Picked a rough terrain crane over a city crane for a tight downtown job, did I mess up?

Got a job last month in downtown Austin where the street was barely wide enough for a truck to pass, let alone set outriggers. I had to choose between bringing in a rough terrain crane from my buddy's lot or trying to squeeze a city crane with a shorter boom into the alley behind the site. I went with the rough terrain because I figured the four wheel steer would help me wiggle into position, and honestly it did fine on the ground. But then the reach came up short for lifting the steel beams over a 6 story building corner, and we had to call in a second crane for the final placement. That cost me an extra $1,200 and a full day of waiting. The city crane would have had the reach but I worried about the turning radius scraping a parked car. Has anyone else gambled on the wrong crane type for a tight urban site, and how did you decide between reach and maneuverability next time?

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caleb_gibson17d ago

Did you measure the reach before you picked the crane, or just guess based on the building height? I had a similar call last year on a narrow Philly street and I brought in a smaller rough terrain, but I walked the site first with a tape measure and checked the swing path against the corner of the building. The trick that saved me was renting a luffer attachment for the rough terrain, it added the reach without giving up the tight turning radius. Now I always plot the lift points on paper before I commit, costs me an hour but beats a second crane call.