Broke my own rule about luffing jibs on a job in Austin

I've always been a luffing jib guy for tight urban sites. But last month on a 12-story mixed use project in downtown Austin, the site foreman pushed me to use a hammerhead tower crane instead. I caved and went with it. The reach was fine but the clearance issues with that fixed jib caused two delays in one week. Lost half a day when we had to swing around a neighboring building's scaffolding. I'm back on luffing jibs for any city job now. Anyone else get talked into the wrong crane type and regret it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee18d ago

Man, that foreman hung you out to dry. Been there myself.

max_torres4418d ago

Did the foreman at least buy you a beer after throwing you under the bus? Sounds like he's got a future in politics.

reed.elliot18d ago

Wait, has nobody pointed out that this foreman probably did it because he KNEW the guy wouldn't fight back? I've seen this play out on job sites before: the foreman picks the crew member who's too nice or too new to cause a scene. It's a calculated move, not just some random screw up. My buddy worked a framing gig where the foreman threw a kid under the bus for a missing order, but it turned out the foreman had messed up the paperwork himself. He just knew the kid wouldn't raise hell about it. That's not just a politics move, that's a power move plain and simple.