Heavy Equipment

[Joanne v]

Hi All,

Entering my first Art Installation grant proposal and I am wondering if everyone rents their own heavy equipment or is there any available to rent or share when you are there? I'll need a crane of some sort and perhpas a back ho. Any advice would be appreciated.

[theCryptofishist]

Back hoe? You planning on digging holes?

[unjonharley]

Hi All,

Entering my first Art Installation grant proposal and I am wondering if everyone rents their own heavy equipment or is there any available to rent or share when you are there? I'll need a crane of some sort and perhpas a back ho. Any advice would be appreciated.

Your (first) post shows me you have no idea of what your talking about...

[Elliot]

Hello Joanne, and welcome to ePlaya.
I have no personal experience, but I am under the impression that the BRC Department of Public Works (DPW) assists artists with cranes and such. So you might try to track down some DPW folks. But I would start with The Artery, if they are not the same folks you are in contact with already.
Best of luck.

[BBadger]

There's usually a Bagger 288 (2) on-site in place of a cranes and backhoes to save on transportation costs. You can time-share it if you contact the right people.

Here one from last year:

[Token]

Cranes, scissor lifts, hysters, all doable if you have a funded art grant. There is some level of service available from DPW on a best-effort kind of schedule. Ergo, when they have free cycles to help out.

Your contact will elaborate when and if you get the gig.

Overall though, best us to be 100% self reliant. Rent a scissor lift or similar and adjust your building technique for the device capacity.

Digging into the Playa - strictly forbidden for mere mortals. Don't even think about it unless you know whom to fluff and blow. Not joking on that one.

Good luck on your grant application.

[trilobyte]

I'm moving this over to the Q&A board, since that's a better fit for general preparation questions (the Art & Performance board is more for announcing and updating on specific projects for that year's event).

+1 to what Token said. You'll want to plan to be (radically) self reliant. It's not only helpful from a project management standpoint (a project is more likely to succeed if it's thought through and planned accordingly), but as more and more demands are put upon Burning Man's heavy equipment, they become less and less likely to have the time to help out (DPW is there first and foremost to build the city infrastructure and the man). When either applying for a grant or registering your project, you may want to check with ARTery to find out about resources for equipment rentals, or getting in touch with other artists who may be interested in sharing in a rental. Good luck!

[Joanne v]

Thank you everyone,

It looks much easier to time share the heavy equipment than I thought. It seemed a little "unfriendly for the environment" to have to haul machinery in there for a brief set up time and include that in my art installation budget.

We will be digging to hide the cement blocks holding our structure up (30') with guywire but all that will be in my application and communicated. No need to worry.

Still looking for anyone who has previously built or who knows builders that would want to share equipment.

THANKS and see you all soon

[Joanne v]

Back hoe? You planning on digging holes?

Yes, but no need to worry everything will be communicated on my application. My structure will need ground support and for safety reasons it's best to have our support in the ground (large cement blocks with guywire).

[Joanne v]

Hi All,

Your (first) post shows me you have no idea of what your talking about...

No one knows what they are doing without the help of a community! That's why I'm here. I'm a long time burner now starting my own structure. I will be following all the rules and am doing the legwork to make this a success. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Joanne v]

Cranes, scissor lifts, hysters, all doable if you have a funded art grant. There is some level of service available from DPW on a best-effort kind of schedule. Ergo, when they have free cycles to help out.

Your contact will elaborate when and if you get the gig.

Overall though, best us to be 100% self reliant. Rent a scissor lift or similar and adjust your building technique for the device capacity.

Digging into the Playa - strictly forbidden for mere mortals. Don't even think about it unless you know whom to fluff and blow. Not joking on that one.

Good luck on your grant application.

Thanks a lot! We won't be digging unless they want us too.

[Joanne v]

I'm moving this over to the Q&A board, since that's a better fit for general preparation questions (the Art & Performance board is more for announcing and updating on specific projects for that year's event).

+1 to what Token said. You'll want to plan to be (radically) self reliant. It's not only helpful from a project management standpoint (a project is more likely to succeed if it's thought through and planned accordingly), but as more and more demands are put upon Burning Man's heavy equipment, they become less and less likely to have the time to help out (DPW is there first and foremost to build the city infrastructure and the man). When either applying for a grant or registering your project, you may want to check with ARTery to find out about resources for equipment rentals, or getting in touch with other artists who may be interested in sharing in a rental. Good luck!

Thank you! I am basically looking for artists to share heavy equipment. Where would you recommend I post that? General Q&A?