To support customers on their job sites, British Columbia, Canada-based rental company Koenig Cranes North America shows them the benefits of using self-erecting cranes instead of conventional models.

Koenig Cranes North America, explains Gerry Wiebe, vice president of sales and business development, is "the master distributor" of Koenig Cranes for the Canadian and U.S. markets.

It did not get to this position overnight, he says. Instead, it used a high level of service and customer contact to grow to where it is now.

"Soon we will be celebrating our 16th year in the business," he says. "We started as a traditional boom truck service company, offering cranes and taxi cranes. But we have grown significantly since then."

Three years ago, he explains, its parent company bought four self-erecting tower cranes from a construction company. Soon it found more uses and a growing customer base for the cranes. "Our local rental operations which started with four cranes have now grown to 31," he says. Overall, convincing customers that these cranes were an asset, was the hard part.

"Now, the construction industry has a growing appreciation of these cranes as a dynamic part of the construction process - they add value to jobs," he says. "But we had to work hard to get the construction industry to come to terms with the cranes and appreciate them. Once the learning curve was established, we have found that we never have to sell a customer on the benefits of these cranes twice."

The self-erecting tower cranes, the company says, are a mainstay in the worldwide construction industry, and while new to the North American market they are growing market share rapidly. They are beneficial, Koenig says, because they offer "significant advantages" for hoisting and material handling on all forms of projects when compared to conventional tower cranes, mobile cranes and forklifts.

Koenig explains it typically costs $15,000 to $20,000 to erect or dismantle a conventional tower crane, plus on-site three-phase power service, which can cost approximately $20,000 throughout a four-month project. In addition to these costs, the concrete base for a conventional tower crane, the company says, costs upward of another $15,000, and all of this is above the base cost of crane rental itself, thus making the use of traditional tower cranes prohibitively expensive for all but large projects.

By contrast, a single self-erecting crane costs approximately $35,000 to rent, and can displace traditional tower cranes, multiple off-road forklifts and mobile cranes at a construction site, the firm says.

Additionally, self-erecting cranes also reduce onsite labor requirements in all key facets of the construction project, Koenig says, reducing a contractor's costs even more. Wiebe explains the value self-erecting cranes bring to a project is a key motivator to use them.

"When you are on a traditional job site, it is like harnessed chaos," he says. "The self-erecting cranes add value. You don't need multiple pieces of equipment that are costly and you have to manage all of that equipment - having one crane onsite helps with time management. With a self-erecting crane on the job you need fewer roads and access portals and you get a more methodical layout of receiving and distribution. We bring the ability to innovate to our customers."

He explains 75 percent of construction jobs are predictable, but the remaining 25 percent require "high innovation." Koenig's cranes allow contractors to work in a smaller space, which is important on many jobs, Wiebe says.

"Contractors can easily design a spot to erect these cranes in a city," he says. "We've done projects where the crane was erected over a city sidewalk - people could walk under the crane while the crane was working above them and it was all safe. We engineered projects where we shortened the cranes jib and increased lifting capacity so the crane could service tunneling projects. The cranes have even worked in specialty applications, such as on extreme slopes in the resort development industry."

Koenig doesn't only sell and rent the cranes, Wiebe notes, it also works with customers to ensure the cranes meet their needs and the needs of the project. He says the company works closely with customers to know what they want. Koenig performs project assessments, CAD modeling and monitors wind issues to ensure the crane is positioned in the perfect place. Wiebe says the company wants to cover all of the issues and give customers multiple positioning recommendations early in the project to help them remain on schedule. "Extreme due diligence," he says, is important in delivering the best service.

"We are extremely aggressive in preventative maintenance," he says. "Once the project starts, customers can always call us for support. Downtime costs are expensive, so we help them prevent these issues. The longer the rental period, the more valuable the project, so we work with our customers to serve them the best - this extends our relationship with them."

Having gone from four to 32 cranes in the past few years, Koenig is excited for its future growth, Wiebe says. The company will add a minimum of 16 cranes in the next 24 months, he says, and will look for qualified dealers in markets outside the Pacific Northwest to expand its footprint. He explains Koenig is "built around long-term value," so its focus is to maintain its long-term assets and build long-term relationships. "We have mutually beneficial relationships with our customers - we don't want to take advantage of them," he says. "Our customers know our cranes will work and we will work for them, so they can focus their worries on something else."