BTC Booths Hire offers a wide range of equipment for hire or sale to a broad cross-section of the construction industry, but many of the items offered to the building construction industry fill niches largely left untouched by other companies.
Hire is an attractive option when equipment can be obtained that suits the actual work being undertaken, rather than being a compromise determined by versatility and cost if the contractor owns it.
Hire companies such as BTC Booths have an excellent knowledge of the equipment they hire out, and there are considerable advantages to involving them early in project planning, to advise on equipment (eg jacks and props, chutes), where to locate it, and how to use it to get the best out of it.
BTC Booths offers a range of hydraulic jacks from 5t to 480t capacity, along with a full range of attachments and fittings. They stock what is claimed to be the largest range of propping equipment in Australia. If necessary they can recommend riggers to install the props and jacks.
The company instals rubbish chutes if required, and has a full range of brackets to attach these to scaffolds, windows or slabs, and brace them against the side of a building.
It is in materials handling equipment that BTC Booths offers an enormous range of innovative equipment. It is one of the few companies offering portable conveyor systems, and has recently introduced the lightweight 3m Miniveyor that can be manhandled on sites.
One of the company's biggest battles is to educate the market that this type of equipment is available, and a productive alternative on steep sites or sites with difficult access equipment.
A hydraulic trailer-mounted Paus ladder hoist that handles a 300kg load and lifts to 26m has recently joined the traditional ladder hoist range. This hoist is ideal for handling tiles, blocks, sheet and bulk materials. It is ideal for difficult access situations and avoids congestion on stairwells. For renovation jobs ladder hoists minimise disturbance to areas of buildings where normal activities are continuing.
BTC Booths also has a full range of hoists for the fitting out trades for lifting and holding ducting, panels and the like. There are also skates and trolleys for moving materials around on the slab, and hoists and gantries for lifting over the side of the slab. There are manual and powered stairclimbers with capacities to 300kg, and a 500kg capacity battery powered self-loader that performs in miniature the same function that tailgate forklifts do on brick trucks. This unit weighs 250kg and attached itself to the rear of a utility. It is used to unload pallets of building materials.
An innovation is the range of slip-on platforms, jibs, bins and the like for forklifts, and cages, bins and forks for cranes. These have not been widely available for hire in the past.
Recently the European Probst and Wumag ranges of lifting aids were introduced, and these have been well received. Manual lifting aids for blocks, slabs and boulders assist employers to meet their OH&S obligations, while larger scissor, vacuum and telescoping vice-type grabs can be used with cranes or other lifting equipment. They are considerably safer and easier to use than slings and chains in these applications. BTC Booths also offers slings and chains that are inspected and certified.
BTC Booth's safety harnesses now have a lanyard attached to the D-ring, allowing the worker to attach the harness in front of him so that he can see that it is properly attached.
Their versatile rescue davit system allows the same unit to be used for manhole and confined space entry and retrieval, and building tops.
BTC Booths was the first company to introduce non-slip surfaces to its plates and sheets used to cover holes on road and pedestrian areas. The company has also introduced 32mm steel plate for greater security with heavy traffic.
It offers a wide range of barriers for pedestrian and road traffic, including the Triton water-filled RTA-approved crash barriers that are rated to 100km/hr, and a new interlocking plastic pedestrian barrier.
A wide range of aluminium and steel ramps is available, for application such as trolley and barrow ramps, gutter ramps and loading light equipment onto vehicles.
Lockable all-weather storage boxes are available to help prevent theft of tools and equipment. Temporary fencing can be supplied to secure a work site.
By being aware of the wide range of equipment now available from specialist hire companies such as BTC Booths contractors can achieve productivity gains, meet OH&S obligations, avoid the capital outlay of a major investment in equipment that may not be used on every job, and benefit from the expertise of companies specialising in this area, who keep up to date with trends from around the world.