HEARTLAND CONCRETE & CONSTRUCTION
Category: Rental
When Jeff Wissing and a partner started building homes almost 30 years ago, they couldn’t have imagined the enormous impact technology would eventually play in the evolution and increased size of the small, residential-home-building venture. Revenues in the $500,000 to million-dollar range characterized those early years. Jeff specialized in concrete flatwork; his former partner was a master carpenter.
Jeff’s sons, Beau and Bentz, joined Heartland Concrete & Construction (HCC) about 10 years ago. By embracing the latest construction-industry technologies, HCC eventually became a concrete forming-and-pouring powerhouse, with annual revenues skyrocketing to more than $25 million. HCC’s complete range of concrete-construction services includes design/build, precision grading, foundations, slab-on-grade work, and cast-in-place walls.
CAT MACHINES + TECHNOLOGY = GROWTH
“For us technology is everything,” says Beau Wissing, vice president of the family firm. “I’ll tell you right now, without the Cat® Compact Track Loaders and Box Blades and Trimble Robotic Total Stations, there’s zero chance we’d be as successful, or possibly even be in business today. Embracing rapidly advancing technologies has meant everything to our rapid growth and business success.” Cat 259 and 289 CTLs with Cat Box Blades are the workhorses of the operation. “We use Cat CTLs, mini hydraulic excavators and a telehandler because they can do everything,” Wissing says. “They’re on every job and with as many attachments as Caterpillar offers, we’re able to use them for almost everything on most jobsites. They run buckets, forks, brooms—the whole nine yards.” Wissing considers the CTLs equipped with fully integrated 3D box blades his most important assets because they’ve had the most significant impact on project operations. “They deliver crazy-good technology that’s so accurate on every jobsite. Our general contracting customers are just blown away by the precision and productivity that our Cat box blade equipped CTLs routinely deliver.”
75% MORE PRODUCTIVITY
With the same number of crew members, HCC can now typically complete at least 75 percent more work each day. HCC crews will form and prep a jobsite in one day, then a 3D controlled laser screed comes in and will pour the whole thing in a day. With the Cat box blade and laser screed units working together, HCC has completed as much as 30,000 square feet from start to finish in two days. “Compared to the past, if you had a week, realistically you’d end up strip pouring a job because our team didn’t have a box blade equipped CTL and a laser screed on the job, so you’re probably talking as much as 10 or 12 days,” Wissing says. “So, it’s unreal how much impact those two high-tech machines have on the workflow timeline.”
DEALER SUPPORT
HCC’s machines are used hard as concrete crews, working in multiple shifts around the clock, can record as much as 60 hours each per week. The equipment is frequently operating all the time, day and night, and not always in optimal conditions. “So, to have that support system that Nebraska Machinery (NMC) provides, you can’t put a value on it.” Wissing says. “If a machine goes down, a lot of times we know what it is, and it’s a simple fix—we can call and NMC is great to work with from that standpoint. You just call them and talk to a technician, and they help you out. “Even when a machine needs to go into their shop, it’s just a higher level of trust and respect. When you take it to NMC, you feel confident that the work is getting done right, and right away.”
