Brothers Chris and Tony Farley have been operating Western District Crane Service (WD Crane Services) for over 16 years, servicing customers in Southern Victoria. Grove is their chosen brand of all terrain and they recently added a Grove GMK5150L-1 and GMK3060L-1 to their fleet. Chris and Tony explain more.
Chris and Tony started working in the industry back in 1985. They worked in construction and crane hire for various companies around Australia and Chris worked overseas in the Scottish oil and gas sector.
“We both started in the construction industry around the same time, 40 years ago. We worked for construction companies and various crane hire companies throughout and then started WD Crane Services in 2009,” said Tony. “Prior to starting the business together and we were putting cranes out on dry hire, one at a time and seeing an opportunity, we brought them back in and started our own business,” said Tony.
“In the early days, we bought two Franna MAC25s and then we bought a Liebherr LTM 60 tonner and we had them out on dry hire. Then we bought our first Grove a 55t capacity GMK3055 and put that into our fleet and went from the 55 into the Grove GMK4100 and from there to the GMK5250L.
“We then purchased a 60t Grove GMK3060L and a GMK 4100L-1 and our recent purchases have been the GMK5150L and the GMK3060L. Basically, we’re running six Grove all terrains from 60t capacity through to 250t capacity,” he said.
Today the WD Crane Services fleet looks like this:
• 1 x 250t GMK5250 L all terrain crane.
• 1 x 150t GMK 5150 L – 1 all terrain crane.
• 1 x 100t GMK4100 L-1 all terrain crane.
• 1x 100 t GMK4100 all terrain crane.
• 1 x 60t GMK3060 L-1 all terrain crane.
• 1 x 60t GMK3060 all terrain crane.
• 3 x 25t MAC Franna mobile cranes.
• 2 x 20t Franna mobile crane.
• 1 x 2.5t Manitou all terrain fork Lift.
• 1 x 5.5t Magni with 19m boom telehandler with 6t powered winch pack.
• 6t Magni with 10m boom Telehandler with lift jib.
• 1 x 4t Genie telehandler/Fork with lift jib.
• 4 x flat top and drop deck semi with B Double combination available.
• 1 x 12t tray truck.
With a preference for the Grove brand, Chris explains what they like about Groves and just as importantly, what their operators like about them including the light road weight which enables them to carry timbers and lifting gear without the need for gear trucks.
“We are operating remotely in a regional Victoria and rely on the back up and service provided by the team at Grove. John Mahoney from JDM Services has provided excellent service and support and so has Garry Barker and the Manitowoc team from Sydney. If there has been an issue and John isn’t able to help, Garry flies in one of his technicians straight away.
“The Grove product has proved to be really reliable over many years, and we’ve had minimal problems with the fleet. We’ve been buying secondhand cranes from Garry and the process has always been transparent. He’s sourced cranes from Australia but the recent purchases, the Grove GMK5150 and GMK 3060L, were second hand from Australia. He manages the whole process and keeps us posted every step of the way. Another advantage with the Groves is that all of our operators are very familiar with the operating systems and can move seamlessly from one capacity machine to machine to another,” said Chris.
Over the past 16 years the support from the Grove team has been outstanding.
“This includes the technical support from people like David Tye, Danny Hall, Jesse Bradley and Garry Barker as well as sales support from Neil Hollingshead and more recently Richard Swaine. All of these people have worked for us as a team for the best results.
“When you are working on a 24 hour a day 8 km directional gas drilling project with the whole program relying on your crane lifts and at 11.30pm and at a critical time of the operation, the ECOS crane computer goes blank. You call a mobile and a person picks up. It turned out to only be blown fuse but those are the situations you remember and that’s what I call support,” he said.
WD Crane Services now employ two mechanics, Hamish who has an auto electrical background and Steve who has a diesel mechanical background.
“Grove have been fantastic with the technical support and guidance afforded to Hamish and Steve. Our cranes operate remotely a lot of the time, and we are hours from Melbourne. The most recent Groves, the GMK5150L-1 – and GMK 3060L-1, feature Grove Connect which allows Hamish or Steve to ‘dial into’ the cranes and see what the operators are having issues with. This will save us so much time and money,” said Chris.
Tony talks about the team at WD Crane Services and how he and Chris share their experience through mentoring programs.
“We run a team of 14 guys and most of them are locals. Chris and I have been working in cranes and construction for
40 years and wherever we can we share our knowledge and experience and mentor the team. We help the younger member through traineeships where they learn about the business and the industry from the ground up. We have some very experienced team members who have been in the industry a long time.
“Some have moved off and worked around Australia and then come back home to roost. We have been happy to provide them the opportunity to come back and work in their local community. We have four guys who have been with us for the whole 16 year journey of the business, and there is no substitute for this type of experience. We’ve got a trainee just finishing his two-year traineeship, and we are looking to take on another one shortly,” said Tony.
“Our business revolves around the energy sector, which includes renewables like wind power, solar, battery technology but we also work in gas-fired power stations and gas plants.
“Servicing the farming industry especially the dairy sector is part of our business too. We support the milk factories, and the farming community where do everything from pulling a tractor out of a dam through to an eight-crane lift where we’re building a huge farm shed,” he said,” he said.
Chris explains how customer focused the WD Crane Services team is and how they work in with the requirements of the local business community.
“Warrnambool is a remote regional town, and we work for and live within the local community. Our team understands the importance of customer service and the importance of delivering on what we promise. We are a strong team and we work well together. Sometimes our work can be difficult, take truck rollovers as an example. We have to work together to determine the best and safest way to get a B-double upright. The guys work really well with one another and give each other 110% support,” said Chris.
WD Crane Services understands it’s responsibility to the local businesses especially the farming community.
“We support the farming community, which can do it tough in the winter. We try to be as responsive as possible to our customers during the winter period. Equipment can get easily bogged in the wet conditions and equally they require support during drought conditions which are experiencing now.
“We’re sponsoring a Support the Farmer Foundation which focuses on mental health and care within the farming community and we also sponsor three or four of the footy clubs. The local dairy farmers are a big part of our business and we will do whatever we can to support them and their families,” said Tony.