How to Choose the Right Construction Attachments for Your Business
27 December 2019
As you grow your construction business and commit to a core set of services and heavy equipment purchases, you can still remain nimble and quick when you choose the right construction attachments.
Construction attachments help maximize the return on your heavy equipment investments by extending their uses for different types of jobs—all with a quick and relatively affordable swap of an attachment. Got a skid steer for grading in the summer but now it’s winter and you need to remove snow? Just change out your Box Blade for a Snow Blower.
If you’re looking to upgrade your fleet with a new attachment, this post will walk you through some key considerations for choosing the right attachment for your job and machine.
What’s Your First Mount?
When you first buy a piece of heavy equipment for construction, it will come with your first attachment for your key service—whether that’s digging, grading, demolition, or any other application. This is the job your equipment will spend most of its time doing—and probably why you bought the equipment in the first place.
What’s Your Second Mount?
Think about how you can fill your downtime to avoid parked equipment during the current season and into the next. Is there a complimentary service you could offer? For example, demolition with a Cat® Shear and a Mulcher? Or, perhaps you swap from breaking ground with a Hammer in the summer to clearing with a Brushcutter in the fall. Attachments are more versatile than ever making them faster and easier to convert for use across multiple jobs.
Popular attachment conversions include: Broom to Cold Planner, Trencher to Grading Bucket, Snow Plow to a Multi-Purpose Bucket.
Is the Attachment a Match for Your Machine?
Once you’ve identified the attachment you need, it’s time to match your machine to the attachment.
To find the attachment’s tech specs and get a sense of how different brands perform, talk to your local sales specialist, check dealer websites, and Google the attachment for reviews. You can also search on YouTube for manufacturer, dealer, and even customer videos showcasing the attachments.
Note that attachments are often compatible with competitive machinery, meaning you can mix and match heavy equipment brands with different attachment brands. So, if you have a non-Cat Skid Steer you can still choose a Cat attachment for it (working with your Finning sales specialist to ensure compatibility). This opens up the possibilities when it comes to finding the specs and deal that’s right for your business.
What About Non-Technical Evaluation Criteria?
In addition to the tech specs, you’ll want to evaluate construction attachments based on criteria including:
Safety: This is a big one for your company, your operators, your customers, and even your insurance! Smart attachments often allow the operator to set parameters and limits for safe operation depending on the job and operator skill level.
Brand reputation: Some brands are known as leaders in certain types of equipment and attachments. Based on your experience and online reviews you should be able to get an idea of brand sentiment. Also, think about where brands manufacture their equipment (in North America or overseas?) and how you want your fleet to look.
How it feels: That’s right, you can often demo the attachment at the dealer. And, sometimes you might even rent it out for a few jobs to try out your new service offering and related attachment before committing.
How to Choose the Right Attachment Dealer?
With an attachment in mind, work with your local dealer to create the best deal for you. Attachment details to discuss with your dealer include:
Lead time/availability: When do you need it? Do they have it available?
Price and financing: How much will it cost you and do they offer any financing if needed?
Dealer serviceability: What about maintenance? Will they sharpen blades or fix hydraulics? If replacement parts are needed, where are they located?
A dealer like Finning has sales specialists who are industry experts and can help design the deal that works best for your business, timing, budget, and service needs.
Are you trying to choose the right construction attachments to help your construction business grow?
Finning’s sales specialists can help you choose the right attachments for the construction jobs you need to do today—and help you identify attachment conversions to consider for tomorrow.
Finning is the world's largest Caterpillar dealer, selling, renting and providing parts and service for equipment and engines to customers across diverse industries, including mining, construction, petroleum, forestry and a wide range of power systems applications. We operate in Western Canada, South America, and UK and Ireland.