Equipment Appraisal Blog | Understanding Machinery Appraisals

Infrastructure Upgrades: How a Paving Equipment Appraisal Helps

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Tue, Jul 04, 2017 @ 05:02 PM

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As President Trump has come into office, he's made some promises to America. Part of those promises includes a proposal for spending $1 trillion to update the US infrastructure to help boost jobs, businesses and trade. But how will this proposal impact your business? How can a paving equipment appraisal help ensure you're in a good position to take advantage of the potential growth that may come out of this initiative? Here are a few areas to consider that can help you get your business off on the right foot with these prospective spending proposals.

Infrastructure Upgrades: How a Paving Equipment Appraisal Helps

What shape is your equipment in? What is it worth? Are there better options you should be considering? What will it cost to replace that equipment? As infrastructure plans begin rolling forward, whether it's originating from President Trump's $1 trillion initiative or smaller projects, this information is vital to the success or failure of your business. Why?

If you're considering splitting your crew and building your business through multiple highway contracts, you'll need equity to secure loans for additional equipment. Your financial institution will need assurances that the machinery you're using for collateral is really worth the money they're loaning out against it. An equipment appraisal report prepared by a certified machinery appraiser uses methodologies that have been tested in the court system for decades, so they are viewed as accurate in financial circles.

What if you have an equipment failure while traffic is backed up through a construction zone or you're required to meet particular time constraints for the contract? Because an equipment appraiser spends significant amounts of time combing through paving equipment, they often recognize signs of trouble well before they would otherwise become apparent. This allows you to undertake repairs or replace the equipment before it turns into a logistical nightmare on the side of a highway.

Have there been issues of equipment theft or vandalism in your area? When you receive a paving equipment valuation, you have documentation that holds up well against scrutiny, making it ideal when you need to quickly settle an insurance claim. But what about if the vandalism or theft has already taken place? Many equipment appraisers are able to retroactively value machinery to help businesses settle an insurance claim, even without a prior record of valuation.

But what if you already have a machinery valuation in place? Though it may reflect the equipment values of the past few years, there's a good chance it won't reflect current market conditions. As infrastructure jobs become more common, that equipment's value will rise. A piece of machinery that was worth $35,000 last year may be worth $50,000 next year as scarcity and demand increases its value significantly. Wouldn't you rather know what your machinery is really worth now than what it was worth during the worst parts of the recession?

Spending $1 trillion on infrastructure may seem like a large amount, but when it comes to winning highway contracts, you know that every penny counts. Every difference in supply prices, every minute spent waiting for your crew to get in gear and every penny spent on rental equipment because you've had a break down can quickly eat into your profits, turning a highly profitable highway job into a nightmare that sinks your business. Having a paving equipment appraisal performed on your machinery can make all the difference between these two states.

Tags: paving equipment appraisal, paving equipment appraisers

How a Paving Equipment Appraisal Helps with Bidding Highway Contracts

Posted by Equipment Appraisal Services on Tue, Aug 30, 2016 @ 11:00 AM

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When you're in the paving industry, you know exactly how cut throat and competitive highway contracts can be. From extra-early mornings spent monitoring the bidding process to figuring exactly how much it will cost to run the job down to the fraction of a penny, these low-margin, high-volume jobs can make or break your company. These jobs can make or break your company, between possible problems with suppliers and issues with financing the project. But how does machine appraisal fall into the picture? By having a paving equipment appraisal performed, you can determine the exact value of your assets and can leverage that value to procure better financing. You can also determine whether new paving machinery needs to be part of the bid you're placing. Here are the details:

How a paving equipment appraisal helps when bidding highway contracts

  • Insurance costs: When every penny counts in your bid, being able to have completely accurate insurance costs helps you make a win both in terms of the bid and in your business. Knowing exactly what your equipment is worth means that your insurance agent can completely customized your insurance policy to cover the actual cost of replacing the equipment, instead of paying a higher premium based on inaccurate numbers or ballpark figures. When pennies count, lower insurance premiums are a must.
  • Collateral for loans: Highway projects can be big - really big. Because they go so much further in terms of material and labor than most other types of jobs, they can often overrun the average paving company's working capital. To make sure you can leverage every possible asset, having a machinery valuation performed helps provide proof of the exact value of your assets. Knowing exactly how much you can leverage to make the job happen can be all the difference between a highway contract that's well within your comfort zone and one that's just out of reach. This can help keep you from getting into trouble because you didn't properly estimate your equipment values and ran too much risk during the project, putting your business in danger.
  • Fines for delays: Nobody likes waiting for road construction to get done, which is one of the reasons fines for delays in completion can be so steep, especially in fast track projects. One of the areas where a quality machinery valuation makes all the difference is in determining expected lifespan of your equipment, allowing you to purchase your new equipment ahead of when its needed or avoid the extra purchase all together if the equipment valuation specialist determines that your paving machinery should be able to make it through the job without any major problems.
  • Avoiding legal issues: If something goes wrong, having a quality equipment appraisal performed ensures that you have proof of your equipment's condition before the trouble started. If the state or another contractor is claiming that there were problems with the job because your equipment was substandard, wouldn't you like to have the paperwork on hand to prove them wrong?

By keeping these benefits of a paving equipment appraisal in mind when bidding your next big highway contract, you can ensure that your company is still making a profit and not risking losing everything due to failing equipment, excessive costs or insufficient capital. If you need to have a paving equipment valuation completed on your paving machinery, contact a qualified and certified equipment appraiser department. We've been providing quality equipment appraisals for years and are happy to help you make your business everything it can be.

Tags: construction equipment appraisal, paving equipment appraisal