tasks, be sure to work out how much it’ll cost for each type.

If you’re in the Bay Area, feel free to contact us as Sheedy Crane to hear about our hauling rates or any of our other relevant services such as Bay Area crane rental and maintenance.

Seasonal Work

You may also want to consider what time of year is best to make your services available away from home, as things like rain may affect your work. If the rain will stop your work, then sticking to late Autumn through to early Spring may be best. Otherwise, if you find places where you have access to storage during rain, you can offer your services year-round.

Making Your Business Available and Known

You’ll want to find those nearby areas with limited access to the services your business provides. There are a couple of different ways you can go about getting your name out there: through social media and word of mouth.

Social Media

This may be the best way to gauge things and is a great way to get your name out there. Jump on any local groups of neighboring areas on your favorite social media platform, and express interest in expanding your services to these areas.

Word of Mouth

Going out into these places and talking to people on the ground is always going to give you a better idea of the situation. By finding businesses you typically work alongside, like hardware stores or electricians, and speaking with them, you may be able to find out whether your services are needed. This is also a good way to hand out your business card to those very same businesses, in case anyone does want to hire you knowing your services can be made available.

Financial Logistics

Before you go out offering your set rates to these areas, be sure to include the cost of hauling onto the cost of your services. While this may increase your rate, it will still be preferable to those businesses who simply want to get work done, rather than waiting for ill-equipped local teams. You may also be able to absorb some of the initial cost if you’re particularly dry on work.

What to Look for in a Heavy Haul Trucking Provider

Finally, if you don’t have the luxury of being able to contact us here at Sheedy Crane for our services, there are some things you should look for in a hauling services provider, including:

– Pilot car support for overweight or over-dimensional cargo

– Project management of the transportation, including procurement of all relevant permits

– Surveys of both the route and intended site, with relevant engineering and feasibility reports

Beyond these, you may also seek those businesses who abide by local emissions requirements, as well as equip their staff with Transport Worker Identification Credentials (TWICs).

Bay Area Heavy Haul Trucking Services

Here at Sheedy Crane, we are more than a crane rental company, we’re proud to handle all things such as heavy haul trucking services, shoring, and rigging. If you’re looking for a provider of high-quality work at a reasonable rate, completed promptly, then look no further than our team. Contact us today to learn more!

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