Renting a crane can be a great way to expand the potential of your construction business. The crane allows you to take on jobs that you otherwise would not be able to do. On the other hand, buying a crane upfront may not be the best move because it may sit idle while you are waiting for jobs to come along that require its use. Thus, to save money while you are building a client base, you may want to rent a crane on an as-needed basis. This requires you to know what types of cranes are appropriate for what kinds of jobs.
The Telescopic Crane
A telescopic crane is basically the utility player of the crane world. It should come mounted on a truck bed to make it easier to transport. Thus, you can take a telescopic crane from construction site to construction site without the need to spend a lot of time setting up the crane and then taking it down. The telescopic crane will also have a boom that consists of a few tubular sections of various diameters. The smaller sections of tube will nest inside the longer sections of tube. When the tubes are fully retracted, the boom fits onto the bed of the truck and can also be used for small jobs. When you need to lift a large object or lift it high into the air, you can extend the boom to give yourself more reach. A telescopic crane is good for smaller jobs and for companies who are just taking on the kinds of jobs that would necessitate a crane.
The Tower Crane
If you are expanding into building buildings with multiple stories, a tower crane might be just what you need. You can set up a tower crane on the ground, and then once the building gets too high for the crane, you can use the first crane on your site to lift a second crane into place, which you can then secure to the upper level of the building where it can be used to lift items to any level of the building. If the building grows even higher so that the second crane cannot reach, you can use the second crane to lift the first crane to the upper level and then secure it in place. Tower cranes are thus a great choice for building projects that will get too high for a ground-mounted or transportable crane.
These are just a couple of examples of the types of cranes that you could use on a construction site. If your are looking to expand your construction business by taking on the kind of work that would require a crane, you should talk to an equipment-rental service or crane company to make sure you get a crane that will satisfy your needs.