"BOROWING EQUIPMENT "

What's the response when you role up and find your machine moved so another contractor could use it to set a pipe and then they dont have the curtousey to put it back were they found it

I am about ready to pull off the job over this I didn't even get a phone call to ask it was ok

I'd be tempted to go move about 3-4 of their machines. Like 1000 feet away. When they go WTH? You say "didn't bother you to move mine without asking." Make it clear ot the GC / owner whomever is in charge it better not happen again.

AzIron said:

What's the response when you role up and find your machine moved so another contractor could use it to set a pipe and then they dont have the curtousey to put it back were they found it

I am about ready to pull off the job over this I didn't even get a phone call to ask it was ok

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If another contractor moved my machine without my permission and used it, my first call would be to the cops to report it as theft, because it is. I would also be billing the contractor for usage very heavily, and if it wasn't paid I would sue, and bill the general for it also if they said it was ok. In no way is it ever ok to use someone else's equipment without permission. How did they know there wasn't something wrong with it? Who know's what they actually did to it, even if it appears fine and was only used for a short time.

I would pull out of a job if the general said it was ok to use someone else's equipment. I wouldn't want to deal with a company who operates like that.

Not exactly the same thing but I caught a customer's mechanics digging through the tools in my service truck one time. Apparently their boss said they could use them. If ever there was a time I came unglued on somebody..........

Ya, ‘borrowing’, which translates to “ it was there so I used it” . I’d be ripped. I hate borrowing other people’s stuff and avoid letting mine out. Sure favors get done but just assuming things are community property borders on theft in my book.

Had a brand new Hilti hammer drill - new as in I never drilled a hole with it - we got just for a certain job . Biggest one they made IIRC was over $3k. Came in one morning, freaking sparky is banging holes with it for Redheads. Guy takes a job running pipe in a concrete tunnel and doesn’t bring a bloody hammer drill. We did all we could to make his life difficult for the rest of the job.

At least have the courtesy to ask . And next time price your part to cover the equipment you need.

92U 3406 said:

Not exactly the same thing but I caught a customer's mechanics digging through the tools in my service truck one time. Apparently their boss said they could use them. If ever there was a time I came unglued on somebody..........

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Its exactly the same thing that excavator is an extension of my hand like that wrench is to yours

I am charging the gc for rental as if the cat dealer brought a machine out for the day and I might include delivery and pickup just because I can or we will pull off the job

If they would have called I would have said ok no problem the disrespect that's what's got me wound up

I'd be thoroughly ticked off. More that they used it without permission than they didn't bring it back where it was. You don't know if they let it warm up or even knew how to properly operate it. I think charging for a rental is justified and not to touch your machine without your permission. Curious what machine it was and if you left the key in it?

It's a cat so it might as well not even have a key every one has a cat key by end of tomorrow it will have 2 kill switches hidden in it

Things like that tend to get a fellow wound up. Sid Cesar was in a cross walk and almost got hit, the car stopped-Sid reached in through the wing vent window grabbed the guy by the tie
pulled the guy to the vent window and Sid asked the guy if he remembered birth. But using anything without asking shows no respect for them selves or anyone else.

Had a few people help them selves to a tool from my pouch over the years. They did not know why it made me angry as they had seen another share tools with me (a trusted partner). There is an obligation to ask permission. Tools are how I made my living and using them without my permission puts that a risk. Most jobs we did required counting all of our tools upon exiting and a borrowed and misplaced tool was a pain in the *ss to find. Nothing like a wrench resting against a buss bar to require clean shorts and it usually leads to a Spanish Inquisition. Cam

Raildudes dad said:

I'd be tempted to go move about 3-4 of their machines. Like 1000 feet away. When they go WTH? You say "didn't bother you to move mine without asking." Make it clear ot the GC / owner whomever is in charge it better not happen again.

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I mis-read it (it was late, I should have been in bed giggles. d ). Used to do work? I'd be like the previous poster that told the story of the guy pulling his tie thru the vent window. I would file a police report just because you can and start pursing it thru the courts enough to get their attention big time.

I have always gone by the following.. Dont lend your pickup,your powersaw or your wife and life will be good.

Tugger2 said:

I have always gone by the following.. Dont lend your pickup,your powersaw or your wife and life will be good.

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Or your gun or your best birddog...

So someone basically hot wired it although very easy to do on a Cat. Charge a daily rental fee and if they balk at it, say you could charge for rental the whole time the machine is on the job. It would be less frustrating than charging daily transportation to and from the jobsite because you can't trust them to stay off your machine. What happens if someone gets hurt when your machine is being used? Just wrong on all counts.

NOT a good day there, the other contractor should and would know better, if not then THEY Should pay thru the nose for abuse of a machine. Remind them that you can also take that machine to a dealer for a look over where should anything be damaged currently it would be billed to them.

Cat excavator ?
Put a lock on the parking lever/ handle.
The contractor committed a theft IMHO.

Our machines have keypads on them. No one outside our company knows the codes. Keeps them from being 'borrowed'.
If someone used my machine without my permission, at minimum I'd be charging them full pop retail rental rate + delivery + pickup. If they refused to pay, I'd be calling the police. Theft is theft.

I unloaded a steel structure on a jobsite, and left the rigging there to set it with the next day. Next day, one of the nylon roundups is all torn up, on top of the structure. Dirt contractor "borrowed" them after we left to move some concrete structures, and put them back on the building. They had to get out a ladder and climb on top of a 10' tall building to get my straps. I asked him if he knew what happened because I had a ruined strap- only then did he did admit to using them, and he knew he tore one up, but hadn't said anything to me after ruining it.

I charged them for the full set of 4 straps, plus shipping for me to get the new ones. I suspect he turned around and charged the general for them, but I don't know and I don't care. I was just glad I noticed the torn up strap, if it would have let loose on my pick, it would have been ugly. To me- it was a pretty good indicator of his character for using them, ruining one, and then not saying anything about it. Just put it back on my lift for the next day and hoped I didn't notice.

That said- a lot of times on jobsites the general contractor will have a telehandler as a rental machine, and we will borrow it (with permission) to move mats or other things on the jobsite. Sometimes its some other contractor renting the machine, but I'd never use one without permission.

I actually don't like borrowing tools/ equipment I don't have from someone else. I'm always worried I'll break their stuff, and not only have to fix theirs, but still end up buying my own to do the job with. If I need it more than once- I need my own.

I have been guilty.
Last time I committed the crime, we arrived to pull cable into buried conduit. The excavator had filled the whole ditch, except each end. Standing either end was a hole 10' diameter, 4' deep. The pull points were 9' above. To pull cable meant setting an 8 foot ladder, and working from the top. There was never an explanation why it wasn't filled. I could go find materials to build a wooden scaffold, or fill the hole. Keys were in the excavator. Repeated attempts to reach the excavator failed. I filled the hole with a machine I didn't own.

I never heard protest. Doubt the owner of the machine ever knew. His not so dependable son was the only operator on site.

We billed them a full day rental and transport in and out just on principle there office didn't even bat an eye the contractor that borrowed it is the one I am subbed to so they really dont care

When I talked to the inspector that watched the circus happen that led to them narrowing my machine it's really scary these people are allowed to run a job to

They 240 foot stick of pipe on 2 10k forklift and it got away from the so they stuck a 6k on the tail to steer a fitting when they tried lining up the fitting the 10 k on the other end went nose up and it all went down hill from there

I could really careless if they lost there pick and blew a forklift but because they borrowed my machine no one got hurt and they will pay me

But they wont do it twice that machine has 3 kill switches on it now