Spider lift

[pdqdl]

From a manufacturers point of view: as much as you can get, and still keep the sales volume up.

My perspective: I think that design is as neat as it can be, and I am avidly wishing I could afford one, especially with the insulated stick. I think the machine should be priced to compete with similar capacity equipment, given it's unique features. They need to price it to sell a lot of machines, otherwise they will never make enough money to re-coup their development costs.

Given that they have been gambling on selling the things at all, they should price it to compete with comparable aerial units mounted on trucks. I'm sure that it is less expensive to make a spider lift than it is to make a 70' aerial lift mounted on a truck. If they would go for the volume sales instead of the specialty/low volume sales, I'll bet they could move a lot of machines. Look at how Microsoft became the monster company that they are: good, cheap software...corner the market by out-competing the competition.

I don't think the tree trimming industry is a responsible enough market for MLE to pursue, and there can't be that many window cleaners that need aerial lifts. Look at how few tree companies even buy a new lift of any sort. We usually go to auctions and used equipment dealers and buy the utility trucks after they are mostly used up.

Most of the tree business can be serviced with a truck mounted unit. The occasional job that can't be reached by climbing or truck usually gets done with a big crane, so they need to compete more on price, if they will sell in our market.

I'd look REAL hard at financing a $100,000 unit. If they were in that price range, Teupen would already know me on a first name basis. Unfortunately, the economics don't support >$150,000 worth of equipment to trim trees for my area. The cost per hour of ownership puts it out of the market.

 

[John464]

Yep, you are looking at it the same why I am, exactly. While I have done well with implementing the use of spider lifts, raising the price anywhere over $120,000 starts turning the benefits in terms of a cost benefit ratio to very slim. Profit margins in tree care are not that great to begin with.

Since owning a spiderlift for nearly 3 years now I would never operate without one, but for me to buy another it must cost me less. I took that risk as being one of the first tree care companies in the USA to use a spiderlift in our industry. While I didnt feel $120,000 was a fair price to pay, I bought one anyhow because I saw the need for it and had no other company to choose from other than Teupen. Now, we finally have a well thought out alternative, new competition. Teupen had a monoply market, if you will, now has competition to face. To enter as competition in a monopoly market it does create a change to the market in two ways. Drives prices lower, keeps pushing the bar for better ideas. From here on out, its a push and shove game. I'll tell you who the winner is when I lay down my next 100 grand.

Right now(2/12/09), even at a sub $100,000 price I wouldnt be buying. We are still very uncertain how sales will be this year. We shall see if things imrpove come spring

 

[basnighttrees]

I just saw the MLE yesterday in this month isa mag. I talked to a sells rep this morning and was surprised the unit was so expensive. I was looking forward to hearing a price for a USA better made machine for less than a oversees unit. I agree with you guys completely. Cost of design, materials, marketing, manufacturing, and profit can't be that much. If your reading, please lower the price some.

 

[dtw902]

The adjustable tracks on my lift(23GT) are very important I use it every time I use the lift. Often just to get through a gate, if the ground is not level you can tip the machine to get through. It would be nice if they did not cost so much. But I am not going down that road any more people want to fight and squable over these lifts, they can do that without me sorry. If you need one and your business can pay for it (it's also a right off on tax's) then buy it and don't look back. If you can't afford it buy what you can afford.
About forgot My lift has the hydraulic adjustable tracks not manual like Johns. Ours was the first one with this option.
Like John said I would not be without our Spider lift, the other 2 bucket trucks are not used nearly as much anymore. John talked about the rotating bucket pivots from the corner, and I agree, would be a must on any future lift I would consider buying.

 

[Koa Man]

The MLE is way too long in travel mode, 25.5 ft. for the 23GT equivalent.
The 23GT is 5 ft. shorter. That extra length is going to give you big problems in tight areas. Also the work envelope sucks compared to the 23GT.

