TOWER CRANES VS. MOBILE CRANES CASE HISTORY# 34 WWW.EAGLEWESTCRANES.COM Crane Choice Makes Big Impact on Budget The Aberdeen Heights project in Kirkwood, Missouri had two similar, four storey buildings under construction; each with its own framing contractor. With adjacent job sites, this project made for an ideal side by side comparison of tower cranes on mobile bases verses traditional mobile cranes. On the site of Building A, four mobile cranes were hard at work, while the framing contractor of Building B had only enlisted the services of two San Marco tower cranes. One of the towers, a SMT 551 on a mobile base with a 180’ jib has an under hook height of 105’. The other San Marco, also on a mobile base, was a SMT 522 with a 118’ under hook height and 170’ jib. “Progress on the building using the two tower cranes is substantially further along” commented Randy Huffman, Custom Service Crane, Inc. owner. The swing radius and reach of the San Marco cranes allowed them to access materials on the large construction site, which meant only two units were required to complete Building B. Relying solely on these two cranes meant that site roads and multiple pieces of equipment were unnecessary. Using two tower cranes on mobile bases prevented typical site delays due to ground and site conditions. This lead to improved cycle times and lowered labor costs, resulting in increased revenue to the bottom line.