It’s been a while since we’ve had the opportunity to write — sorry for the delay! But now that we have some time, we figured we would shift gears and offer up some interesting, fun, and maybe even practical facts about construction equipment, the state of the industry, and the like.
As we said, this is shifting gears from our usual approach of talking about what kind of products and services we provide. If you are interested in learning more about how SITECH Rocky Mountain can be your construction technology provider for businesses in Colorado, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
Before we dive into the meat and potatoes of offering up said interesting facts, we’d like to take a moment to describe what we offer in more detail. First and foremost, we are providers of Trimble construction technology. With a Trimble Certified Trainer on staff, we offer classes and custom training on Trimble survey equipment we offer for both sale and rent. In addition, we offer products and support for the following solutions:
- Construction management software
- Machine control systems
- Paving control systems
- Software solutions
- Fleet and asset management
- Rail solutions
- UAS solutions
If you are in need of Trimble construction technology for your next project, don’t hesitate to give us a call at SiTech Rocky Mountain. We’ve been the leading provider of construction management software in Denver and beyond for over a decade!
Construction Equipment & Industry Facts
Now that we’ve established some basics about what we offer at SiTech Rocky Mountain, let’s get going on the fact providing! Some of these will be a bit random, but that’s part of the fun! Get into it, folks!
- According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for tower crane operators, as of 2017, was $58,975. For operating engineers, the median salary was $44,600, as of 2015.
- From 2014 to 2024, the job growth of construction equipment operators and operating engineers is projected to be 10 percent. For tower crane operators more specifically, the growth is anticipated to be at 8 percent.
- CAT equipment, which stands for Caterpillar, is a prominent construction equipment company, as it is one of the most popular manufacturers of heavy and compact construction equipment.
- CAT has acquired a fair number of other equipment companies in their history, including Lovat, Bucyrus, ASV, and Traxson.
- CAT equipment was instrumental in helping the USA defeat its enemies in World Wars I and II!
Bobcat
- Bobcat is another prominent company in the world of compact construction equipment. Originally developed by Meloe Manufacturing Company, Bobcat is now owned by the leading South Korean equipment manufacturer known as Doosan Infracore.
- Like “Kleenex” or “Band-Aids”, people refer to skid-steer loaders generically as “Bobcats” quite often. Their branding is so strong that some outside our industry don’t even know what a skid-steer loader is!
- Bobcat manufactures more than skid-steer loaders; they offer compact excavators, track loaders, loaders, utility vehicles, telehandlers, and a great number of attachments for the aforementioned equipment.
John Deere
- John Deere is largely known as the most famous tractor manufacturer on the entire planet — and they’ve been that way for literally decades.
- Fun fact — John Deere, the man, had nothing to do with tractors. He gained notoriety for making improvements on the steel plow, not creating the tractor.
- Since their founding in 1837, Deere & Company has had just nine CEOs.
- You know that leaping deer trademark logo John Deere has? It’s been used by John Deere for a whopping 135+ years!
- The slogan “Nothing Runs Like A Deere” wasn’t initially intended to be used for tractors — it was written initially for snowmobiles. It played so well that they ended up using it for their entire brand, apparently!
Heavy Equipment Vehicles
- Let’s talk about bulldozers. Their primary function is to cut through land, mountains, and to level ground. Typically, the first vehicle you will see on a construction site is a bulldozer.
- Bulldozers vary in horsepower, price, and weight, but if we were to “ballpark” it (which we are), bulldozers usually boast 300+ horsepower, weigh 40+ tons, and are at least a quarter million dollars in price.
- Bulldozers are comprised of crawlers, rippers, and blades.
- Let’s talk hydraulic excavators: they usually weigh 240 tons, have over 1000 horsepower, and cost between $300-400,000. Their primary functions include digging, loading, crawling, excavating, and drilling.
- Excavators are comprised of booms, which work in a similar way to your upper arm from shoulder to elbow, and buckets, which scoop up dirt, rocks, or whatever the material at hand might be.
- Let’s talk wheel dozers; they tend to weigh in the range of 80 tons, boast around 700 horsepower, and can cost over (*puts pinky on corner of mouth*) $1,000,000!
- Wheel dozers have a bucket, which, much like with an excavator, is used to scoop things up. Buckets can be replaced with a range of other attachment tools to fit various applications and projects.
- The primary functions of wheel dozers are snow shoveling, farming and forestry applications, and loading soil.
- Let’s talk Dump Trucks – Dump trucks usually weigh over 10 tons, have close to 1500 horsepower, and can cost anywhere between $25,000-$100,000.
- Dump trucks’ primary function is to carry rocks, dirt, and other materials to and from construction sites. This is accomplished with a vessel, which can unload all cargo at the flip of a switch, causing the vessel to tilt upward.
- Let’s talk Dragliners – Dragliners weigh around 8,000(!) tons, have in the range of 600 horsepower, and generally cost just under $1,000,000.
- Dragliners feature buckets which are used in excavation projects. The bucket can be lowered and dropped into deep, hard-to-reach pits.
- Dragliners are comprised of booms, which raise and lower the bucket with wire ropes, and buckets, which carry the rocks, soil, and other material that needs to be moved.
Industry Facts
- Before we wrap up today’s blog, we need to get to some market facts. Let’s start with the revenue of Caterpillar, which in 2015 was $54.7bn. Their sales alone were $26.6bn!
- According to Statista.com, global construction equipment sales revenue is estimated to be at $89.3bn by 2020.
- There is an average of 173,200 unit sales of construction equipment in North America alone.
- The construction industry adds an approximate value of 4.1 percent to the U.S. GDP!
Contact SITECH Rocky Mountain, Your Construction Technology Provider
So there you have it — all the facts about construction equipment you could ever ask for!
Whether you are looking to rent or buy construction management software, Trimble survey equipment, or used construction equipment, we at SITECH Rocky Mountain are your construction technology provider of choice. We are proud to serve Colorado, New Mexico, and far west Texas with our commitment to excellence. We will help you determine which solutions are right for your unique project by putting our years of experience to good use for you.
Get started today! Adopt construction technology and accelerate your company’s growth — which, by the way, is the very topic of our next blog. So be sure to keep an eye out for that in the near future!