The 13 Craziest Construction Videos of 2018

Everyone has a camera in their pocket these days and when something goes down on the jobsite, you can bet it’s going to be captured on video one way or another. That can either be a great thing for marketing or an awful way to showcase your business. 

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[VIDEO] Dropping a Dozer Out of a Moving Airplane Is the Coolest Way to Site Mobilize

Look, you could mobilize on site the boring old way by loading your heavy equipment on the bed of a trailer and driving it to site, or you could take a note from the Bravo Company of the 37th Engineer Battalion of the United States and spice things up a bit.

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[VIDEO] Block-Laying Robot Successfully Builds 2,000 SF Home in 3 Days

A couple of years ago, we shared a video of Fastbrick Robotic’s Hadrian 105, a brick-laying robot built for proof of concept.  In a true testament of how long the development of computer-model based commercial robotics takes to develop, the company’s commercial robot model, the Hadrian X, has finally reached a goal that has been sought after since 2015: Building a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in 3 days.

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[VIDEO] Crane Collapses While Placing Concrete Wall Panel in California

Video footage was recently shared of a crane collapse during a concrete wall panel lift.  Not much is known about the accident, there has been surprisingly no media coverage of the event, only a very short video description on YouTube.

According to YouTube user Brett Albrecht, the collapse happened in Napa Valley, California, while a crane was lifting 50 ton concrete wall panels.  I was first made aware of the video through the Instagram page @osha_is_this_ok, which is a good follow if you aren’t already. One of their other followers claimed secondhand knowledge of the incident and said that no one was killed in the terrifying accident.

The fact that there have not been any news stories written about it is definitely a good sign that no one was seriously hurt by the incident.  There look to be about 10 or 11 workers standing near both panels that eventually collapsed, so there was potential for catastrophic loss. BRAGG is visible on the side of the crane at the 19 second mark, but that’s all we know.

This incident is extremely similar to another crane collapse that happened in Austin, Texas in January of 2018.  In that video, a crane lifting a similarly sized concrete wall panel collapsed, forcing several workers to run away in a panic. In that accident, 1 worker was transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

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Crane Collapses on Jobsite in Syracuse, NY, No Injuries Reported

On Tuesday morning, February 23, the Syracuse Fire Department responded to a call about a collapsed crane on a construction site near the university. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

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[VIDEO] Need to Get Some Heavy Equipment Up a Mountain? Try a Cable Car System

Remote jobsites with difficult terrain pose some substantial logistical challenges when it comes to getting equipment and materials on site. I’ve seen several different methods used in the past, such as heavy equipment carrying blimps, cargo planes, helicopters, and the Fat Truck, but I recently came across a new method: a cable car.

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[VIDEO] A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Recent Record Breaker for World’s Tallest Demolition

In November of last year, the 546 foot tall Mina Plaza in Abu Dhabi officially broke the world record for tallest demolition by explosion, supplanting Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan, which held the record for 22 years.

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[VIDEO] Helicopter Drops Cooling Tower During Lift to Roof

If you need to get some heavy mechanical equipment on the roof of your project, you could use a boring old crane – or you could gas up the bird and make that equipment take literal flight. Alright, so cranes aren’t actually boring, but some times a helicopter makes more logistical sense, either because it reduces total lift time or, in some cases, makes economical sense. Either way, there are some important safety precautions to take in case something goes wrong.

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Top 7 Demolition Videos of 2020

2020 was a stressful year, so let’s decompress a little bit by reviewing some of the most fun demolition videos from the past year. A demolition that broke a 22 year old record highlights the bunch and I also stretch what the definition of “demolition” is a little bit, because I think the video is so cool. Don’t @ me.

Without further ado, here are the top 7 demolition videos from 2020:

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[VIDEO] Nuclear Power Plant Site Utilizes 2 of the World’s Largest Cranes, and 55 Other Tower Cranes

2 years ago, crane manufacturer, Sarens, unveiled what is considered to be the world’s largest crane, by both size and lifting capacity. Big Carl, as the huge crane was nicknamed, began work a few months later on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in England. Now, the jobsite boasts an abundance of crane activity, a true site to behold, and it was captured on aerial footage for you to enjoy.

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[VIDEO] New World Record For Tallest Building Demolished By Explosives

Back in 1998, the Hudson Department Store in downtown Detroit, Michigan was demolished by explosives. That building stood 410 feet tall across its 29 floors, making it, at the time, the tallest building to ever be taken down by implosion. The dust cloud covered many city blocks and the 20,000 unsuspecting people that came to watch the event. That record was just recently broken by a building over 100 feet taller than it.

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[VIDEO] Check Out This Excavator Free Fall Down a Huge Underground Access Shaft

Excavators aren’t typically meant to be dropped down to a lower level, but certain circumstances require it sometimes. The machines are obviously extremely heavy, so a large crane and proper rigging is required for it to happen safely. As a construction firm in Hong Kong, China recently found out, though, it’s a little tougher than it seems.

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[VIDEO] Watch an 85 Year Old, 5 Story Building be Relocated 200 Feet with a ‘Walking Machine’

Usually, when a new development is going to go into a spot where a building already exists, that existing building gets blown into smithereens and its remaining rubble hauled away. BUT, there is apparently a different way to handle the situation now, which is by politely asking the building to walk away and to find a new home – well, kind of.

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[VIDEO] CAT Creates Gigantic PAC-MAN Game Played with Remote Controlled Skid Steers

CAT is no stranger to finding extremely creative and expensive ways to show off their construction equipment. In years past, they’ve created a giant Jenga game with 600 pound blocks and the world’s first moving golf course on the backs of their dump trucks. Now, they’re showing off some of their new technology with the release of the biggest PAC-MAN game you’ve ever seen.

[VIDEO] Watch a One Mile Long Bridge Over Water Be Imploded in Seconds

Demolition by implosion videos are always fun to watch.  Adding an element of water makes them even more dramatic, though it’s probably not great for the ecosystem.  Late last week, a one mile long, 23 year-old bridge in China was imploded in front of a crowd of spectators and caught on camera.

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Four Quick Tips for Keeping Your Excavators in Good Working Condition

Excavators are a vital piece of equipment on many construction sites all over the world.  They’re also very expensive machines that deserve to be treated well.  They’re also the 3rd most commonly stolen piece of construction equipment.

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[VIDEO] Typhoon Destroys Material Hoist in China

As the US is experiencing our own natural disaster, by way of Hurricane Florence, China is being hit badly by a Typhoon Mangkhut. According to Independent, the storm has caused a crane, which was being used on a 22-story housing development, to crumble. That collapse was caught on camera by neighbors.

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