Plegt-Vos builds roads and houses, HIAB cranes provide the muscle.
Holland, 60 years ago: A local carpenter establishes a one-man business and begins building houses. The business is later continued by his three oldest sons, who also lend their name to the company - Plegt brothers, Gebroeders Plegt.
Holland, 2007: Plegt-Vos construction company, part of the Vos Group, has 650 employees and the divisions responsible for construction equipment, wood elements and the construction of prefabricated houses are headed by Guus Plegt - a nephew of the carpenter who launched the operations back in the 1940s.
"These days we build anything that architects draw: schools, office buildings, prefabricated houses, roads...", Guus Plegt says.
"Our customers range from a family wanting a new home to the Dutch government needing help to build a road - and anybody in between", he continues.
Plegt-Vos has construction operations throughout Holland, and five percent of all projects are carried out in Germany. Competition in the sector is tough, but Guus Plegt believes that good employees and quality equipment will keep the order flow steady.
The quality equipment he's referring to includes seven trucks; five of them are equipped with HIAB loader cranes. The biggest trucks feature HIAB 800 XS cranes and also MULTILIFT CLF 260 demountables to boost loading efficiency.
"We have a factory in Langeveen, near the German border. It is a small village but our factory building is something else: it has 9.000 square metres. The wooden frames that we fabricate there are 2.8 metres wide and 6 metres long and the roof parts are 3.5 x 10 metres - and skylight windows are already installed when the transport from the factory to the construction site begins. The trucks transport the prefabricated housing wood elements carefully to the construction site and the HIAB 800 XS lifts the elements into place", Plegt says.
When purchasing a crane, reliability is a high priority for Guus Plegt. And reliability also includes good after sales. Second on his wish list is a light-weight frame and big lifting capacity.
"I bought my first HIAB in 1979, and since then I have selected some other brand only once. Co-operation with Hiab is smooth and maintenance services are easy. We may not buy a crane every year, but the Hiab people in Meppel know us and remember our needs", Plegt reflects and doesn't hide his satisfaction:
"I bought the first big truck equipped with a HIAB 800 XS in 2002. Three years later when I was about to buy another, I didn't have to think about it too long - it was an easy decision and made in a matter of ten minutes. I just asked our driver what he would change about the crane we had purchased first. When he answered, 'Nothing', the decision was clear."