About the author:
Bucher Municipal North America, www.buchermunicipal.com, 704.658.1333
Sometimes, as John and Valerie Dewitz learned, finding a solution can cause more problems than you started with.
The married owners of Above & Beyond Hydroseed in Ridgefield, Washington, were approached by a client. Their large builder client needed their subdivision streets swept and wanted to know if Above & Beyond could add it to their work scope, which already included their specialties: erosion control and hydroseed. The assignment was a few years before adding the Bucher Municipal North America V65t, formerly the VT652 vacuum sweeper, to their lineup.
"Well, I don't have a sweep truck, but I could probably sub that out for you," responded John Dewitz.
Above & Beyond hired a subcontractor to sweep the client's streets for roughly the next three years. The results, though, were underwhelming, said Dewitz. When Above & Beyond's clients began voicing their displeasure, the subcontractor responded by bringing in multiple trucks for projects that only needed one.
The problem? The subcontractor was using the wrong type of street sweepers, regenerative sweepers for the porous asphalt application.
With a name like Above & Beyond, it is hard to accept lackluster results. Realizing the subcontractor's regenerative air street sweepers were not adequately picking up the particulates in the porous asphalt application, John, Valerie and their team began researching better solutions. That is when they came across Johnston, a Bucher company, and the V65t vacuum street sweeper.
John and Valerie connected to Western Regional Sales Manager Shawn Hutchings through the Bucher Municipal North America website. Shawn visited and demoed the vacuum street sweeper for Above & Beyond. Dewitz said Hutchings ensured the street sweeper was the right fit by asking key application-specific questions.
"It seems capable of doing everything that we were looking for, and we decided to make the purchase," said Dewitz. "With the Bucher V65t that we purchased, it seems to be performing well, and we're starting to get the results that we're looking for."
The results look better, said Dewitz, and using the Bucher V65t has also boosted efficiency and productivity.
"The fact that I'm not taking three trucks out to do one job will be a huge saving as well," said Dewitz. "On certain sites, probably half of that being in construction. We sweep about, oh, 30 sites a month right now. Overall, that adds up to pretty big savings."
The regenerative air sweeper choice was wrong for the application. The result? Month after month, the dirt and debris ended up ground into the porous pavement. The crews at Above and Beyond Hydroseed are still seeing improved results each time they go into the subdivisions thanks to the correct vacuum street sweeper.
More importantly, so is their client. Dewitz said he used to hear his client question whether the subcontractor had even done the job.
"Now they definitely see that we've been there," Dewitz said.
Do not waste time and money. Instead, listen and learn more about Above & Beyond Hydroseed's street sweeper application and the solution they found with Johnston's vacuum street sweeper. Listen to a special Sweepers & Tankers podcast interview with John Dewitz or read the full transcript here.
