Civil Contractor Brings PM Work In-House; Simplifies Fleet Management Schedules, Costs

Wed November 13, 2024
Larry Lea, Thunder Creek Equipment

Safety. Integrity. Reliability. Those are the principles that Cardinal Civil Contracting operates by on every infrastructure and site preparation job it handles.

This full-service contracting company provides turnkey solutions for its customers — everything from surveying, site clearing and grading, to underground utilities, paving and more. From smaller single- and multi-family residential projects to large industrial and institutional jobs, Cardinal Civil Contracting aims to be the contractor of choice in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area.

"We've got the desire to do a good job. Our crews put everything they got into it. They come in and stay till the job's done," said Jason Syphrit, equipment manager at Cardinal Civil Contracting. "Everybody has one goal in mind and that's to be the best that we can be. And I think that's what puts us at the top in my opinion."

With the influx of people moving to the area, there is plenty of opportunity to put that attitude and manpower to work. According to Syphrit, the company has around 40 to 50 active jobs currently, with many of them all-inclusive residential subdivisions with pools and recreation areas.

Not surprisingly, it takes a lot of heavy equipment to manage that many jobs and they all need regular preventive maintenance (PM) to keep up and running. For some time, Cardinal Civil Contracting hired outside service support; however, as the company grew it became apparent that it needed a solution that gave it better control in both time and cost. That led Syphrit to spend months researching service trucks that the company could purchase to provide efficient PM in the field.

Syphrit's choice? Two service and lube truck upfits (SLU) from Thunder Creek.

"Researching, I could not find any other trucks with the capacity these have in a small package. The SLU hauls the most fluids, gallon-wise, out of any of the service and lube trucks I found out there," he said. "With the size of our fleet now at probably 500 pieces, it just made sense to go this route."

Since purchasing the SLU, Cardinal Civil Contracting has gained several advantages that make it clear they made the right decision.

Photo courtesy of Thunder Creek

A Versatile Solution

The SLU provides Cardinal Civil Contracting with mobile, full-scale service on a medium-duty truck chassis. It carries service fluids such as coolant, reclaim and oil, along with daily fluids such as top-off diesel, grease and DEF. The company chose a Ford F550 and a Dodge Ram 5500 for their upfits, both of which allow crew members to manage PM for approximately 70 percent of the company's equipment fleet.

The remaining equipment is new and on service contracts with manufacturers or dealers.

According to Syphrit, the two SLUs can provide four to eight services a day, depending on the PM services that need to be completed.

"We're servicing many of our machines every 500 hours, where we are just in and out, and the bigger equipment gets 2,000- to a 5,000- hour service," added Joe Zandlo, PM specialist. "On a good day, we try to get to three of those. With the SLU, it's possible if we don't have to drive miles between jobs."

As a PM specialist, Zandlo's job is to work exclusively with the SLU servicing dozers, excavators, skid steers, large rollers and other heavy equipment. He appreciates how easy it is to maneuver the truck through different job sites.

"As far as getting on the job sites, all the clearance is good," he said. "Its four-wheel drive capability, which I've had to use a couple of times, makes driving and turning into areas simple."

Syphrit agrees.

"The operators are not always able to bring the piece of equipment up to the front of the job for service, but these trucks are capable of getting into a site compared to a big truck. We had a particular job that was very hilly, lots of rocks and obstacles and these trucks helped tremendously. And it's turned out [that] there's a safety aspect also because the drivers have got such good visibility around the truck, down both sides. I would say I probably wouldn't go with a big truck again."

Once on a job site, the SLUs have proven to be efficient for completing scheduled PM service. With 690 gal. of fluids available, self-contained hose reels and room for tools, the trucks offer a fast and easy way to perform PM service. Each tank has its own gun so there is no risk of contamination between fluids, and Thunder Creek has equipped the SLU with a VMAC under-hood air compressor to speed fluid delivery.

"It's 100 percent faster. You've got all your fluids at hand. You've got the huge capacity for waste oil and for new oil. Now we can haul diesel and antifreeze on the truck too and a lot more filters," said Zandlo. "I can back up to a piece of machinery or beside it and this is all I need right here. With the onboard air compressor, I've never had to slow down on oil delivery. It's constant. As fast as that pump's running, it's throwing oil."

The SLU tanks also are easy to refill with the necessary fluids and to dispose of waste oil.

"It's not a big headache. You can see your tank levels from the ground. You don't have to climb up on the truck and look at how much oil you have left," said Syphrit. "Drivers will usually come in probably once a week, twice at the most to top off fluids and drain their waste oil. So that's been good."

An advantage that Syphrit also appreciates is that the SLUs don't require drivers to hold a CDL or HAZMAT endorsement. There are separate tanks for each service fluid joined by a common manifold to the commercial pumping system. Because of that, and the trucks overall lighter weight, any driver with a safe driving record can operate the trucks.

"It's getting hard to find a quality driver for hauling oils and fuels. It is a lot easier to have a guy who already knows the PM side get in this truck and drive it than it is to find a CDL driver with HAZMAT that knows about the PM side of it," he said. "So, absolutely it's just a big plus all the way around."

While the maneuverability of the SLUs, the fast and simplified PM service they provide and the ability for any driver to operate the trucks are all advantages — the major combined benefits are time and cost savings. Cardinal Civil Contracting no longer hires service contractors and can rely on the organized PM schedule provided by the front office to let PM specialists know when and where they should be.

"The more we can do the stuff in-house, the more money we can save. And as the machines drop off PM agreements with the dealerships, we roll them into our PM system," said Syphrit. "And the more we can do, the less we are relying on somebody else' schedule. So, they've worked out really well."

If someone were to ask about a Thunder Creek SLU, what would Syphrit say?

"Buy four of them. I'm being honest that it's just a great setup. We chose to set ours up this way, but whoever else could set it up however they want. I just don't think you can go wrong," he said. "It's a lot of stuff in a small package and it gets the job done."