alltex

Has the crane (Elliot) been fully serviced and safety inspected? Does it have; lamp, tool boxes, welder, good bed, decent cab? That's basically what you're buying. Plan on a 7k-20k bill for a new motor, or at least a rebuild soon in the future. A good crane with remote and 2 man basket has value. Take the time to look it over, or find a local guy (sign guy) to check it out, and run it through its paces. Who knows, another 20k investment and you may have a great truck for years to come.

We're busy, but I will make boxes for anyone. Money is money, shoot me the sizes and mounting requirements.

Not to sound blunt, but if you have alum welding capabilities, you could fab your own. Alum Diamond plate is available in most areas to 1/4" thick. Just takes up a lot of bed space IMO. I've seen under bed bins before, but that has it's own set of problems for accessibility and location mounting. We go redneck here and put the cardboard boxes on the truck when we need them.

Speaking of shipments. We received a crated sign (we thought it was) last week. Off loading it from the truck, my forklift was dogging real bad. I thought the propane tank was getting low. Long story short, after cracking the crate, which was supposedly holding 2 raceways. We found (x3) 12' radiators which had to come off some big ass dozer. And 2" plate steel pieces (x30) 2' x 3'. It was a "mother" getting it back on the truck.

I've considered torching the place the last few weeks.

Figuring mileage is tricky. Most trucks have a different load on them everyday. Different drivers with varying driving habits. Hwy vs stop and go traffic. Then there is the "idle" time when the truck is working. Or when the tech decides to leave it running for 3 hours with the A/C on high. While they're doing an inside wire job. I do know the new diesels require an additive to clean the exhaust. Not sure what that runs, probably doesn't break the bank. But is an additional cost. If you're pulling between 5-8 mpg after it's all said and done. That's not too bad in my opinion for a CDL truck with a service crane or bucket attached to it. I look at the job cost: Labor, parts, mark up, fuel, and travel time vs the invoice price.

Just had my neon guy drop off some glass. We were discussing the "State of the Neon Industry". The pros and cons of Neon vs LED. And my ratio of signs I build using LED's. The question he asked me was. Do I have more money in the bank from using LED's? My best guesstimate is no. By no means do I consider myself a sign guru. I'm over 20 years in the electric sign business. I remember when LED's first started coming out. I have nothing against either product. Our conversation turned to; quality, effective lighting, maintenance, and repair. Quality, you get what you pay for. But Voltarc 4500 from different boxes looks and lights the same. Unlike LED's from a different batch. Effective lighting can be accomplished with both types. LED's are a better fit in tight stroke letters in my opinion. The maintenance and repair are about the same. (If you build a good sign). As we were finishing our discussion, we discussed "Who's pocket am I lining"? I've never looked at this way. Neon is made by our local neon guys or in house. LED's are made in CHINA. I prefer to keep my local neon guy in business. Just saying....

I plan on learning how to use my fly rod. The front deck seems pretty tangle free. The boat is real stable, it's their new design. It's basically a catamaran. My 2 days to play with it in the bay, the chop was 2-3 and the wife and I stayed dry. And were able to stand and cast without busting our ass. And we caught 25+ trout! (only 5 keepers)

Santa brought me this. 2012 Mako 17 CC pro Skiff. Now I just need the time to break in the motor and do some; Redfish, Speck Trout, & Flounder fishing..

50' extension cord. Maybe a new drill bit or two. Also looking at some colored ink for my printer. On a more serious note, hopefully in the first quarter. I can add a 60' -70' truck with a platform "jib" for 1 truck raceway installs.

Have a great Christmas! Now back to work!

I contacted my Insurance carrier. They don't do any training for;cranes, rigging, signaling. I've gotten a quote for $250.00 per person for the signaling cert. $1,400.00 per person on the crane cert to 21 tons. Rigging they'll give to me no charge based on my experience. They'll hold the classes at my shop over a weekend using our crane. Then we test at a testing center on Monday. We do testing/certification on various equipment such as; warehouse/high reach forklift, scissor lifts, boom trucks at our rental shop RSC. I do the classes here on everything else during our safety meetings. We just did Ladder safety 2 weeks ago. Last week my insurance loss prevention guy wanted to see a crew in action. He goes to the job site. Finds my guys using an aluminum extension ladder disconnecting boxes and secondary inside a location. And the fiberglass extension ladder was on the crane truck. At least they had the lockouts on the breakers and boxes. And they were using all 4 outriggers. Now there are no aluminum ladders for them to use for roof access or other non electrical uses. They get to hump the heavy ladders. This is the stuff that makes me wish OSHA would fine an employee for their choice for non compliance. We can give our employees the best training and equipment. But we can't baby sit every job and make them be compliant. Sorry, got off base a little.

