New tricks for Blue Dog with Liebherr

TAKING A LEAD WITH TRADITIONAL BUSINESS VALUES

Blue Dog Cranes may be the new hound in the Melbourne construction game, but owners Ben Ind and wife Samantha, along with their tight knit team, are not afraid to bring new tricks to the industry.

STARTING THE BUSINESS JUST AS THE

global pandemic struck was not good timing, but with a focus on traditional business values they have weathered the storm and recently have taken delivery of a low hour, late model Liebherr LTM 1060 -3.1.

Ben Ind and Samantha both come from business backgrounds,. Samantha’s career until late was in event management, working globally. While always working in construction, Ben studied Business Management. They have owned a successful café together whilst at the same time Ind was working at Metcalf. This is where he learnt how to get the most out of staff through leadership skills.

Ind started his career as a truck driver and dogman with Associated Cranes in 2010. Within a year he was given a 13t Kato to operate in which he spent 4000 hours. At the time, the new generation Katos were fairly rare. He then went on to operate a 30t Kato before moving into a 35t Liebherr and a 55t Liebherr. It was in these cranes that he realised there would be opportunities for a ‘milk run’ crane hire business.

“I worked with Associated Cranes for two or three years. It was a great company; the work environment was fantastic with some of the best operators I have seen and worked with. It was at a time when they were not afraid to share their knowledge and teach you. There I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in a short period of time because these fellas were happy to show me the right way to do things and they weren’t afraid of losing their cranes.

“I then became curious about the industry as a business and moved on to Metcalf Cranes. I spent a couple of years working on large scale civil projects and wind farms, completing lifts which were influenced by engineers, lift plans and studies. This helped to broaden my knowledge base. I then moved back into the ‘milk run’ side of the industry working with Statewide Cranes where Les, the owner, had me operating the 55t

Blue Dog Cranes took delivery of the Liebherr LTM 1060 – 3.1 in late June.

Liebherr and their 90t machine when the operator was away. I had a great time with Statewide Cranes, but we were starting our family and I thought it was the right time to back myself and start my own business,” said Ind.

“I started looking for a 35t Liebherr which would enable me to work from home. Les and I have a strong relationship and he was very supportive which made me feel more confident I was making the right move. At the time a small business called Atite Site was put up for sale. I could see the opportunity to rebrand this, change it into what we wanted, and it would make for a good launch pad for our business. We spent the next four months trying to borrow money, but no one wanted to touch us,” he said.

Ind ran out of Annual and Long Service Leave and went back to Statewide as a casual employee until he was finally able to make a deal with Atite Site.

“Although we couldn’t afford to purchase all seven of their cranes, we did buy three of them. These included a Kato 13t ‘bubble’, a 2017 model and a beautiful crane. We bought a Franna AT20 which you really need in the ‘milk run’ hire business and we bought a 35t Liebherr, a crane I have also spent a lot of time operating. We also bought the phone number and Blue Dog Cranes was born. That was in November 2019. Just as we kicked off with the business, so did the global pandemic.

“For the next 12 months we worked around the clock and the business did well despite being new and the situation the world was facing. The 35t Liebherr really delivered for the business and it is the reason we are where we are today. If you are willing to put the fly on four or five times a week, and my guys are willing to do anything I ask of them, you can chase the work that 50t and 60t capacity cranes would typically do. We worked the 35t hard, it developed the market for the Liebherr LTM 1060 -3.1,” said Ind.

After the first 6 months of trading, Ind decided to buy a 7t truck mount crane. Then he and Samantha put all their energies in to buying a bigger crane. At Christmas time finance fell through on an older Liebherr LTM 1055-3.1 they had found. In January they put a deposit on a Liebherr LTM 1060-3.1 through a broker in Brisbane, again finance was not possible. Being told ‘no’ was all the motivation they needed to make something happen. Finally, they met the right broker and made the decision to buy from Liebherr.

“Tom Grady, Liebherr’s National Used Crane Manager, secured me a crane in Germany and brought it out to Australia, a process which worked for the broker and the banks. This crane went into service late June. For Tom, it would probably have been one of the easiest deals of all-time. I called him out of the blue and asked him to find me a crane for under $1million. He found one, I said ‘sold’, watched the exchange rate for 2-weeks and put a deposit on it. We then waited for the three months for it to be delivered,” said Ind.

Blue Dog Cranes took delivery of the LTM 1060 – 3.1 in late June.

“Over the last 18months, Samantha and I haven’t been able to spend much time together and it was great to share the experience of driving the crane home. On Saturday we organised a training day for staff and Ben from Liebherr came out. I’ve always been in 55s and these were 2012 models, this is the first 60 I’ve operated. I had been told how amazing they are, but I have been genuinely blown away by its performance,” said Ind.

Predominantly Blue Dog Cranes is focused on the “milk run” crane hire. This includes domestic and small civil projects.

“There are no lift studies, engineers and geotechs in most of what we do. This is a high stakes game where we rely on our experience, training and the equipment to get the job done safely. Having the latest technology available is of upmost importance to us as it helps increase the odds in our favour, said Ind.

Ind goes on to discuss the culture at Blue Dog Cranes and what sets the business apart in an extremely competitive market.

