East Coast Demolition is a full-service hazardous material abatement and demolition contractor serving Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. In the business for over 40 years, their services include the design, management and implementation of abatement and demolition projects ranging from simple residential buildings, to complex high-rise structures and more. “My father started the company and I run it with him with a group of great people,” says Ricky Webb, chief operating officer at East Coast Demolition. “We do high-reach demolition, heavy demolition, abatement, selective demolition, complex dismantling, crushing, underground storage tanks and environmental remediation.”

Serving the private, commercial, local, state and federal sectors, East Coast Demolition’s niche is technically complex demolition projects. “What sets us apart from the rest of the competition — and what we like to pride ourselves in — is that we’re a turnkey solution to problems that general contractors and owners might have when looking at a large-scale project,” Webb explains.

“We show up with clean equipment, clean trucks, we self-perform a lot of the work. We own 15 excavators and 20 tractors so if there’s a client that has a need on one job and he needs to speed it up, we can shift all of our resources to that one job to push that job along, and then go back and handle the rest of our work. A lot of it is the employees, and just building the company over 40 years that has put us in this position. It’s a lot of hard work… We’ve put the right things in place over time to be able to put us in this position.”

The Power of Branding

One of the many ways that East Coast Demolition sets itself apart is through its branding. Each piece of equipment on their jobsites is kept as clean as possible, with the company logo emblazoned for maximum visibility. “My dad’s always taken pride in his equipment,” Webb explains. “It’s something that he’s always done.”

“He’s always said, ‘you want people to know who’s doing the job,’ and we’ve just carried that through. Branding is highly important to me. Any company that has a strong position in the current market pays attention to branding. And I want people to be able to look at my job site and be able to say that East Coast Demolition did that job. They can see the difference between my job site and a competitor’s job site not only because of my equipment that’s logoed, but because the pride that we take in our equipment and the job site and how clean it looks. We want people to ride down the road with our excavators sitting on a lowboy tractor and see East Coast Demolition.”

The CX245D SR – Built for Demolition

East Coast runs a fleet of 15 excavators. In addition to the long-reach specialized demolition excavators the company runs, Webb needed a fleet of excavators that could handle the day-to-day work on heavy-duty demolition sites, but was also nimble enough to get around residential areas as well. “We do a lot of residential demos still,” he says. “We do over one hundred houses a year, and we also do a lot of gas stations, convenience stores, we do a lot of shopping centers and we do a lot of ‘we need you tomorrow’ work.”

“We needed machines that we could move quickly under our blanket permit. And that were the right size, had good stability… We were able to put dozer blades on them. We were able to have the short-radius machine so that we can put it in tight spots. We don’t have to think about this machine being too big for this job or too small for this job. It’s just a perfect all-around machine that we can put anywhere, and we don’t have to second guess it.”

The full-sized CX245D SR excavator is designed to provide increased digging and lifting power in confined work areas, and features a minimum-swing-radius design, compact counterweight and modified boom placement that minimizes the machine’s footprint, resulting in a highly productive and maneuverable excavator that’s ideal for restricted operating conditions.

“It makes it easier for me and my field manager to be able to put a machine on the job. The CX245 is just a well-rounded machine. It’s got plenty of power. It’s able to handle projects that a 300 or 350 could be used on, but it’s out there performing well right beside them. And it’s easy to move — and strong.”

CASE D Series excavators have been built to achieve faster cycle times and improved control/responsiveness. An electronically controlled hydraulic pump and larger control and solenoid valves boost breakout forces, increase lifting strength and improve responsiveness. These features combine with the CASE Intelligent Hydraulic System and its four integrated control systems to make the best use of the machine’s hydraulic power and momentum, resulting in added strength and fuel efficiency.

“The power on the CX245D surprises us every day,” Webb says. “We are putting this machine in situations that we might need two machines on, but it’s able to pull large foundations out of the ground, it’s able to pull large tanks out of the ground.”