Italmec lifts work envelope is also very bad, and the fact that you cannot position the legs like the 23GT makes setup much more difficult.

I am trying to get a 2009 23GT to add to my 15GT. Despite the way some feel about Teupen, they have given me excellent warranty service, their machines are much improved from even 2 years ago, and currently have the best all around machines from the research I have done.

I find out this week if a 23GT is in my immediate future.

 

[John464]

The MLE is way too long in travel mode, 25.5 ft. for the 23GT equivalent.
The 23GT is 5 ft. shorter. That extra length is going to give you big problems in tight areas. Also the work envelope sucks compared to the 23GT.

not true. the MLE is
Stowed Length: 19.9 ft (6.02 m)

the insulated version is 25.5, but the boom can be raised while driving unlike the Teupen to make length even shorther than the Teupen.

what do you mean the work envelope sucks? looks the same as my 23gt. care to explain?

 

[dtw902]

You can move the 23GT with the upper boom slightly elevated, if you understand your limit switch's. Only done it in a bind, but use caution as it raises the center of gravity. But for a few feet or to get around a corner it can be done.

 

[lukev]

if you are looking for the smaller units please check out our website www.trakliftusa.com. this is the teupen machine just for a lot less.

Haven't heard anything about these in awhile. I am seeing other brands being advertised more and more. You guys that have them, what do you think of them at this point? How have they performed? Have there been any mechanical problems? Was Tuepen fast at repairing them? How would you rate customer relations? Would you buy another lift from them? Has anyone tried another Brand (by that I mean one comparable to the tracked gt23). I am seeing more and more guys doing tree work with the little tow-able units. That is good and bad as it lets people do tree work who couldn't otherwise but it also puts inexperienced people in a position to get great parking for the rest of their lives or a funeral party.

 

[UP Equip]

Haven't heard anything about these in awhile. I am seeing other brands being advertised more and more. You guys that have them, what do you think of them at this point? How have they performed? Have there been any mechanical problems? Was Tuepen fast at repairing them? How would you rate customer relations? Would you buy another lift from them? Has anyone tried another Brand (by that I mean one comparable to the tracked gt23). I am seeing more and more guys doing tree work with the little tow-able units. That is good and bad as it lets people do tree work who couldn't otherwise but it also puts inexperienced people in a position to get great parking for the rest of their lives or a funeral party.

Very late but I wish to get in touch with you if you have plans on acquiring a second, or maybe even third unit. Please contact me.

 

[UP Equip]

From a manufacturers point of view: as much as you can get, and still keep the sales volume up.

My perspective: I think that design is a neat as it can be, and I am avidly wishing I could afford one, especially with the insulated stick. I think the machine should be priced to compete with similar capacity equipment, given it's unique features. They need to price it to sell a lot of machines, otherwise they will never make enough money to re-coup their development costs.

Given that they have been gambling on selling the things at all, they should price it to compete with comparable aerial units mounted on trucks. I'm sure that it is less expensive to make a spider lift than it is to make a 70' aerial lift mounted on a truck. If they would go for the volume sales instead of the specialty/low volume sales, I'll bet they could move a lot of machines. Look at how Microsoft became the monster company that they are: good, cheap software...corner the market by out-competing the competition.

I don't think the tree trimming industry is a responsible enough market for MLE to pursue, and there can't be that many window cleaners that need aerial lifts. Look at how few tree companies even buy a new lift of any sort. We usually go to auctions and used equipment dealers and buy the utility trucks after they are mostly used up.

Most of the tree business can be serviced with a truck mounted unit. The occasional job that can't be reached by climbing or truck usually gets done with a big crane, so they need to compete more on price, if they will sell in our market.

I'd look REAL hard at financing a $100,000 unit. If they were in that price range, Teupen would already know me on a first name basis. Unfortunately, the economics don't support >$150,000 worth of equipment to trim trees for my area. The cost per hour of ownership puts it out of the market.

Again, I know it's late but I would really like to get in touch with you. Things are changing and moving forward...

