Equipment World Digital Magazine
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contractor of the year finalist | continued "If you're not getting as much work, you better make sure that what you're working at you come out on top." The company has branched out into landfill reconstruction; as Paul puts it, "There's always going to be trash." "They are a quality group of individuals that make our life so much easier," says client C.J. Lage, project consultant with Barker Lemar Engineering, Des Moines, Iowa. "They've handled whatever came up with professionalism and tact." Fascinated from the get-go Growing up in the business – "I was fascinated with construction equipment basically from the get-go" – Jesse has seen first hand how equipment has evolved, from wrecking balls to hammers. "Articulated dump trucks have been especially useful here in Iowa with our soft underfoot conditions," he says. "When you had to use scrapers, it was more of an art because you had to get through the mud. Glaciers did some strange things to the Iowa soil. You'll go from sand to mud bogs to limestone on one job. Artics and excavators made things a lot faster." Another advance that's made a difference is GPS. "Paul talked me into using GPS, and now it's a necessity" Jesse says. "It's been the biggest game changer in the past eight years." Adds Paul: "Ten years ago, we never used to run side-dumps, and now they're essential because of the longer haul distances our jobs require." While they'll take jobs whatever their start date, winter is when Steger Construction concentrates on rehab, rebuilding and hardfacing its fleet. "It gives our people winter work," says Jesse, "and gets us ready for warmer weather, when downtime is a killer." Avoiding downtime Out in the field, Steger Construction operators take a half-hour at the end of each day to do daily preven- tive maintenance. A field service tech and truck handle basic repairs and oil changes; the dealer is called in on major issues. "Today's equipment requires their expertise and diagnostic equipment, especially with electronics," Jesse says. The company uses its winter downtime to schedule in-house rebuilds. "We'll especially look at metal wear on our scrapers and dozers," adds Paul. "If it's not going to make it through another summer, we'll replace it." Jesse takes to heart an example he saw during a Caterpillar seminar. "They had two tables with parts on them, one with a much larger pile than the other. They told us it was simple: if we did scheduled rebuilds, we would end up using the smaller pile of parts. If we waited for it to fail, we would need to buy the larger pile. I've never forgotten it." Jesse is convinced going on a scheduled rebuild program and using oil analysis "has saved us a lot of money and downtime over the years." Through the generations: Lyle and Troy Heiderscheit; Paul, Jesse and Dave Steger. (2009 photo) 54 October 2013 | EquipmentWorld.com EW1013_COY.indd 54 9/24/13 2:00 PM