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Written by David Barratt

Fleurieu Cranes, based out of Adelaide, South Australia, has what it takes to get any job done on time and without fuss. With a deep understanding of its clients in South Australia, Fleurieu Cranes ensures the highest quality work through its extensive and varied fleet and experienced employees.

The company takes pride in offering a one-stop service

for all its clients, no matter the nature of the work to be

done.

Brandon Freer, General Manager of Fleurieu Cranes, is proud of

what the company can offer its clients, and he works diligently

to make sure that Fleurieu Cranes is up to the task whether

large or small. In 2005, the company began with one crane,

offering high quality lifting services; within twelve months the

company offered three cranes. Today, with nearly thirty cranes,

the company boasts one of the most capable fleets in South

Australia. Fleurieu Cranes quickly developed a reputation for

being the company of choice for its clients due to the com-

pany’s focus on safety, quality, and expertise.

“We’re different in the fact that we are very personal and we

hand pick people with a can-do attitude,” says Brandon, explain-

ing what it is that truly sets the company apart from its competi-

tors. “Quite often we have comments from customers saying

our boys have a great attitude, do the job safely, and get it right.”

Brandon attributes much of the growth during the last three

years to the evolution of the mining industry in South Australia

and the increasing demands the industry has for high quality

services and twenty four hour availability. The growth in the

regional commercial market and the ongoing infrastructure

developments have become growth opportunities for the

company as well.

Today, diversity in services and equipment is one of the driving

forces of Fleurieu Cranes, as Brandon works to meet even the

most demanding needs customers. Through heavy investment

in equipment, the company works to ensure that it has the

capability to successfully and skilfully complete any job. “This

allows a mining company or a big commercial company to

“Today, with nearly thirty cranes, the company boasts one of the most

capable fleets in South Australia.”

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have some comfort that they can call us and it doesn’t matter,

we can do the job,” says Brandon.

From the smallest twelve tonne crane to Fleurieu’s recently pur-

chased 400 tonne crane – the largest of its type in the state

– the company can quickly dispatch cranes where they need

to be to get any job done. The company’s diverse fleet offers a

wide assortment of cranes to meet the various needs of clients

across many industries, including residential, industrial and

commercial, mining and energy, and contract works.

To serve its industrial and commercial customers, Fleurieu

offers Materials Handling Equipment such as forklifts, reach

stackers and tele-handlers; Transport Equipment such as prime

movers, flat top trucks, and various skel/flat top trailers; Crane

Equipment such as Franna, city, crawler, rough terrain and all

terrain cranes from 12 to 400 tonne.

The company has extensive experience in providing crane

related services across the mining and energy sectors in South

“From the smallest twelve tonne crane to Fleurieu’s recently

purchased 400 tonne crane – the largest of its type in the state – the

company can quickly dispatch cranes where they need to be to get

any job done.”

Australia, including precious metal extraction sites and oil and

gas operations. Fleurieu offers a range of Franna cranes from

the Terex 12 tonne to the Terex 25 tonne. The company also

offers all terrain cranes – from the Terex 40 tonne all the way

up to the Manitowoc 400 tonne – able to tackle the largest

jobs customers can throw at them. The company’s fleet also

includes the Kato 13 tonne and Tadano 16 tonne city cranes

that are able to provide service in even the tightest of environ-

ments. To round out its fleet, Fleurieu Cranes offers the Manito-

woc 80 tonne crawler crane.

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“Renowned for its cost effective solution, the company depends

upon its highly trained staff whose rich experience in the industry

and deep knowledge of the South Australian market provides

authentic value for customers across the region.”

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A critical piece of Fleurieu

Cranes’ ongoing business

plan is to create and maintain a

diversity of services to best meet the

needs, and surpass the expectations of its

customers. “We want to be able to put pools

in people’s back yards, but still be able to erect

tower cranes and operate them as well.”

Renowned for its cost effective solution, the company

depends upon its highly trained staff whose rich experience

in the industry and deep knowledge of the South Australian

market provides authentic value for customers across the

region. Being a tight-knit industry in South Australia, owners and

operators are generally well known to each other, an opportu-

nity Fleurieu Cranes uses to hand-pick the best employees to

work within the company.