 

[pdqdl]

Well...It's not like I am hiding on this website. If you really want to get in touch with me, just send me a private message or call my business.

Please tell us how things are changing. Each new post moves the thread back up to the top of the forum listing, so lots of other fellows will be reading this thread again.

If you want to loan out one of your machines to someone to do some research on it's capabilities, I'll be happy to volunteer. Just today I was pricing rental on a trailer-aerial unit; cemeteries are not very accommodating to bucket trucks. Big dead oak, we need 60' of height and a bit of side reach would be nice.

 

[UP Equip]

Well...It's not like I am hiding on this website. If you really want to get in touch with me, just send me a private message or call my business.

Please tell us how things are changing. Each new post moves the thread back up to the top of the forum listing, so lots of other fellows will be reading this thread again.

If you want to loan out one of your machines to someone to do some research on it's capabilities, I'll be happy to volunteer. Just today I was pricing rental on a trailer-aerial unit; cemeteries are not very accommodating to bucket trucks. Big dead oak, we need 60' of height and a bit of side reach would be nice.

Thanks for the cozy reminder on how to get in touch with you! I am fairly new here and I thought that if the posting was public, it was appropriate to reply public.
That said, I was browsing on spider lifts topic and found this very old thread started in 2005, almost 10 years ago. I answered saying I was aware to jump in late, but that if it wasn't too late, I want to have a chat with whoever still perceive the situation as being the same. Thank you to provide me with the occasion to bring this up front by telling everyone how we, at UP Equip feels the situation have changed since then.
More brands hit North America since 2005. Back then, Teupen was pretty much alone as well as Man Engineering and Reachmaster. (I know there were a few more but these were the majors) They had a unique product, highly niche and extremely rare. They fought hard to put them on the map, and they did. Long story short, they owned the market for quite a while before others came in, and more or less "copied" their business model with great success somehow. When we arrived, two and a half years ago, we realized that the opportunity was huge because, despite the fact spider lifts were present for roughly 15 years, they were all perceived as expensive, complicated, somewhat restricted to a very few specific usage, fairly fragile (electronic components mainly) and complicated to repair (hoses, electricity inside of booms, hard to find parts and not a lot of service companies to know them). Not to mention downtime for both rental houses and end users during all the above...
When we went in Europe to find the right manufacturer partner, we were very pleased with Easy Lift philosophy of "keeping it simple". At first, we thought that they were either reluctant to introduce new technologies. Digging in further and as time and conversations went, we realized how great their decision was. They made sure that everyone of their customers, everywhere in the world could find replacement parts locally. For us, it was a perfect fit if we were to send units away throughout North and South America. Everyone would have the opportunity to repair their machines easily. That was a big scream from the market, and we answered that.
But there is more. All our models have the greatest departure angle of the industry. What is a departure angle? It is the easiness end users have to climb an obstacle, right off the tracks, without the use of any help (wood blocks, ramps). I'm not saying they climb everywhere, what I'm saying is compared to all other brands, Easy Lift is the one every end user will place at the work site with the least efforts and puzzling. At the end of the day, when you make such an investment, it has to pay. At the end of the day, if you can use a machine with minimum effort, and a maximum return on time and effort, you are indeed going to find other types of work for it, even if at first you were considering this acquisition just for specific jobs.
All our customers very rapidly realized this fact. The ease of use made them more productive, generated new business, helped them to pump out volume of work from their actual schedule and helped them also to retain their crew. The fact that they unfold their lifts on jobs generated demand, hence increase their work load, and so on and so forth.
And we haven't talked about pricing yet, which is we believe the main reason that perception still holds after all these years. We are here to make this fabulous tool available to all companies that sit on the edge of growth. And we are getting a lot of calls from all over the continent.
Hope this helps and provide everyone with a good portrait of our company, and the spider lifts as well.
Best regards.

 

[pdqdl]

Bump.