RM Online - What you need to know about bucket trucks

Bucket trucks - personnel lifts mounted on vehicles of various sizes - are used widely in public utilities, construction and maintenance. They're used by electricians, sign erection and maintenance crews, lighting contractors, tree trimmers, painters, municipal utilities crews and for a variety of miscellaneous jobs, such as hanging holiday decorations.

The most frequent users of bucket trucks are utility companies and the contractors who install and maintain overhead electric, telephone and television cable. Specialty contractors use bucket trucks to clear tree branches from overhead utility lines.

There are three basic types of truck-mounted lifting devices: telescoping boom, articulated boom and a combination telescoping-articulated boom. Booms are raised and lowered by a hydraulic system driven by the host vehicle's engine.

"Telescoping units are the easiest to operate, because the operator has only one boom to control," says Cathy Eygabroad, ArmLift, Armstrong, Iowa. "An inner boom telescopes out of the primary boom to increase height."

Articulated booms have one or more boom sections hinged at a knuckle, which allows the bucket to be extended out as well as up, so the operator can avoid obstacles. Articulated equipment is more difficult to operate for inexperienced personnel.

"Articulating aerial devices generally have higher working heights," says Dave Doolin, Equipment Technology, Oklahoma City. The company also operates a rental and leasing program, so Doolin can speak from both the manufacturer's perspective and that of the rental operator. "They can be placed in a variety of positions best suited for the particular job," he says.

Combination booms offer the greatest height and reach, but they're the most difficult to operate.

When selecting equipment, rental customers look at maximum height, horizontal reach, weight capacity and the size of the host vehicle, and also whether the boom is insulated for use around live power cable.

Both Doolin and Eygabroad say there is a strong and growing demand for rental units. But most customers likely will not find bucket trucks at general rental centers.

"To find a bucket truck in most areas, I believe customers will have to go to one of the big equipment rental operations with multiple locations," says Larry Kaye, Jax Construction Equipment, Jacksonville, Fla., who chairs A.R.A.'s Construction and Industrial Services Special Interest Group. "I don't think you'll find many individual rental stores that have bucket trucks. They carry scissor lifts and self-propelled lifts, but not lifts mounted on trucks."

Are rental businesses missing out on a profitable market?

"The demand for bucket trucks is growing in virtually every market," Eygabroad says, "and especially in the cable television and telephone industries."

"The bucket truck business is very strong right now," agrees Doolin. "New technology being implemented in the cable television and telecommunications industries is creating a huge demand for aerial devices that should continue well into the 21st century."

Many areas of the country are not served by a national rental fleet, Doolin says, and in any case, most aerial fleets owned by national companies are fully utilized.

For stores interested in adding bucket trucks, Doolin and Eygabroad recommend beginning with small units mounted on standard one-ton vehicles, capable of working heights of about 30 feet.

"Presently this is the most popular size of equipment sold and rented," says Doolin. "It is easy to operate and maintain."

Doolin advises rental stores to begin with one small unit and build the fleet from there. "There will be some start-up time, because customers don't think of you for this product," Doolin says. "But many of a store's present customers need bucket trucks."

He says ETI's Oklahoma City location rents 13 small bucket trucks - up from two only two years ago.

"There is a huge demand," he says. "None of these units misses a day. All are out on long-term rentals. We will do daily rentals, but most of our contracts are for longer periods."

Advertising and displaying equipment where it can be easily seen will help make people aware you have it.

But Kaye warns rental store owners to use caution before entering the bucket truck market: "I have reservations about risks associated with any vehicle-type equipment," he says.

Rental stores must analyze the demand, understand state driver's license requirements and be adequately insured.

"If the need for the equipment is there and a rental operation is self-insured and big enough," Kaye says, "a rental store might walk off with the market by having what no one else has."

For many rental store owners, liability risks may deter them from carrying bucket trucks.

And for Kaye, state driver's license requirements are a negative factor.

"In my area (Florida), dump trucks and bucket trucks require a Class D chauffeur's license," says Kaye. "The average construction worker isn't licensed to drive the equipment to the job."

Also, in Florida, Kaye says state law holds the rental company responsible if it releases a rental vehicle to a person with a poor driving record.

"Some car rental companies in Florida now have a policy of checking a customer's driving record before renting," he points out.

Doolin says he doesn't know of any other state that requires investigating a customer's driving record, but rental companies should be sure to check state law before they get into this market.

"Renters have to have insurance!" Doolin says emphatically.

"And the insurance identification card from the glove compartment isn't enough. You have to see a certificate of insurance."