When a machine goes down

It happens on the day it can least happen. Here is the useful version of what to do, from the yard that will be answering the phone.

The first ten minutes

1. 01
   Make it safeLower the attachment, park it out of the way if it will still move, isolate it. A down machine in a traffic route is a second problem.
2. 02
   Do not keep trying itCranking a machine that will not start, or working one that is overheating, turns a part into an engine. Stop and look.
3. 03
   Write down what happenedWhat it was doing, what it sounded like, what came up on the display, whether it was hot. In that order, before it becomes a story.
4. 04
   Check the cheap thingsFuel, the obvious leak, the blown fuse, the switch someone knocked. It is embarrassing how often it is one of these, and it costs you two minutes to rule out.

Then call, with these four things

• Model and serial. Off the plate — a photo of it is faster than reading it out.
• What it did, in plain words. "It got slow and then would not lift" is a genuinely useful diagnosis.
• Any code or warning on the display. Photograph the screen.
• A photo of the part or the area. It settles more questions than a paragraph does.

Those four turn a twenty-minute phone call into a five-minute one, and they are the difference between us bringing the right part and us bringing a look.

What happens at our end

We work out whether it is a part, a field-service job, or a machine that has to come back. Then we tell you which — and if the part is on the shelf in Surrey, that is a different day than if it is ordered in. We will tell you honestly which one you are having.

If it is a rental, the calculation is simpler: it is our machine and our problem, and the conversation is about getting you working again.

The part that is actually in your control

Most unplanned downtime is a wear part that was on a schedule nobody was keeping. The filter, the hose that was seeping, the undercarriage that packed with mud. None of those failed suddenly. They were all visible first.

The yard is at 9616 188 Street in Surrey, and the number is 604-501-2233. Call before you take anything apart.