“I have always seen a niche for first class customer service in this industry. I don’t think it has been done well in the crane sector. In my opinion, the crane industry has remained one of the more archaic industries. Construction, in a lot of instances, is bad enough but cranes is a further step behind. We are fussy about who works for us, and our success so far affords us the ability to be fussy about who we work for. Put simply, we work for like-minded businesses who share our values. Success isn’t rocket science; we treat our customers the best we can. Our intention is for them to make money and if they do, then we make money. The better they do the better we do,” he said.

“Basically, we treat our staff correctly

Blue Dog Cranes owners Ben Ind and wife Samantha.

and we focus on servicing the customer with traditional business values based around service and customer satisfaction and this has been pivotal to our success. A number of customers have come forward and said how refreshing it is to have a crane business this focused on the right outcomes. We give customers the worstcase cost scenario, agree on what we think we can deliver for them, and then we aim to over deliver every time. We make sure our customer is happy before we leave site. There are never additional costs for the customer and this helps.

“It is hard work and there is no room for short cuts. In all the years of driving cranes for other companies it is not unheard of for cranes not to complete jobs on lift day, sometimes it happens far too often. In our first 12 months we’ve completed all jobs within the time frame and in the manner agreed to with the customer. This was achieved with me visiting 90 per cent of jobs prior to the work, often late at night, on weekends, whatever it takes. You pay a personal price providing this extra value,” said Ind.

There are core members in the team, all are fulltime which is something Ind is proud of.

“Maintaining a full-time work force is difficult when you only have five cranes, but it is essential to have them on my team. I’m sure it is equally essential to them to have a full time opportunity. Josh drives the 35 tonner day to day, Dane runs around in the seven and 20 tonner and he also manages the maintenance and compliance on the cranes. For the jobs he can’t manage, we call in Liebherr or the other OEMs for help. Ken is a veteran in the industry, and he drives our ‘bubble’ full time and I run around picking up the pieces. I’ve been in the new Liebherr training Nathan in the way I want it to be operated, and in turn he will help train the other operators,” he said.

The opportunities Ind was shown at Associated are the catalyst for the high priority he places on training and opportunity at Blue Dog Cranes.

“We always have 1-2 trainees working with our experienced team, some of them make it, some of them don’t. Over time, this gives me the chance to build a team of people that do things to the same capability and standards I set. Nathan came to us with very little experience, but a brilliant attitude. We put him on a trainee rate and threw him straight in with our team. For six months he mastered task after task. We sent him off and paid for his C6 and we are now proud to have him as full time crane crew, he operates the 7 tonner and is the 60T primary doggie,” said Ind.

Ind explains how he has taken a progressive approach to the company’s culture, safety procedures and site compliance and other business processes.

“We look at this side of the business realistically and at the moment, we are automating all of the processes to bring them into the digital world. With the jobs, I go to site speak to the teams there and examine the best ways for us to manage the job taking into the account the risks involved etc.

“When I’ve done this, I will typically toolbox with the dogman and operator about the job so when they get to site, they know exactly what to expect and how I want them to set up. They’ve already got a ute full of extra gear, if it is required, so there’s no equipment being run to site on the day.

“Our Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS )mirror a standard that you would expect to see on a Tier One project. But we were finding, and I have found it my whole career, it is not easy to prepare a sitespecific SWMS when the Franna might have six jobs that day. It would mean 100 pages of paper a day and it wasn’t working for us,’ said Ind.

“So, we have implemented a system where the docket book carries a sitespecific toolbox and our SWMS are now in

“Our Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) mirror a standard that you would expect to see on a Tier One project.”

a digital version. This means the guys will get to site, fill out their prestart for the crane, they’ll assess the job in conjunction with the toolbox we conducted the night before. They will then open the SWMS on their phone, log on with the project, complete a short ‘tick and flick’ procedure and digitally sign this.

“In conjunction with the site-specific notes, which are recorded in the docket book, they will fill this out ahead of the job and then both of these get uploaded to a master file in our office or they are sent to the builder of they require it. I haven’t seen this type of system implemented by anyone else and it works well for us. It covers all the legal boxes ensuring the duty of care requirements are met,” he said.

“It also manages the compliance paperwork. Typically, in the past, you would arrive on site with the crane and hand over the ‘blue folder’ and half of the paperwork would be missing because the last guy had lost it on the previous job. For 10 years, I’ve seen this being the standard process and it just hasn’t worked.

“Now, all our insurances, the crane paperwork and maintenance records such as sling testing dates and personnel compliance can be found on our website for the builder. We do still have the folder in the crane, but we give the site the link ahead of lift day, they can click on this and it doesn’t which crane it is or what personnel are with it, everything is relevant and current. This streamlines the whole process for us, the builder and the customer who is contracting us,” said Ind.

The Blue Dog Team have just moved into a bigger factory with room to grow. Ind is now on the ground operating the 60T and Samantha runs Operations.

“It has been a steep learning curve as she doesn’t have a crane background, but it is a testament to our team that she has their full support and assistance. We plan to grow steadily and the future looks bright.

“When the secret to success is good customer service and doing the right thing, I’m worried the rest of the sector might catch on,” jokes Ind.