Yes and no. I totally agree sort of. You can get a good used 25-30 ton crane for $100k. A new bucket is almost $200k (there are no good used buckets out there). With the crane you can bang out two jobs a day. $5k a day, low end. And you only need to do that 3-4 days a week.
A knuckleboom would be the cats ass imo. I’ve wanted one as my final piece ever since I saw allmark and Mike poors vids over a decade ago.
Stick cranes are nice, but too employee reliant (imo). I like the idea of a remote control around my neck lol.