This story is a time travel fantasy of sorts, involving a professional construction contractor who has an unhealthy obsession with finding new equipment. This contractor has been having a curious reoccurring dream of late, in which he fast-forwards time to the future, into a new world of man and machines. Somewhere up the road, he’s looking for the next new equipment trend to make his contracting business complete. And somewhere up the road, he’ll find something else……in the Dedicated Dumper Zone.

Maple Street, U.S.A., spring work season, a North American contractor is looking for a new tool to help translate speed and ease into greater profitability for his construction company. That quest leads him across the pond – a trip to Europe. When it comes to narrow streets and limited space between buildings, European contractors are continually developing smaller machines that can handle bigger projects (like compact excavators and telehandlers). This story is the portrait of such a man. Now, he’s found his answer -- a new dedicated site dumper -- his last stop on a long journey to smart equipment and continual success.

The Hitch-Hiker

The Time: 50 years ago. The place: Europe. Recent history: A contractor on vacation notices how compact articulated dump trucks (ADTs), commonly known as site dumpers, are being used more and more on construction sites. He stops one day and watches how they work in tandem with concrete mixers, hauling concrete from the mixer to space-restricted worksites. Because European law requires materials to be stored at an off-site location and transferred to the jobsite in order to alleviate congestion, contractors discovered a way to move dirt and other materials around kept jobsites open and tidier – and they called it a site dumper. 

Fast forward half a century and site dumpers are used on almost every jobsite in Europe, where there’s a need to access confined work areas around or behind buildings. These compact tools are able to go where traditional dump trucks cannot fit or move. While site dumpers are still primarily found working in the United Kingdom, Spain, Austria and Italy, contractors worldwide are starting to catch on to the site dumper’s many benefits. In the past decade, site dumpers have been seen working in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, where the population explosion often outpaces infrastructure renovations and expansions.

Only within the last year or two have site dumpers really gained momentum in North America. Contractors in heavily populated urban areas, such as in the New England states, Illinois and Texas, have started utilizing these agile machines to improve project site congestion and aesthetics, as well as to protect existing landscaping and infrastructure.

The Machines Are Coming

Across the globe today, site dumpers are already being used in a wide variety of applications, on both big and small projects, according to Ernie Ferguson, industry swami and site dumper product manager with Terex Construction Americas. From cramped construction and rough terrain project sites to utility, landscaping, golf course, nursery, cemetery and rental applications — site dumpers can save contractors many hours of loading and unloading materials. Site dumpers haul all types of materials including clay, sand, gravel, spread fill, asphalt, rubbish, rubble, lumber, ashes, coal, slag, turf and fertilizer.

More than a motorized wheelbarrow, site dumpers are essentially a big brother to the power buggy. Site dumpers are dedicated haul and dump vehicles. Contractors realize decreased operating costs when employing site dumpers, says Ferguson. Traditionally, North American contractors have tried to do most of their material movement with wheel loaders and skid steers, capitalizing on equipment in their existing fleet. But, these machines are not designed to be dedicated haul vehicles, so for many reasons, they are not as efficient or cost-effective to employ.

As an example, says Ferguson, loading machines are not able to transfer as much material in one pass as a site dumper can handle, thus reducing cycle times and saving on fuel consumption. Also, during transfer, loading machines will often spill materials and tear up sensitive turf, resulting in costly cleanup and restoration at the end of the project. Because of its light footprint and dump body design, using a site dumper minimizes those costs.

Site dumpers can be easily matched with skid steers or wheel loaders, as well as loader backhoes or excavators, to quickly load jobsite materials for transfer. This significantly reduces material movement cycle times and jobsite cleanup, maximizing production on the jobsite and resulting in a higher return on investment.

Where Is Everybody?

Out there, in the vastness of the U.S. construction world, in the void that is dedicated compact machinery, out there is an enemy known as isolation. It sits there in the waiting, waiting with the patience of decades, forever waiting... for a thriving dedicated dumper market in North America.

According to Ferguson, Terex still offers the most comprehensive line up of site dumpers to U.S. market – and that’s really about it as the industry reaches. Terex site dumpers offer payload capacities from 4,409 to 13,230 lbs (2,000 to 6,000 kg). Terex offers contractors a choice of forward dump or swivel-and-tip models with four-wheel drive and articulating steer capabilities for accurate load placement. Terex also offers two all-wheel steer site dumper models so contractors can get into — and out of — tight spots with ease.  

“Our diverse range of dumper designs and capacities means that contractors can get a machine tailor-made for their needs and performance-matched to the output to make sure operating costs remain low,” says Ferguson.

The multi-purpose power tip (PT), or forward dump, excels at moving materials around restricted worksites. With a fully hydrostatic drive to all four wheels, PT site dumpers are easily maneuvered with a single joystick. The swivel-and-tip, or power swivel (PS), models allow loads to be rotated 180 degrees from side-to-side and tipped to place a load. The PS models are ideal for backfilling trenches and provide more options for loading and dumping.

A World of Difference 

The month of November, the final job of the contracting season, coffee and a small cameo of a contractor’s face appear. These are the improbable ingredients to human emotion, an emotion, say, like satisfaction. North American contractors who have tried these versatile dumpers quickly realize increased productivity and a high return on investment – and this pleases them.

Allan MacCurrach, president of MacCurrach Golf Construction (MGC), purchased two site dumpers from Terex dealer Duval-Pilot Equipment Outfitters in Jacksonville, Fla. In the past, MGC used agricultural-style tractors pulling small trailers to haul material to and from areas being renovated on the course. MacCurrach and his team were looking for a way to reduce the material movement cycle times and, according to Fred Jordan, Duval-Pilot equipment sales representative, using the site dumpers has definitely done that for MGC.

MacCurrach concurs — their site dumpers easily move material 40 percent faster than the company’s previous methods.

“Given the fact that on an average golf course more than 15,000 tons of sand alone are moved at one time or another, efficiency is everything,” says MacCurrach. “We see these units as playing a key role in our projects.”

The Future Perhaps

Witness, if you will, a site dumper market that continues to grow in popularity over North America, as contractors are challenged to find alternative approaches to material movement and delivery because of strict worksite regulations, similar to those in Europe, and rising project costs.

“If contractors need to move material in a fast, cost-effective way site dumpers are the best option,” says Ferguson. “Once contractors try these site dumpers, they don’t know how they lived without them.”

It’s a not-so-distant future. On a bustling planet that floats through space, a fragment of a contractor’s life has passed, and long after his other equipment is left to rust, he will take continue to operates his contracting business in a new way… in the Dedicated Dumper Zone.

Keith Gribbins is managing editor of Compact Equipment.