Sometimes all it takes is an eye for innovation and the courage to risk it all. For Duke Long, owner of Interstate Sawing Company in West Bend, Wisconsin, it’s the secret to his success. And it has led his company to approach demolition work from a unique perspective.
In November 1996, with his wife, Sandi, by his side, more than 10-years experience in concrete cutting, and 15 more in road construction, he set out to do just that. He launched Interstate Sawing Company and hasn’t looked back.
“Sandi and I sold everything that we had,” Long says. “I bought two road saws and a new pickup, and we paid our mortgage upfront for the entire year.”
Today, the company has 25 employees and business doesn’t show any signs of slowing. It’s a growth that Long attributes to his passion for innovation and willingness to step outside of his comfort zone. And venturing into the unknown with the purchase of a Brokk remote-controlled machine was one of those risks that proved to be the turning point.
TOOL FOR THE JOB
In 2007, after years of research and with the ideal project at hand, Long decided to purchase his first Brokk robot for a project at a nearby high school that needed some concrete cutting.
In addition to the contract for cutting, the school district had solicited bids for demolition. The area that needed the demolition work was in a confined space, with surroundings that couldn’t be touched. The company that had won the contract didn’t want to get close to it. Long’s team stepped up to the plate, and took on both the concrete cutting and the demolition work.
“I’d cut the concrete and crush it as we went along, which kept everything very stable,” Long says. “I was amazed by the Brokk machine’s capabilities.” The job took Interstate Sawing Company to a new dimension.
Along with the robot, Long invested in an entire toolbox of concrete cutting and demolition attachments. This allows the crews to perform breaking, crushing, cutting, and lifting of concrete slabs, to load debris with a bucket and remove it from the site. It’s a unique combination of capabilities that has not only expanded opportunities, but has enabled Long to morph his business from concrete cutting into a unique hybrid combination of concrete cutting and demolition work.
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SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE
Thanks to the Brokk machines, Long was growing his territory, as well as his work year. Brokk robots are not only remote-controlled, they’re fully electric, meaning during operation they’re both emission-free and quiet.
“Being in Wisconsin, we have mostly seasonal work. The robots have allowed us to go into hospitals, food plants, factories, and schools, places that can’t have exhaust in the buildings,” Long says. “This has stretched our season to March through January, going from 4 months of downtime to only 1 or 2. That’s a huge difference right there.”
As the season and number of projects have grown, so has Interstate Sawing Company’s fleet of Brokk machines. Long now has six units, ranging from the Brokk 50 to the Brokk 400.
INNOVATION REDEFINED
While Long attributes much of his company’s growth to always keeping an eye out for the next best thing, he’s also always looking for ways to make that next best thing even better. This has included thinking about innovative new ways to use the Brokk machines, and even creating a few attachments of his own.
“The Brokk robots’ capabilities are truly unbelievable,” he says. “Every job I’m on, I’m always coming up with new ideas. Along with all of the company’s attachments, we’ve made plungers that we have attached to the Brokk equipment which enable us to easily pick up a 5-foot by 5-foot slab of concrete with no trouble at all.” In fact, on one location, Interstate Sawing Company removed 10,000 square feet of concrete in just 2 days.
Long’s team has also designed and engineered air compressors, chisels for soft demolition, and platforms for Brokk machines to sit on while being hoisted by a crane. When he gets an idea for an attachment, Long will work with a machinist to design it, build it, test it and tweak it until it’s perfect.
AN INSIDE JOB
Even after 5 years of working with the Brokk units, the talk about what Interstate Sawing Company can do with the machines isn’t close to slowing down.
In the summer of 2012, Interstate Sawing Company took a job at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. The project entailed soft and hard demolition of a building known as Evans Hall. They were to take down 24 staircases—four sets on each of the six stories—as well as all the ceilings and plaster. Evans Hall is a historical building on the college campus, so all the demolition needed to be done without sacrificing its historical integrity.
Traditionally this job would have been completed using all manual labor, and dangerous labor at that. Labor would normally be completed with hammers, which causes mesh and plaster to fly about. With the Brokk machine, an operator was able to stand 20 feet away while working from the inside out, effortlessly demolishing the staircases and tearing the plaster off the mesh. Interstate Sawing Company completed the entire job in just 4 weeks, and at a fraction of the budgeted costs. ■
For More Information:
For more information about Interstate Sawing Company, visit www.interstatesawing.com. To add Brokk equipment to your business, visit www.brokk.com.
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Modern Contractor Solutions, March 2013
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