a linear fashion was a bit of a challenge, especially with different elevations of doors and access to the affected storefronts. As you can imagine, after nearly a century, the street had some bumps and rolls in it.”
Bobcat equipment on-site
Both Thompson and Klein used Bobcat®
skid-
steer and compact track loaders to assist with the installations. Thompson also had its Bobcat compact excavator on site. Both contractors have long been Bobcat equipment supporters. In addition to the excavator, Thompson has two Bobcat skid-steer loaders among its fl eet of equipment. The company also has a wide variety of complementary attachments for each model, including a hydraulic breaker, type of
blade and several different size buckets for the excavator, a vibratory roller, compaction wheel, various confi gurations of grapples, several buckets and an angle broom.
“The versatility is probably the biggest advantage for compact equipment,” Thompson says. “There wasn’t much room to work between the business fronts and the street since we had to remove nearly half of the sidewalk to prepare the waterline trenches. It was pretty tight. The compact size and maneuverability of the skid-steer loaders was critical due to workspace limitations.”
Eric Klein joined his father Mark in the family business after graduation from Northeast Community College in nearby Norfolk, Neb. He bought a Bobcat compact track loader to
help ease much of the manual labor associated with different types of electrical installations. Klein also purchased several attachments to extend the functionality of the compact track loader, including pallet forks, an auger and a dozer blade.
“We do so many different things with the T140 on different jobsites that make the project go faster and more effi ciently for us,” Klein says. “We really like the visibility. It is easy to see out in all directions. We do a lot of dirt work and trenching and the Bobcat compact track loader is always on site with us. And the pallet fork saves a lot of backbreaking labor for unloading trucks and moving materials around on a jobsite.
“All our employees enjoy operating it,” Klein says. “Some prefer using the
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sticks (hand controls), while others like the foot pedals. There’s very little learning curve needed for switching back and forth between operational modes. The machines’ designs are very operator-friendly. One fl ip of a switch allows the operator to select the control mode he’s most comfortable with.”
To see the newest generation of Bobcat loaders, visit
www.MyWorkSaver.com/M-Series.
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