Tip over in Cleveland area

From what I can find through some Google searching, it looks like the crane in question is about a 30 ton crane, but it seems to have an exceptionally long boom.

The news video shows a couple brief, but rather telling shots that revealed no evidence that the ground was sinking under the crane causing it to tip over backwards. The fact that the boom failed as well makes me believe that they overloaded the poor crane and tipped it over.

It looks like the company is about two years old, and it's the third different crane shown in their pictures with their name on the side. The big grapple chipper they have in that news footage does not appear in any of their pictures that I can find, I only see that one bucket truck and a little old Vermeer disc chipper, and of course that Avant being towed by the ridiculously high lifted pickup.

All that evidence adds up to me to be a company that is rather small, might know what they are doing, but possibly got in over their head or were trying to do more than they should have been with a crane that size.
 
Thanks for those thoughts @Reach . I'm not a crane user...but I thought to myself "I don't see a hole in the ground under an outrigger".

Also had to do a double take at the lifted truck towing a piece equipment... actually rewound the video to check "wait...was that actually a company truck?" LOL
 
ATH said:
Thanks for those thoughts @Reach . I'm not a crane user...but I thought to myself "I don't see a hole in the ground under an outrigger".

Also had to do a double take at the lifted truck towing a piece equipment... actually rewound the video to check "wait...was that actually a company truck?" LOL
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You are welcome. We pick up a lot of trees, in fact spent today with a crane bigger than that lifting three trees out of a tight space into a really tight space in a tiny parking lot.

And yes, I did a double take as well, and after looking up that company I see that truck in a number of other pictures so it must be a company truck. That pick up and the bucket truck are the only two trucks besides the cranes that company appears to own.

I could not imagine towing a trailer with a truck that tall, it would not do very well I am sure.

Also, if those houses had basements, the crane was set up far too close to the foundation. It is possible the ground pressure from the crane outriggers could push the soil beneath it through the basement wall and collapse both the crane and the house in the process.
 
Interestingly, appears to have had issues with causing damage while craning trees in the past. https://www.bbb.org/us/oh/olmsted-t...o-earth-tree-service-0312-92058064/complaints

Reading the complaint and the responses, this company seems to be a little bit shady to begin with. Hopefully the investigation that is going on now is able to sort things out and remedy whatever issues the company has, if they continue in business I hope that they do so in a better fashion than they seem to have done in the past.
 
interesting:

A) I wouldn't think of expecting a dime from somebody if I damaged their property until that damage was fully repaired.
B) They expect customers to move playsets and fences based on a line that says "to move anything you do not want damaged out of the way"? I get patio tables and flower pots...but "permanent" fixtures? Does that include a house and patio?
C) 20% per day late fees!?! :oops: Pretty sure in Ohio anything over 25% per year is considered "Criminal Usury".
 
ATH said:
interesting:

A) I wouldn't think of expecting a dime from somebody if I damaged their property until that damage was fully repaired.
B) They expect customers to move playsets and fences based on a line that says "to move anything you do not want damaged out of the way"? I get patio tables and flower pots...but "permanent" fixtures? Does that include a house and patio?
C) 20% per day late fees!?! :oops: Pretty sure in Ohio anything over 25% per year is considered "Criminal Usury".
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I agree with you on all of those points. If we damage something, we are certainly not going to ask for payment until it is fixed. Doesn't matter whether or not we are losing money on the project by that point, our lack of ability to accurately quote the project is not our customer's problem.

If we expect the customer to move a playset or a fence, that is going to be noted specifically on the quote. Generally we do not expect that, but we will sometimes request that they have a couple sections of fence removed before we arrive, or move the trampoline out from under the tree. And it is frustrating to arrive and find 76 clay flower pots directly underneath the tree, but when that happens we take a picture of where they started and move them across the lawn. At the end of the day, we try to put them back.

If we charged a late fee like that, I suspect the Attorney General's office would come knocking out the door, and rightly so! In PA, we are not allowed to start charging a late fee until the payment is 30 days past due!

Reading all of that in the responses makes me feel like this is amateur hour, I can't imagine any true professionals acting or writing like these guys did.
 
Reach said:
I agree with you on all of those points. If we damage something, we are certainly not going to ask for payment until it is fixed. Doesn't matter whether or not we are losing money on the project by that point, our lack of ability to accurately quote the project is not our customer's problem.

If we expect the customer to move a playset or a fence, that is going to be noted specifically on the quote. Generally we do not expect that, but we will sometimes request that they have a couple sections of fence removed before we arrive, or move the trampoline out from under the tree. And it is frustrating to arrive and find 76 clay flower pots directly underneath the tree, but when that happens we take a picture of where they started and move them across the lawn. At the end of the day, we try to put them back.

If we charged a late fee like that, I suspect the Attorney General's office would come knocking out the door, and rightly so! In PA, we are not allowed to start charging a late fee until the payment is 30 days past due!

Reading all of that in the responses makes me feel like this is amateur hour, I can't imagine any true professionals acting or writing like these guys did.
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I know a guy that charged for dog crap in the work zone. He would also charge extra for raking tall grass.

Now I'll rad the article at the beginning of the thread.
 
I concur with the overloaded boom. For such a small crane, that's easy to do when the tip height is stretched so far out. Projects a bad image to the good companies who use their head with common sense.

I can only imagine what the local competition comments are of Down to Earth......

I wouldn't want to be them.
 
96coal449 said:
I know a guy that charged for dog crap in the work zone. He would also charge extra for raking tall grass.

Now I'll rad the article at the beginning of the thread.
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I can see charging for dog poop...who wants to deal with that? I have that language in our contract (not a specified charge, just that it is their responsibility to have it cleaned up - I've never done anything about it contractually). If its just a pile I'll usually put a cone over it. Otherwise, we'll scoop it and put it all in a pile out of the way.

I can also see for tall grass. It absolutely takes more time to rake.

Those are things that if I notify the client at least a week ahead and specifically ask that grass is mowed and crap is cleaned up, its reasonable to expect that (and if its in the contract, reasonable to charge extra). But I often give a day or two notice so feel like I cannot complain about people not having time to get those things taken care of on short notice.
 
ATH said:
I can see charging for dog poop...who wants to deal with that? I have that language in our contract (not a specified charge, just that it is their responsibility to have it cleaned up - I've never done anything about it contractually). If its just a pile I'll usually put a cone over it. Otherwise, we'll scoop it and put it all in a pile out of the way.

I can also see for tall grass. It absolutely takes more time to rake.

Those are things that if I notify the client at least a week ahead and specifically ask that grass is mowed and crap is cleaned up, its reasonable to expect that (and if its in the contract, reasonable to charge extra). But I often give a day or two notice so feel like I cannot complain about people not having time to get those things taken care of on short notice.
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Most outfits I know do the same with scheduling. Tell the HO their job is 2 weeks out and give a call 2 days before arrival. Scheduling seems to work out best that way.

On another note.... Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird, it's a plane, no ...... it's a crane.
 
96coal449 said:
I know a guy that charged for dog crap in the work zone.
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I have that in the footer of all of my quotes, its an equipment cleaning fee. I've yet to ever charge it, but I have reminded customers when scheduling the job. "Just a reminder of the dog feces cleaning fee, I noticed the area under the tree was frequently used by your pets"

Most are happy to clean it up themselves instead of us tracking through it, it just never occurred to them that it was an issue as they probably avoid that corner of the yard themselves.

I added that note after I kept smelling dog poop up in a tree. Turns out I had stepped in a pile with my spurs on.
 
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