One of my biggest construction company customers has been in a nightmare the last 2 years with trying to find heavy equipment techs to take care of their equipment. There is 2 divisions in the company. 1 side is the paving (which I have continued to do their repair and maintenance work for years) and then there is the dirt construction side which I haven't done anything the last 2 years.
They have hired 2 in the last 2 years that I know of, one of them was fired last week after being on the job since August of this year. The other has no clue how to repair anything ( he has been with the company for 1.5 yrs ) but what he DOES know how to do is call the dealer for most all repairs.
This last February the owner turned the business over to his 2 sons (one of which worked for the company already, the other has never been in this business at all.....he is a pilot) and his SIL which is now the CEO and has never been in the construction business. The original owner (dad) still has final say in most anything that costs ALOT......but lets the kids to the daily operations.
I had to go by this last Friday to pick up a check and for the first time got to meet the new CEO. In 5 minutes of conversation (which consisted of him telling me that repair costs and equipment rental was eating them up) I ..kinda/sorta clued him in on what I had been seeing for 2 years. I said "Well, here is the problem point blank. You have one guy that your company hired almost 2 years ago that has no idea how to fix anything. You just got rid of a 24 year old tech that barely knew anything, and from what I have heard from many of your construction superintendents, screwed up more than he repaired. So to make a long story short....your equipment is never getting fixed unless the guy you have left calls the dealer.....which I know is costing a fortune by itself. In the meantime equipment is sitting for months half ass torn down or not even started on while you pay for renting equipment to take its place." He gave me this look like I had been snooping in their financials.
I then offered to help them get caught up to some degree and that I would work with his general superintendent and the "other mechanic"...haha. He jumped all over it.
So..........as I move along, Im going to post a pic of each broken down piece of equipment, why it is supposedly broken down, how long it has been sitting, if anything at all has been done to it, and what it took to get it going. By the looks of things around there, its 6 months worth of work at a minimum. I'll start posting tonight so be ready to be entertained!!!
They have hired 2 in the last 2 years that I know of, one of them was fired last week after being on the job since August of this year. The other has no clue how to repair anything ( he has been with the company for 1.5 yrs ) but what he DOES know how to do is call the dealer for most all repairs.
This last February the owner turned the business over to his 2 sons (one of which worked for the company already, the other has never been in this business at all.....he is a pilot) and his SIL which is now the CEO and has never been in the construction business. The original owner (dad) still has final say in most anything that costs ALOT......but lets the kids to the daily operations.
I had to go by this last Friday to pick up a check and for the first time got to meet the new CEO. In 5 minutes of conversation (which consisted of him telling me that repair costs and equipment rental was eating them up) I ..kinda/sorta clued him in on what I had been seeing for 2 years. I said "Well, here is the problem point blank. You have one guy that your company hired almost 2 years ago that has no idea how to fix anything. You just got rid of a 24 year old tech that barely knew anything, and from what I have heard from many of your construction superintendents, screwed up more than he repaired. So to make a long story short....your equipment is never getting fixed unless the guy you have left calls the dealer.....which I know is costing a fortune by itself. In the meantime equipment is sitting for months half ass torn down or not even started on while you pay for renting equipment to take its place." He gave me this look like I had been snooping in their financials.
I then offered to help them get caught up to some degree and that I would work with his general superintendent and the "other mechanic"...haha
. He jumped all over it.So..........as I move along, Im going to post a pic of each broken down piece of equipment, why it is supposedly broken down, how long it has been sitting, if anything at all has been done to it, and what it took to get it going. By the looks of things around there, its 6 months worth of work at a minimum. I'll start posting tonight so be ready to be entertained!!!
