What are the advantages of cranes? Find out more about the uses of cranes in construction and the reasons to use a mobile crane rental.
Advantages Of Cranes
Whatever construction projects or lifting operations you may be working on, you can undoubtedly benefit from the advantages that static and all-terrain cranes can bring to your site.
Here are some of the main advantages of cranes that you can benefit from:
- They are ideal for lifting heavy loads or materials or transferring them from one place to another.
- There is a wider range of crane types to choose from, each with its own special use for moving different materials in different locations.
- They can be used for loading and unloading purposes, whether you are dealing with loose materials or other pieces of machinery.
- The mechanical advantages of cranes mean they can lift heavy loads and most materials with great ease.
- Modern cranes are also incredibly safe when used properly, meaning you can use them in most urban environments.
Most crane hire companies will provide a wide range of configurations for you to choose from.
From lighter, smaller cranes to the heaviest ones on the market, whatever your project requires, expert crane hirers will have the equipment to fit the job. They can also offer professional advice if you are unsure of what you need for your project.
For example, you may be working in limited space or precarious situations, and these crane hire experts can recommend the perfect machinery for you.
Mobile cranes are a particularly versatile configuration that can suit the needs of most construction projects.
Typically, the lighter, the better is the mantra for mobile cranes, given that they will be much easier to move compared to other 700+ tonne behemoth cranes you can find.
Choosing light mobile cranes affords you the greatest flexibility in your project, especially when compared to static cranes. Here we'll take a closer look at mobile or truck cranes and the various advantages they bring to your construction projects.
Reasons to Use a Mobile Crane Rental
Mobile cranes posted on your site, whether rough terrain cranes, crawler cranes or other truck-mounted cranes, provide a wealth of benefits for different types of projects, no matter their scale, and can be applied in most major industries.
Here are some of the main reasons to consider hiring mobile cranes for your next construction project:
Mobile cranes are the perfect configuration when mobility and flexibility are crucial to your project.
For example, your project site might have numerous obstructions preventing using other types of cranes, meaning mobile cranes might be your only other option.
But just because they might be your only option doesn't mean they don't offer plenty of benefits on their own. Most mobile cranes have compact designs, making them uniquely suited to working in narrow passages or when you need to navigate project sites with limited space.
This versatility makes them the perfect solution when working in most industries, with any materials and any site conditions.
For example, their size makes mobile cranes ideal for working on narrow streets and closed urban areas. Other, larger cranes would be far too cumbersome for such work, making mobile cranes perfect for projects with limited space.
Their design also means mobile cranes have a very quick setup time, reducing time wastage. If your project is time sensitive, this is an obvious benefit, allowing you to get going much quicker and finish on, if not before, your deadline.
This also has a positive effect on your project's efficiency.
For example, if you need to take the crane down, move it and set it up again. It will also boost your productivity, allowing you to work on numerous jobs one after the other without losing too much time.
It can be surprising for people to find that, despite their size, mobile cranes are perfectly capable of the lifting strength and stability offered by other crane types.
They come with outriggers, heavy-duty axles and other strengthening components that ensure mobile cranes have comparably lifting capacity for large loads.
They are perfectly designed to safely lift loads, construction equipment and heavy materials to whatever height you need.
Combining some of the previous benefits of efficiency and ease of use, you can see how hiring mobile cranes for your construction project can be a very cost-effective method of work.
Given that they can help finish your project quickly, minimising time wastage, and with no loss in lifting power, it's easy to see why hiring mobile cranes is a wise move.
Hiring also means you don't have to fork out a tonne of cash to secure the perfect lifting machine, meaning they are a more accessible option for all construction projects.
As you can imagine, mobile cranes offer greater mobility levels than other crane types, especially when considering rough terrain cranes.
While fixed cranes, such as gantry cranes, tower cranes or jib cranes, are stuck in place, limited to lifting things within their reach, mobile cranes, such as truck-mounted cranes or crawler cranes, can be placed anywhere on your site, allowing you to lift whatever you want, wherever you want.
Even after you've set your mobile crane up, it isn't stuck in place, and you can move it anywhere you like. Manoeuvrability is also essential for projects taking place across multiple construction sites.
If you're working on a construction project in numerous locations, mobile cranes allow you to use the same crane in all of them, meaning you don't have to hire one crane per site, saving you money.
You might even be able to transport your materials using your mobile crane from site to site, saving you even more money and resources on hiring trucks or other transportation.
It can sometimes be impossible to set up certain types of cranes on certain construction sites. Again, gigantic tower cranes wouldn't be at all suitable for work in narrow city streets or construction sites with restricted space.
Therefore, if your entire project hinges on you needing a crane while working in tight spaces, you can see how this can be a significant issue. It may even prevent your project from progressing at all. But mobile cranes are here to save the day again.
Given their size, mobile cranes can fit onto most streets and sites with limited space. Of course, this necessity will differ between projects, with some prioritising lifting strength over compact size.
However, what's the use of a powerful crane if you can't fit it onto your project site? Therefore, mobile cranes offer the fantastic combination of great lifting strength and compact size.
While this may sound similar to some of the other advantages we've listed, there's a key difference here.
While we've already gone through how adaptable and perfect mobile cranes are at lifting and fitting into tight spaces, the final point about their versatility is that you can use mobile cranes for far more than just lifting.
While fixed cranes are limited to lifting things from the ground into the air, mobile cranes offer the possibility of being placed inside buildings and lifting your materials up to themselves with a telescopic boom or lattice boom in a precise and controlled way.
Obviously, you can't build a tower crane inside a building, for example, and this is yet another advantage of hiring mobile cranes for your project.
That's not to mention that smaller mobile cranes can be used for lifting materials as small as pieces of furniture, only adding to their versatility.
Disadvantages Of Cranes
Of course, like any other piece of machinery you'll use on your site, cranes come with at least some disadvantages. The disadvantages of cranes include:
- Their size, given that most cranes are typically very large machines and will possibly be one of the biggest you'll have on-site.
- They can be very expensive if you choose to buy them instead of hiring cranes.
- They require fully-trained and appropriately skilled personnel to operate them.
- They require constant supervision while in operation so that they can be a very labour-intensive part of your projects.
If you require crane hire services in the Kent, London or South England areas, we can help. Our crane and lifting services are based in Gravesend but we can work throughout the UK.