Building a road, parking lot or large driveway takes several different types of machine. One of the most important is the asphalt paver. Asphalt concrete paving is far more complex than most people would think and takes several steps to get it done correctly. In addition to skilled trades people who follow all of the necessary steps to get this task done, there is a number of asphalt paving equipment that is vitally important as well.
There are several types of asphalt pavers including: Barber Greene pavers, Blaw Knox pavers, Lee Boy asphalt pavers, Road Tec asphalt pavers and the Ingersoll Rand Paver. For some contractors, the choice is a matter of brand loyalty, for others it may only be personal choice. Some contractors will only have one brand name for all equipment that they own, while others may have a wide variety of names on their equipment lot. There are a lot of considerations to keep in mind when looking for a new or used asphalt paver including reliability, features, price and payback time. If the machine is expected to fail before it pays back its purchase price then it is a bad choice and you should shop on.
The paver should be as reliable as the other aspects of your paving business and should not be the weak link in the chain, holding things up. If the paver is broken down, then nothing is going to get done on that day. Once the grader has prepared the road, lot or driveway, then the asphalt paver should be ready to go as well.
For the new road contractor, make sure that you are reading industry reports and other information that can help select the most reliable brand name of asphalt paver, making sure that you know which have the best features, which features that you can do without and which have the best price for their size and ability. In addition to keeping track of which have the best features (that you really do need) make sure that you look at any reports of recalls or complaints that been filed about the model that you are looking at.
There are a number of places where you can buy your new or used Asphalt Paver, including auctions both live and online. Before you bid though, make sure that you know as much information as possible about the machine that you are about to buy. If you are looking for an asphalt paver in a local retailer or at an auction, then investigate it thoroughly before you buy. In addition, make sure that you calculate the payback time for the paver by calculating its cost per use and then figuring out how many jobs per year times how many years it would take to recover the purchase price. If not cannot recoup the cost of the machine in the estimated length of its usefulness, consider the lower cost machine instead.