Did you get signal qualified also? I'm checking into this as well. Curious on how much it cost for 2 people?

Erik, thanks for your attempt(s) with the ISA regarding subcontractor payment times. This is a battle we "subcontractors" have to deal with daily. I find it hard to believe a group of small business owners (subcontractors), asking an association to have it's members abide by their association guidelines. Somehow constitutes an "Anti Trust" liability. I will continue to add my comments and experiences with the national companies on the list. I'm not worried about what I write, it's the truth. I don't care what others charge for their services. I only care about what I charge, and my bottom line. I've had 2 large nationals dangle a lot of work in front of me in the last few weeks. The problem was becoming a "Team Partner" with them. Reducing my labor/truck rates to a barely break even amount. Then basically supplying parts for 10-20% above my cost. Then of course, wait on payment. I passed on the deals. They didn't work for my business plan. I just signed up to be a Board Patron. I thank you for this service you're providing. And felt I needed to help support it.

I hate to hear this. I do not know the company. They appear to be a decent sized firm. I would assume they have safety meetings. As well as a zero tolerance policy on fall protection safety gear being worn at all times when in the air. I wonder why OSHA doesn't direct the fines and penalties directly to the individual at fault? OSHA is going to investigate regardless. If the owner of the company followed all the correct safety procedures. And the employee chose not to follow them. Why should the owner be fined? I understand this isn't how OSHA works. We all want our employees to be safe. It is impossible to watch everyone of them daily on every job site. The thought of them having to pay a 15k fine. May just be the awakening and accountability an employee needs. As far as the scaffolding goes. I will never own a section. Anytime we are required to use scaffolding. I go through a second party who;supplies, installs, and signs off on their work.

If you find one that works through rock and clay, I'd be interested...

The last 3 to 4 years we've done Six B.J. Brewhouse's for them. They are nice people. Will pay a deposit, balance is 45-60. Installed a Sketchers for them back in August. Waiting 57 days for that project as of today. (didn't get deposit on Sketchers)

I have a Dewalt cordless bone yard at my shop. I've switched to the Makita with the lithium batteries. The packs I bought also have an impact drill with them. The guy's love them. Only have had 1 battery go south in the last 18 months or so.

My service trucks are GPS equipped. I know where they are every 10 seconds if needed. My service crews are aware of this. As far as watching internet usage. I don't think that's an issue. The folks who have access, do their jobs. If they mess around a little, it's OK.

Did you see the part of the 30 max on travel time. That was just one of my problems. Also no minimum trip charge. I'm sure a couple people will bite.

I talked with the Pres.-owner. Sent me info to fill out. I didn't do it. When someone asks me for my bank references, and I'm not buying from them. I'm out. Kind of like me asking a car repair guy for his credit score before I let him fix my car. Looked him up,he was with NW Signs. I guess he's starting up a service company.

This happened Monday afternoon. I'm attaching the latest article link. http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/16/3295305/worker-who-died-in-fall-from-billboard.html

Looks like they're using an electric buffer. My guess is a product like the "as seen on TV" for auto headlight lenses. Not a bad idea, if we get time. I may try it on an old sign out back. May be a way to get some work out of some old customers.

I did a ton of removals last year for Anchor Sign in the Dallas metro area. We didn't come out too bad overall. I would reccomend hiring a P.T. worker for scrapping all the removed signs. I saw/got the same thing from Gateway, and passed. Being that Blockbuster is basicaly bankrupt. Enforcing a lien on a vacant lease space doesn't seem too profitable or timely in this business climate.

I've tried all of it over the years. We mainly use plexiglas. In TX., the sun is our enemy. Any sign facing South or West fades 50% faster IMO. Most of our letters we fab have a vinyl overlay for color. We use 3M vinyl only. We even get some yellowing after a 5 years on Panaflex. Of course Lexan turns yellow quicker than anything. Just my 2 cents.