10/3/2016

‫ﺑﺳم ﷲ اﻟرﺣﻣن اﻟرﺣﯾم‬

Construction Equipment
Dr. Eng. Hossam M. Toma

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Role Of Heavy Construction Equipment

• Many types of construction activities require different types,
sizes, and groupings of equipment for earth moving, excavating,
and lifting.

• Construction equipment today is designed to perform certain

mechanical operations that accomplish a work activity.

• Working capacity is a direct function of the size of the machine

and the power of the motor.
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Role Of Heavy Construction Equipment

• These simple relationships exist — the larger the machine, the
more power required for the operation, the greater the
production capacity, and the greater the cost to own and
operate.

• The dependency and need for heavy construction equipment

have grown with the size and complexity of construction
projects.

• The development of automated heavy construction equipment

occurred in the last two centuries.
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Role Of Heavy Construction Equipment

• It should be noted that mechanical operations are typical for

most basic classifications of equipment.

• For example, most front-end loaders work the same way

mechanically. They scoop at ground level, carry the load, hoist
the load, and dump the bucket forward. Caterpillar front-end
loaders basically work the same way as Samsung or Case
front-end loaders.

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Level of Equipment Use by Type of

Construction
Type of Level of Work Activities
Construction Use
Residential Light Finish site work, foundation excavation,
ground material moving, up to three-
story lifting, pneumatic assembly tools
Commercial Moderate Rough and finish site work, stabilizing
and compacting, multiple story material
and man lifting, ground and on-structure
material moving, miscellaneous types of
assembly and support equipment
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Level of Equipment Use by Type of

Construction

Type of Level of Work Activities

Construction Use
Industrial Heavy Large volume rough and finish site work,
stabilizing and compacting, ground and
on-structure material moving, multiple
story heavy lifting and precision placing,
numerous miscellaneous special types of
equipment for assembly and support

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Level of Equipment Use by Type of

Construction
Type of Level of Work Activities
Construction Use
Highway Intense Mass dirt and material excavating and
moving, stabilizing and compacting, ground
material moving and hoisting, concrete and
asphalt paving and finishing, miscellaneous
special types of equipment for support
Specialty Intense Pipeline, power, transmission line, steel
erection, railroad, offshore, pile driving,
logging, concrete pumping, boring and
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sawing, many others 8

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Construction Equipment Selection

• It is the job of the project planner, estimator, and field

superintendent to match the right type of machine or
combinations of machines to the work to be performed. How
effectively this is done will greatly influence the success of a
construction project.

• The selection of a piece of heavy construction equipment a

buyers considers today is similar to selection of a car models
and accessories.

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Construction Equipment Selection

• There are many models of each type of equipment. The

operator’s cab can include air-conditioning and special
ergonomic seats and controls. These are not exactly luxury
amenities, but most equipment is bought for dirty outdoor work
and has the basic amenities.

• Different selections can be made for the motor, transmission,

controls, wheels, buckets, blades, and numerous other items.
There are accessories and attachments for most types of work.

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Otis Steam Excavator

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Holt Steam Crawler

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Fordson Tractor Loader

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Construction Equipment Cost Categories

• Plant, equipment, and tools used in construction operations are

priced in the following three categories in the estimate:

1. Small tools and consumables: Hand tools up to a certain

value together with blades, drill bits, and other
consumables used in the project are priced as a
percentage of the total labor price of the estimate.

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Construction Equipment Cost Categories

2. Equipment usually shared by a number of work activities:

These kinds of equipment items are kept at the site over a
period of time and used in the work in progress.

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Construction Equipment Cost Categories

3. Equipment used for specific tasks: These are capital items

and used in projects such as digging trench or hoisting
material into specified slots. This equipment is priced
directly against the take-off quantities for the project it is to
be used on. The equipment is not kept on-site for extended
periods like those in the previous classification, but the
equipment is shipped to the site, used for its particular
task, and then immediately shipped back to its original
location. Excavation equipment, cranes, hoisting
equipment, highly specialized, and costly items such as
concrete saws fall into this category.
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Importance of Understanding Construction

Equipment Cost
• This lectures’ focus is on estimating the cost of owning and
operating construction equipment of the third category.

• For contractors in the heavy civil construction industry, the cost

of owning and operating equipment is a key part of doing
business in a profitable manner. Failing to properly estimate
equipment cost has led many contractors into hardship.

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Importance of Understanding Construction

Equipment Cost
• Without knowing the actual equipment ownership costs,
contractors might report higher than-justified paper profits due
to inaccurate accounting practices that do not factor the cost of
idle equipment into the company’s overall profit picture. Then at
the end of the year, they find that they had not accounted for the
incurred costs of idle equipment impacting the actual profit
margin.

• This situation is particularly dangerous in a declining market

where the contractor’s annual volume is lower than normal due
to fewer projects getting executed.
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Thank You

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