“The crane industry is quite tight knit in south Australia,

everyone knows everyone, so when a person becomes avail-

able, we make sure that person has the right ethos and coach

them through as well,” explains Brandon. “We look after the

people and believe that breeds the attitude that they’ll look

after the equipment and the safety aspect on the job as well.

They won’t want to put themselves in a situation where they’re

working unsafe because they feel good about themselves

and they feel good about the people they’re around. ” It’s this

culture that has led to much of the company’s success, as cus-

tomers react to the engaged, quality conscious attitudes of the

company’s operators, staff, and management. “It is a culture

that we try to breed.” To this end, the company is also safety

AS/NZS 4801:2001 and Quality ISO 9001:2008 certified.

The company’s supervisors play a significant role in promoting

that culture with ongoing encouragement of safe work prac-

tices. The company prides itself on its record of achievement

in this regard. With the company’s hands-on approach, each

job is monitored at all levels to ensure that safety and quality

standards are consistently met. “The supervisors have a lot of

experience in the industry and many developed from

being a crane operator so they know the work they are

doing quite well,” explains Brandon.

Being locally owned and operated provides another benefit

for clients in South Australia, who depend on the company to

be available and prepared for any kind of job in any type of

terrain. “We are locally owned and operated, enabling custom-

ers to phone up, and we can respond immediately mobilising

a crane.” Fleurieu Cranes has the ability to quickly adapt to

the changing needs of its customers and provide the correct

equipment for each jobsite. “If it’s a long term prospect, we will

purchase another crane to ensure our other customers are not

affected. We don’t need to wait for the red tape to be cleared

– we make those decisions based on the information known in

real time in-house.”

This also arms the company with a depth of knowledge of

the South Australian market that is difficult to match. Fleurieu

understands its market and the needs of its customers. In order

to provide the best service for its customers, the Fleurieu team

offers twenty four hour support throughout the year. This is

especially important for the company’s customers in heavy

industry where a lengthy shutdown can cost millions of dollars

in lost productivity. “Most crane companies say they are, but

we do make ourselves available; this provides comfort to our

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it more difficult for operators in South Australia. “There’s

been a lot of infrastructure projects in the last seven years

and those will be coming to a close, so at the moment it’s a

difficult time for us, but we’re continuing to grow, buying

cranes and chasing diversified work opportunities,” Brandon

explains. Through the continued diversification of equipment,

movement into new and exciting markets, and additional strat-

egies, Brandon expects the company to continue to grow in

the coming years.

Identifying Fleurieu Cranes’ greatest strengths, Brandon is

excited to point out the adaptability of its portfolio of services

and the depth of its fleet of cranes. “The fact that we can do

anything from a small crane right through to the 400 tonnes

is important for us.” Possessing one of the most expansive

fleets in the state, Fleurieu Cranes has made it its duty to be

able to offer a one-stop solution for every customer. “We can

do anything for our customers because we have local access to

the owners and operators, with access to those decisions and

can contract in any way that our customer wants to.”

mining customers, especially those who know they can call us

at 2AM and we will respond to it.”

All of these facts have allowed the company to grow organi-

cally through word of mouth and recommendations from sat-

isfied customers across a range of markets. This reputation is

critical in the South Australian market. Though it is sometimes

important to win the earliest jobs based on price alone, high

quality service and appropriate equipment can mean the dif-

ference between a one-time customer and the foundation of

an ongoing professional relationship. “You build a trusting rela-

tionship with a customer, and from there it grows.”

Looking toward the future, Brandon identifies a difficult period

for the industry on the horizon as changing conditions make

“We are locally owned and operated, so customers can phone

up and we can mobilise a crane immediately.”

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Fleurieu Cranes Pty Ltd

7-9 Lafitte RoadWingfield, SA 5013

P: 08 8260 5122

E: service@fleurieucranes.com.au

www.fleurieucranes.com.au

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