A contractor tasked with unique jobs and constantly changing environments is only as good as the crew and machines with which they surround themselves. For Steve Foster, owner of Titanium Contracting, it all started with a Takeuchi TB285 excavator.
Titanium Contracting of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, opened for business in August 2012, and Foster credits the TB285 for his loyalty to Takeuchi. “It was one of the first machines we purchased,” says Foster, “and it has been fantastic since day one.”
Titanium Contracting provides heavy equipment services throughout most of the Ontario municipalities. These services include planting trees, installing noise barrier fences, culvert maintenance, road reconstruction, site remediation and sewer work.
The wide range of services Foster and his crew provide makes for interesting work. When considering work to bid on, Foster’s process is simple: “We will take a look at the proposed project and if we can use our Takeuchi, we’ll probably take a shot at it.”
Foster says a representative at their construction equipment supplier, Top Lift Enterprises, Inc., first introduced him to Takeuchi. “He showed me the TB285 and we compared it to quite a few competitors. Takeuchi blew away the competition and we ended up buying it.”
Soon after, Foster and his team were compelled to purchase another Takeuchi machine. “We had a tree contract with the City of Vaughan, so we rented a couple different machines and didn’t care for any of them. We tested Takeuchi’s TB235 excavator and ended up buying two of them.”
Titanium Contracting prides themselves on being able to handle unique jobs. In fact, almost everything they do is out of the ordinary. They recently finished a $3 million sanitary sewer lateral replacement project and found themselves completing the excavation portion of the job exclusively with their TB285. “When I looked at our competition for that job, I noticed they relied heavily on rubber tire backhoes. We decided it made more sense for us to use the TB285. It’s more versatile, has a better reach for digging and better breakout strength.”
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The TB285 also assisted in erecting a cast-in-place concrete retaining wall they built this past winter. Prior to installing the new wall, Foster and his crew had the TB285 tear down the previous 100-year-old cast-in-place wall. Located underneath the Canadian National Rail Bridge, workers only had about six inches of clearance. “We were being watched by the Canadian National flaggers and they thought the TB285 executed the job extremely well. It was the only machine we had that could handle the project, and it did not disappoint.”
Following the success of the TB285 on this sewer project, Titanium Contracting opted to purchase another Takeuchi excavator. “The TB290 is an excellent addition to our fleet and has already been used on several roadside projects throughout the province.”
According to Foster, his Takeuchi machines not only deliver high performance on the jobsite, but also require very little maintenance at the end of the day. It’s important to Foster and his crew to minimize downtime, and that’s one reason why Foster loves Takeuchi. “So far, the only maintenance we had to do on any of our Takeuchi machines is replace one track on our TB285. That, however, was right around the 2,500-hour mark, and was about due anyway.”
Dependability is a necessity, so when it comes to their equipment, Titanium Contracting doesn’t have time for unreliable machines. That’s why Takeuchi is and always has been their first choice for compact excavators. “These machines are a lot of fun, and we’ve never had a question on whether or not they will start up for us in the morning.”
Foster and his crew never know what project will come up next, but they do know their Takeuchi machines are up for the challenge. In harsh elements, tight spaces and delicate landscapes, Titanium Contracting dives head first into each new venture with the reassurance of a reliable machine.