I was on a job the other day pouring footings for a modular house.I got to talking with the contractor and asked him how much the crane rental was per day.He told me about 4000.00 a day,I kind of did the huh? look.He then said,"but that is for a crane,so much more is involved with a crane".I said nothing more....

Ya, no doubt we've got it so easy huh? I used to run a crane pretty simple really, right, left up, down in/out if your hydro! and lookin at your load charts is a real chore!!! LOL

What length of stick would you need to pick a load at 50 meters from center of rotation?

What other type of machine is run by remote control with a man holding on to the end of it?

And operating it within the 3-D envelope that these huge, bizarre booms can move in, all the while it is bouncing and surging, and following a wall within 18 to 20" of the opeing at the top (in 3 dimensions)

Yeah, it's a cake-walk. 

Don't get me wrong, crane operators have tremendous responsibility too, but seldom do they rig their own loads, so that responsibility falls somewhere else.  And a lot of the time, they are operating 'blind', following a spotter's hand signals.

Me being ran a couple of cranes in my time have to say it is a high responsibility occupation but no more than pumping , its just theyre not in the concrete industry everybody knows this is by far the most cutthroat industry in the construction field , led by most time the village idiot who thinks its smart to cut prices cut corners and barely survive , crane services do not want to just survive they wanna get paid a fair rate for there services is that not what we all should want ?

maybe we should stop valling ourselvs BOOM PUMP operaters, and rename our industry to CRANE PUMP operaters, then maybe we'll get a decent rate.

we are often our own worse enemy

But then they would expect us to pick up their machines and what not if we were crane pump operators

WORD!!

Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: That's a negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.

http://missouricrane.com

this crane rental company which I just found through a search of crane companies has their rates listed...and keep in mind it cost in the neighborhood of 500.00 just to become a NCCCO certified crane operator...the test is just not written either...you also have to pass a hands on (practical exam)...neither of which are easy.

Price VARIANCE...

Absolutely NOTHING to do with variance in MACHINERY.

Absolutely EVERYTHING to do with WHO runs the industries.