HVAC Unit Replacement in the Heart of Mountain View

Changing out heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units from the roof of a building is all in a day’s work for crane companies. But few can truly appreciate quite how much work goes into making it possible.

Take, for example, a job carried out in February 2020 by San Jose-based King Crane Service and its sister company Bigge Crane & Rigging Co.

Office buildings in Mountain View, California form part of the campus of a well-known tech company. A reputable and established general contractor was tasked with upgrading its HVAC systems and set about in mid-2019 identifying specialist support to make it possible.

The documentation for crane lift procedure and the construction of the timber matting – to provide a safe pad for the crane – ran nearly 60 pages.

Engineers from Bigge made several visits to the job site to map the area and produce a report on ground bearing pressures. With these calculations, a base for the crane was designed to ensure firm support throughout the lifting process.

The pad itself was comprised of an underlay of plastic sheeting and a layer of base rock compacted with a steamroller to ensure the crane sat level. Timber crane mats and steel plates were employed to evenly distribute ground bearing pressure.

Assembly of the boom, jib, and counterweight, which took place on the now-closed public road required the assistance of one of our Link-Belts HTC 8675 Series II 75-ton truck cranes.

After the crane was completely built, it was driven up the matted driveway and on to the crane pad.

Crews worked continuously over a 12 hour day, returning a second day for the last few remaining picks. The rig-out process then began, the crane and pad were removed from the site and the street was swept clean, with hardly a trace that of the work that took place just hours before.

This challenging and high profile job required many hours of meetings and site visits to get the planning perfect.

Jobs of this nature require a complete team effort, with many helping hands along the way. The expertise and input of Bigge’s crane operators warrant particular mention, not just for their skills during the actual crane operation, but also for their contributions to the planning process, helping to reassure the general contractor that they really were in expert hands with Bigge and King.