As featured in the January 2020 edition of Crane Hot Line.
Knuckle Boom Cranes at Core of Company’s Success
By Mike Larson
Over The Top Lifting (OTT) is a successful family crane-service business built on knuckle boom cranes. Brothers Keith and Brian Malia founded OTT in the Bronx, New York, in 2016, after years of working in construction. The company now also has a yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Both facilities include storage space clients can rent to safely leave loads until they’re ready for delivery to a jobsite. “We can offer turnkey service, store a load, deliver it to the work site, and lift it into place,” said Malia.
The Malia brothers started OTT with just one truck-mounted knuckle boom crane. Today, not quite four years later, the company’s fleet has grown to five knuckle boom crane trucks. OTT recently took delivery of an Effer 1750 assembled by Effer’s exclusive dealer in the U.S., Altec Industries, and expects to add more cranes to its fleet in 2020.
OTT’s current knuckle booms range in capacity from 614,805 ft.-lbs. (85 tonne-meters) to 1,518,930 ft.-lbs. (210 tonne-meters), and all are equipped with hydraulic jibs.
The OTT fleet serves customers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, plus parts of New Jersey and Connecticut.
Its wide range of clients includes everything from HVAC contractors, machinery movers, and steel erectors, to curtain wall installers, roofers, vehicle recovery companies, cell tower installers, and tree-care companies.
Keith Malia told Crane Hot Line why OTT has standardized on knuckle boom cranes. “In metro New York, there are few wide-open spaces. The buildings abut or sit close to each other, and many of the streets are narrow. A knuckle boom crane fits into tight spaces more easily than a straight boom crane and can work 360° more easily because it has no tail swing.”
Malia adds that the knuckle boom’s ability to tuck in the boom and swing is also important.
“New York safety rules don’t let a crane swing over an occupied building unless the top two floors are evacuated and other precautions are taken,” he says. “So the knuckle boom crane has a distinct advantage because you can fold its boom until you’ve swung into alignment with the building you’re working on, then go up and over.”
Right now, said Malia, knuckle boom cranes are exempt from the NYC Dept. of Buildings, Cranes, & Derricks’ requirements for equipment pre-certification.
“Knuckle Booms’ fast setup plays a vital role in keeping the fast pace of construction moving in NYC,” he said.
But perhaps the largest advantage of knuckle boom cranes is their ability to extend the boom straight out horizontally with a load on the hook. Malia said that even OTT’s 85-tonne-meter crane can reach out to a 100’ radius with 2,500 lbs. on the hook.
“You can reach straight in through a window or between slabs to pick or place a load,” says Malia.“That’s really helpful during construction or renovation. We’ve even delivered a large couch through the window of an upper-story apartment.”
Malia says the knuckle boom cranes’ radio remote controls make operation versatile and efficient. “The operator can choose to be in the best vantage point for each lift,” he says. “He can choose to be on the ground at the picking point or up at the placement site.”
In addition to the crane operator, OTT’s typical crew includes a combination rigger-signaler. All of its operators and rigger-signal persons are NCCCO certified. That’s a total of about a dozen employees.
OTT’s knuckle booms stay on the move, each averaging one to two jobs per day. In New York, they travel on an annual permit; in Connecticut, said Malia, the permitting requirements vary by truck weight and axle spacing. Setup takes just minutes.
“We can be up and running in just 10 minutes from the time the truck pulls to a stop onsite,” he said.
What key things does OTT consider most important when buying a knuckle boom crane?
“Support and service are numbers one and two,” said Malia, “followed by product reliability, variety of sizes in larger models, and lifting performance.”
Malia believes the future is bright for lifting work in New York. “At least three to five years of busy construction lie ahead in metropolitan New York,” he said.
OTT is building its fleet to take advantage of the opportunity.
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