ON SITE
Matt Buirski, director at GDM Plumbing & Projects (left), with Charl Kemp, area
manager for Kubota Construction.
unskilled has been drastically reduced
— and this is owing to the excavators
themselves,” he adds.
Purchase decision
“Among the factors that assisted us
in our purchase decision was the first
impression created by Smith Power
Equipment, Kubota’s distributor, who
provided us with very good service
after my initial enquiry,” states Matt.
“Another appealing factor was the
size of the excavator. We generally
work in confined spaces with
limited manoeuvrability, so compact
equipment for us is key. Our purchase
decision was also influenced by labour
expenses. We found that sourcing and
utilising casual labour was becoming
a costly exercise. Manual labour —
guys with a spade and a pick, digging
trenches — is time-consuming and
often, to an extent, unreliable. In terms
of feasibility, it made more sense to
purchase,” says Matt.
Then, in 2018, GDM purchased their
second Kubota excavator — the U15, a
compact 1.5t machine. “The U15 is for
our residential market, and the U30 for
our commercial business. Productivity
has improved tremendously. For
example, typical turnaround time for a
house drain would normally be eight
to 10 days, whereas now it’s three to
four days. This translates to half the
time, with fewer staff overheads,”
enthuses Matt.
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Attractive features
“GDM was first to market in South
Africa for the U15 model,” says
Tom Bloom, general manager for
Construction. He adds, “One of the
U15’s best features is its compact size.
This translates into ease of transporting
and ease of mobility.” Matt explains,
“The U15 can be transported on a trailer
on the back of a bakkie; it’s just a matter
of loading it on and transporting it to site.
The excavator’s mobility was a big selling
point for us. Often, a site has limited, or
tricky or tight spaces, so both the size
and the mobility of the excavators is very
important to us.”
Charl Kemp, area manager for Kubota
Construction, says, “One of the key
features of the U15 is the accessibility
it provides with its ability to retract its
tracks in order to fit through narrow
openings.” Kemp adds that the accuracy
and time saved when excavating at a
site is a plus point. “An excavator pivots
on points and removes the soil fairly
quickly, saving on time and increasing
productivity,” he says.
“One of the major features of the
Kubota excavators is the auto-idle
feature. When the machine comes to
rest, it goes into auto-idle mode, and as
soon as the operator touches any of the
controls, this brings the rpm up again,
and the work continues. This translates
into fuel savings,” adds Kemp.
Kemp explains that in terms of safety,
all Kubota products come with the
Roll-over Protection System (ROPS): the
operator is protected from any potentially
dangerous situations where an excavator
may roll — provided the operator is in
the seated position, with his seat belt
on. “A built-in feature is that, should a
unit fall over, the engine will shut off
automatically,” says Kemp.
When it comes to increased
production, Matt says, “One of our
success stories, and to illustrate the
capabilities of the U30, is when we were
working on a residential project out in Eye
of Africa. To start with, production was
very slow. We spoke to the engineers
who allowed us to use the U30 on site,
and we eventually outpaced the other
contractors at such a rate that they asked
us to stop because they couldn’t keep
up,” enthuses Matt.
It’s all in the service
Matt says that Smith’s after-sales services
has been great. “Downtime is minimal
to non-existent, and we’ve never had any
incidents,” says Matt. Kemp adds that
what has impressed him about GDM,
and what makes them competitive, is
the equipment owner’s presence on
site. “Should any problems arise, there
is always someone available to address
it then and there. And Kubota is proud to
be a part of that. In terms of reliability, we
have spares readily available,” says Kemp.
Kemp says that a trend they have
noticed in the industry, is that a lot of
people are mechanising — in construction
and in agriculture. “When it comes to
efficiencies, it just makes more sense.
In the long run, it is far more economical
too,” he concludes.
And where to from here for GDM?
Matt says, “We have been fortunate
enough in the plumbing industry to have
been kept very busy, and our vision for
GDM is to build up a good fleet of plant
— specifically the mini excavators. From a
professional perspective, people are quite
surprised when we arrive on site with
an excavator in tow. And then they are
impressed at the rate of our turnaround
time. This has been a good reflection
on our business — and attests to our
professionalism, which will go a long way
towards our future growth.”
MARCH 2019
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