So, you've decided to purchase an overhead crane that's awesome!
But how many quotes should you get before you actually write that check?
What's more, when you start getting quotes how do you compare them to each
other? We're covering all that and more in this episode of Cranes 101.
Today we're talking overhead crane quotes. I'm gonna tell you what the quote
will cover, what the process is for receiving an overhead crane quote, and
more importantly; how you compare them to each other. Overhead cranes don't come
cheap, but the good news is that by comparing quotes to one another
keeps competition competitive, it keeps costs down and relative. So if you
can learn how to figure out what to look for when you're comparing the quotes
it'll put you in a better buyer's position. Which is great for you and
great for the industry overall. To help explain this I reached out to one of the
familiar faces around here, Chris Whitney, who you may remember from some of our
previous videos. We started as we often do, at the very beginning covering what
exactly an overhead crane quote covers. The purposes of an overhead crane quote is
basically to get an idea of what it's going to cost for you to move your
materials throughout your plant. Things you want to be looking at are: Capacity that you're going
to be lifting, the type of speed you're going to be moving from one end of a
building to another, as well as how many times you're going to be making a
particular lift in an hour.
So it sounds pretty simple, all they want to do is figure out what you do, how
often you do it, and what it'll take to make you do it faster. But what is the
process look like? A sales specialist is going to come into your plant, talk to you
about your needs, take some measurements with regards to building space that is
available for putting in the overhead crane. From there specialists will go
back and meet with his estimating and engineering team and put together a
proposal. That could take anywhere from three to thirty days depending on the
type of crane, number of cranes and complexity of the project. From there
A formal quote will be put together and then the sales specialists will come
back in and meet with you to present that proposal. Upon arrival, they'll have a tape measure
sometimes they'll have a laser that will allow them to get a relatively accurate
measurements upfront. In addition being able to see the area
that the crane is going to be installed will give the sales specialist a good
idea as to what the Installer may have in their way when they come to do the
work. In addition client can also expect that our sales specialist is going to
know what they're talking about. They're going to come in they're going to have
an idea up front, of what you need just by the first phone conversation that they
have. This will allow the process to go a lot smoother, won't take up a lot of time.
When Chris told me it could be between 3 and 30 days just to get your quote back I
figured there had to be something that you could do to expedite that process
fortunately there is. In order to expedite the process of getting your
training proposal you can do some research up front. The Internet is a
great tool for learning about what type of components go into an overhead crane,
talking industry experts, talking to people within your own industry,
attending trade shows, making phone calls to industry partners that you have. There
are tons of resources available for you to figure out exactly what kind of crane
you need, so what we did is we developed a resource for you absolutely for free.
If you click to look above it'll take you to our "Ten Things to Consider..."
checklist. If you're going to put an overhead crane in your facility the best
thing that you can possibly do is figure out the different types that are
there. It puts you in a better position to know what you're talking about; what
you need, how you need it, and how fast you need it there.
It is definitely important for the individual to do research the more you
know prior to the sales specialists visit. Knowing the number of lifts and
the percentage of the overall capacity of the crane percentage of the lift, are going
to be huge in being able to determine what components are being used on your
crane. So research and resources aside what happens after the estimator leaves
your facility? So after the sale specialist leaves your facility they're
going to go back to the estimating an engineering team have a sit-down
conversation with their their team. Give them all the information, all the
dimensions that they took, fill all the application and crane duty cycle
information. After the proposal is completed, the sales specialist will reach
back out to you to set up a time to come in and present it. Sometimes depending on
how fast the quote is needed we may just email it over to you and then follow up.
But we typically like to make a presentation because we feel what that
allows us to go through the proposal with you and not just look at the number
at the end.
So do you even need more than one overhead crane quote? If you do, how do
you compare one to the other? You're using the same space. You're using the
same type of crane once you figure it out. So how is it possible that quotes
can differ in price from one to another company? In our industry there's a wide
variety of different numbers that you can get and it's based on componentry.
Where the components are made. Be it overseas or here in the United States.
There's other things that you need to take into account. Some manufacturers may
see things you know somebody else didn't when they were in your facility.
In my experience, banks do require multiple quotes. That way they know that
you are getting the best dollar value for your project. And that makes sense to
me. If you're gonna buy a car, if you're gonna buy a house, you don't just take
the first thing somebody tells you as gospel.
You go online, you compare that car to different car companies to figure out if
it's gonna line up or not. But what things should you be looking for
specifically when comparing two different quotes? When looking at
different overhead crane companies, you want to look at the equipment they're
providing. Sometimes you'll see components that are made overseas and while
it's not a problem, pricing does come into play there as
well as turnaround for parts. In addition you've also got companies offering
different warranties. So something you really want to look at is what their
warranty terms are. It could be parts only are covered, where labor you would still
have to pay for. Some will offer 2 to 3 years and beyond in their warranty as
opposed to just the standard one-year. So the more Chris would tell me about
different factors that affect the cost of an overhead crane. I kept wondering
what's the, what's the fine print. What are those hidden details that people
don't typically mention. And I specifically asked Chris, "are there any
incidentals? Are there any hidden fees? What should we be looking out for when
we're buying an overhead crane? And he did say that there were a few.
Incidentals are definitely something you need to take into consideration. Steel
numbers are constantly fluctuating and when you get a proposal let's say a
previous year and you come back to revisit the project a steel, a steel
number can be considerably different. Also componentry price increases happen.
In addition, taxes, permitting fees. When you're installing a crane into your
building if it's being mounted directly to
building structure, something you need to look at what your municipality is, are
there any associated fees that come along with that?
Typically a crane manufacturer will not take care of those fees unless they're
made aware of it upfront. So a typical price for a overhead crane
is good for 30 days. One of the last things I wanted to ask Chris about and
it's a question that he's never really gotten before. It's, what can a company do
to help you? The person watching this video, the person about to buy this
overhead crane. Who cares, yeah you're gonna spend a lot of money, but it's just
as much up to the company to help you along the way. Which is why we're making
this video, which is why I asked this question. So what can a company do to
help you? References are a great thing. You've got your industry partners that
you've dealt with, again, you can get references from them, you can also get
references directly from the crane manufacturer that's coming in, that met with you.
They're always willing to share information on their past projects and
give you somebody that you can talk to about how their experience went. How
close they were to hitting the delivery date that they set out to give you. How
well the installation went. How it was working with their internal team; with the
estimators and the engineer and project management team. I have seen other
people's quotes, just with the number blacked out. That is normal. It allows you
to get a better feel for what a certain manufacturer is providing with their
proposal over what somebody else may be getting. If you're looking at a proposal
and one number is considerably lower than the other two that you have, there
might be something with regards to a lower proposal that may be different
with regards to the scope that's being provided.
Hopefully this video was able to help explain the overhead crane quote process.
What they entail, what the process is, and then most importantly how to compare one
to another. If you like this video there's a way to subscribe right below
there's also a link above and at the end of the video there's a way for you to
subscribe as well. The reason I bring that up is
because we're gonna be doing a whole lot of these tutorial focus training. I
want you to be better informed, I want to make sure that if you do reach out to
our company, you've already done your research, you know exactly what you're
talking about. And the easiest way for you to do that is just to click
Subscribe. Here at Mazzella Companies we have sales specialists, estimators, AWS
certified welders. So if you're not sure about the project you're trying to
undertake or you just need really good advice, please don't hesitate to contact
one of our lifting specials. We welcome the opportunity to address any of your
material handling needs.
Thank you.