About HCW
From the First Call to Driving Off the Site
2 min readUpdated July 2026
A job with HCW Crane Service starts with four questions on the phone: what is being moved, how heavy, how far from where a truck can park, and what is in between. From there it is either quoted directly or looked at on site, then scheduled, run to a plan, and handed back with the placement confirmed.
The First Call and the Four Questions
Most of a job is decided in about four minutes. What is being lifted. Roughly what it weighs. How far it has to end up from a place a truck can park. And what sits in between, meaning walls, roofs, trees, structures and anything overhead.
Photos shorten that enormously. One from the street looking at the property and one from where the load has to land will answer questions that a description cannot. Nobody expects a customer to know crane vocabulary, and a picture removes the need to.
What comes back is a straight assessment rather than an encouraging noise. If the reach works, you will hear that. If it does not work as described, you will hear that too, along with whatever alternative exists.
When a Site Visit Earns Its Keep
Some jobs can be scoped over the phone with confidence. A rooftop unit on a single story house with a clear street in front of it is not a mystery.
Others cannot, and pretending otherwise produces surprises. Anything on a slope. Anything where the only setup position is questionable. Anything where ground conditions are unknown or a trench has been dug recently. Anything where the customer is describing a space they are not standing in.
For those, looking at it in person costs an hour and saves a wasted mobilisation. Access, ground and reach cannot honestly be judged from a phone call, and a number given without seeing them is a number that is going to change.
How the Day Runs
The truck arrives ahead of whatever it is waiting on, rather than at the same time. That gap is not slack, it is the walk and the setup, and having it means the lift happens the moment everyone is ready instead of half an hour later.
The walk comes first, with whoever is in charge of the site. Then the truck gets positioned and levelled, outriggers spread and cribbed, and the exclusion zone marked. Everyone hears the sequence and one person is named to signal.
Then the actual lift, which is usually the shortest part of the visit. Trial lift, slow travel on tag lines, controlled set onto a marked position, and a check for level and alignment before anything is unhooked.
After the Truck Leaves
The job ends with a walk rather than a departure. You look at the placement and confirm it. We look at the surfaces the outriggers were on, collect cribbing, pads, cones and rigging, and clear any packaging that came off the load.
Photographs from the visit get sent over. For a homeowner that is usually a nice-to-have. For a facility manager, a property manager or an owner who lives out of state, it is the whole point.
If something needs revisiting, it gets said before we leave. Discovering a problem after the truck has gone is worse for everyone than a slightly awkward conversation in the driveway.
How the job runs
Our Process
Step 1: Call or Send Photos
Four questions and two pictures cover most jobs. You get an honest read on whether it works, not a booking taken in the hope it does.
Step 2: Site Visit Where It Is Warranted
Slopes, unknown ground, questionable setup positions and anything the customer cannot see from where they are standing get looked at in person first.
Step 3: Booked With a Window and Confirmed
You get an arrival time, and a confirmation call the day before to check access, ground, deliveries and who will be meeting us.
Step 4: Walk, Set Up, Brief, Lift
Site walk with the person in charge, truck levelled and cribbed, zone marked, signal person named, trial lift, then a slow controlled set.
Step 5: Confirm, Clear and Follow Up
Placement confirmed by you, site cleared of everything that came off the truck, photographs sent, and anything outstanding raised before we go.
Scope
What Is Included
- A straight assessment on the first phone call
- Site visits where access or ground cannot be judged remotely
- A confirmed arrival window and a day-before check
- Setup completed before your crew is waiting on us
- The same person on the phone, the rigging and the controls
- Closing walk, site cleared, and photographs sent afterwards
Answers
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I have ready before I call?
Roughly what it weighs, where it needs to end up, and a photo from the street plus one from the landing spot. That is enough to give you a real answer. Model numbers and spec sheets help but are not necessary to start.
Do you always come out to look first?
No, and insisting on it would waste your time on straightforward jobs. A visit is worth doing when the ground is unknown, the setup position is doubtful, the lot is on a slope, or the job cannot be described accurately from memory.
How early do you arrive on the day?
Ahead of whatever we are working with, so the walk and setup are finished before anyone is waiting. Arriving at the same time as a delivery truck means the delivery driver watches us set outriggers, which helps nobody.
What do you need from me on the day?
Someone who can make decisions about the property, access to whatever is locked, vehicles moved out of the zone, and one person to signal. Beyond that, stay outside the marked area and speak up if you see something wrong.
What happens if the job turns out to be different when you arrive?
We work it out on the spot, because the person who can change the plan is standing there. If the difference is significant enough to affect what is safe or what it takes, that gets discussed with you before anything proceeds rather than afterwards.
More About HCW
- Our Equipment and CapacityRated capacity is measured at minimum radius and drops fast as the boom goes out. Here is how tonnage, reach and setup room really decide which crane fits.
- Owner Operated ApproachOne operator, two cranes, answering 24/7. What that structure means for how a job gets quoted, scheduled and run, and where its limits honestly are.
- Communication and AccountabilityNo trade vocabulary, no vague reassurance. What the trade-offs are, what something will cost you in time, and what happens when we get something wrong.
- Safety and Experienced OperatorsOver 20 years of operating experience, what that looks like in daily habits, and an honest statement of what this business does and does not publish.
- Owner Operated ApproachOne operator, two cranes, answering 24/7. What that structure means for how a job gets quoted, scheduled and run, and where its limits honestly are.
- Our Equipment and CapacityRated capacity is measured at minimum radius and drops fast as the boom goes out. Here is how tonnage, reach and setup room really decide which crane fits.
- Safety and Experienced OperatorsOver 20 years of operating experience, what that looks like in daily habits, and an honest statement of what this business does and does not publish.
- Family Owned Local ServiceBased on London Bridge Road, working both of this town's seasons. What being local means when your customers are also your neighbours at the grocery store.
- Communication and AccountabilityNo trade vocabulary, no vague reassurance. What the trade-offs are, what something will cost you in time, and what happens when we get something wrong.
- Mission and VisionThe job is to take a risk off somebody else. The aim is to be the operator local trades call first. Both stated plainly enough to be measured against.
Ready to schedule your lift?
Tell us the load, the site and the timing. We will confirm capacity, access and a window.