ruby_grant•12d agoProlific Poster

Saw a crane operator on the job site near my buddy's place in Austin yesterday

I was visiting a friend off South Congress and there was this big mobile crane setting AC units on a new apartment roof. The guy was working solo, no spotter, just using a remote and some cameras. I've always had a spotter on my jobs and it got me thinking about how much the tech has changed. Does anyone here run solo like that regularly or is that more of a Texas thing?

2 comments

2 Comments

charlesj4611d agoTop Commenter

Does that kind of lone wolf setup remind anyone else of how grocery stores are pushing self-checkout on us? You save on payroll but then you're the one bagging your own stuff and hunting down a clerk when the machine won't scan your avocados. Same deal with crane work it seems like... you swap a spotter for a camera and a remote, and suddenly you're the one who lost a load because the battery died at the worst possible moment. It's like we're all just becoming our own spotters and cashiers these days, cutting corners until the corner cuts back.

the_seth12d ago

Bet your ass there's a few of these guys running solo, but it ain't just a Texas thing. I watched a guy in Atlanta set trusses on a warehouse with just a remote and a go-pro last fall. The real kicker nobody talks about is the inspection side of it. When you run solo, you're the only one who sees if a cable is frayed or a boom angle sensor is off. One guy I know lost his whole week when a camera lens fogged up mid-lift and he couldn't see the load swing. Seems like it saves money until something goes wrong, then it costs way more than a spotter's hourly wage.