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Excavator value matches company needs

Winter 2011

For an Ohio demolition contractor the combination of value and reliability offered by Doosan machines is the best in the business.

"There is a lot of competition for demolition work in this area," says Patrick Lally, owner of Ace Demo, Bedford, Ohio. "Our Doosan excavators give us a real competitive advantage when bidding on jobs."

Doosan crawler excavators are known for outstanding production, top-of-the-line fuel economy, a comfortable cab, excellent all around visibility and easy maintenance. The models range from an operating weight of 30,865 lb. to 111,774 pounds, with engine sizes of 99 to 328 horsepower.

New demo firm off to good start with right equipment
Patrick Lally started Ace Demo three years ago after he sold his share of a family-owned automobile dealership. "It was the right time for me to get out of the car business, and a really good time to get into demolition," he says. "The Cleveland area was becoming a hotbed of demolition because of declining population and aging buildings."

Cleveland has an estimated 11,500 vacant homes, according to Neighborhood Progress Inc. The figure is expected to grow in the coming years. The city demolished 195 houses in 2005; that number grew to 950 in 2007. In 2009 the city was expected to raze at least 1,700 homes.

As a prime contractor for the city, Ace Demo has seen its business increase rapidly as more and more structures come under the Cleveland Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The company bid more than a million dollars of work in its second year; through the first five months of 2010 it had reached well in excess of $2 million.

"I started with one employee, a dump truck and a skid-steer loader, which was used for snow removal at the car dealership," Lally says. "I looked around at bigger equipment and quickly determined that the Doosan dealer, Gibson Machinery, in Oakwood Village, Ohio, had the right equipment for my needs."

In 2008, he purchased a DX225LC excavator and a DL200 wheel loader. More recently he added two more excavators — a DX300LC and DX350LC. All of his Doosan crawler excavators are equipped with a hydraulic clamp and a 54-inch bucket.

"I think that I'm way ahead of the game using these Doosan excavators," Lally says. "That's because they cost significantly less than competitive machines. Many of the firms we bid against have much higher hourly rates because they have excavators that are priced $50,000 to $60,000 more than my Doosan models, which, by the way, work just as well as other machines."

Lally makes money with his excavators because they are very productive, often working seven days a week. "We do a lot of emergency work for the City of Cleveland," he says. "We recently were called in to take down a number of houses after a gas leak damaged an entire neighborhood. We have the equipment and know-how to handle this type of job whenever they call."

Most of the time, however, Ace Demo is taking down homes, commercial buildings and schools that are no longer needed. The excavators tear down and haul out the debris. All holes are filled with clean dirt; the company stockpiles about 20,000 yards of it. The trucks that deliver the clean dirt to the jobsite are filled by the DL200 wheel loader.

Last year the company demolished the original Bainbridge (Ohio) High School, a structure that was built in the 1930s using a lot of steel. Lally estimated that 80 percent of the 37,000 square feet of material removed was steel and concrete/brick. Several of the schools they have taken down are three-story buildings. "We have the equipment that can get up there," Lally says.

Another three-story structure — a 70,000-square-foot restaurant — proved to be somewhat more challenging for Ace Demo. "It was one of those buildings that had been added onto over time," recalls Lally, "so there were several sub-basements, one of which we did not know existed."

With his own in-house mechanic and excellent service and parts support from Gibson Machinery, Lally has always had equipment ready to meet his demanding schedule. "I know some owners of other brands of excavators that have had to wait weeks to get their machines repaired," he notes. "I've never had to wait." With a growing number of Doosan heavy equipment dealers, such support is common.

His future plans involve staying in demolition.

"I've seen too many companies make the mistake of thinking they can successfully move into other types of work," Lally says. "Our job is to knock things down in a safe and timely manner. We know what we are good at and we know our limits. We don't plan to change - we've got the right procedures, the right people and the right equipment."