“We’ve outfitted these machines with auxiliary hydraulics so we can run processors, we can run sheers, we can run hammers. We have mulching head attachments. We’re running magnets on these machines. The CASE hydraulics and auxiliary hydraulics and the pumps are able to support the attachments that we have. And sometimes we have oversized attachments on these machines that come from our larger fleet and they’re able to perform and run those attachments, no issues at all.”

Outfitted for the Toughest Tasks

East Coast customizes each of its machines to meet the unique demands of demolition work. “That’s the fun part about demolition — we’re not just getting a dirt digging machine.” Webb says. “It starts out that way, but we add all kinds of goodies to [them]. We put ROPS and FOPS on them, we put heavy duty belly guards on, we put cylinder guards on them, we put auxiliary hydraulics on them… We put in reversible fans to blow the radiators out throughout the day to get rid of the dust and the insulation that might buildup.”

“We’ve equipped these CX245Ds with the [coupler] that allows us to change attachments quickly and efficiently — the guys don’t have to get out of the cab,” he continues. “We outfit them pretty much with everything you can possibly put on them with the extra cameras and the LED lighting package. We outfit everything we could put on that machine because we’re putting it in the worst application it could probably be in, and that’s just demolition in general.”

Lights, Camera, Action

Safety and visibility are critical on demolition and abatement sites, and East Coast Demolition crews work day and night. CASE offers an LED light package that provides illumination that is more than three-times brighter than halogen, allowing the company to work around the clock. The optional LED package includes six LED lights (two front, two rear and one on each side) and an extra side-view camera, in addition to the rearview camera and side camera that come standard on all CASE D Series excavators.

“It has the lights all the way around the unit so you’re getting a 360 illumination on the area where the machine’s at,” says Webb. “It makes it safer. It allows our guys to work first thing in the morning and run late into the night.”

The three-way camera setup is called Max View, and provides 270 degrees of visibility around the machine.

“The cameras are key,” he says. “We are always in tight situations, especially with the short tail machines to have the side camera and the rear camera. It allows us to make sure that before our guys go swinging around and loading out trucks at different angles and picking a pile and sorting the material, we’re able to check all of our clearances before we do that. As you can tell, we like to keep our machines nice and shiny and not having scratched-up counterweights and stuff, so it also keeps our guys a little bit more focused on what’s around them.”

Fuel Economy

The CASE CX245D SR excavator meets emissions standards through an innovative combination of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) technologies, helping to maximize fuel efficiency, uptime and performance, without the need for Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) to replace, and no DPF regeneration.

“Fuel efficiency is important to us, especially in today’s market,” Webb explains. “These machines sip fuel compared to some of the same class machines, but at the same time, fuel efficiency is important to us because we’re running these machines nonstop. We don’t have a lot of idle time. These machines are running at high RPMs all day long. At no point do these machines run at a low idle for an eight- to ten- or twelve-hour period. Having that fuel efficiency is important because over the annual usage the cost-savings are immense.”

Comfort Zone

The CX245D SR features best-in-class cab space, excellent visibility, and a pressurized and iso-mounted cab that keeps noise and vibration down. A standard Bluetooth radio gives operators hands-free functionality that further improves the operator experience. A standard rearview camera feeds a 7-inch widescreen monitor that also provides operators with real-time access to important performance parameters, including fuel consumption, operating hours and machine information.

“The cabs are great. I’m 6’3, 210 pounds, and a lot of my guys are over six foot and they’re able to sit in those cabs and be comfortable,” says Webb. “I’ve ran the machines and been comfortable all day long. I mean, the comfort of the machine, having visibility, having the Bluetooth option, having the dashboard to be able to get all the information out of it — comfort all day long.”

“You want your guys not to be fatigued day in and day out. They’re beating and banging around in these machines. I mean, we’re pulling concrete out of the ground and tearing buildings down — you want to keep your guys as comfortable as possible. It makes them happy as possible. And you want happy employees.”

Lawrence Equipment and CASE ProCare

As part of the D Series lineup, the CX245D SR is covered under CASE ProCare – a suite of product assurances that includes a three-year Advanced CASE SiteWatch™ telematics subscription, a three-year/3,000-hour full-machine factory warranty, and a three-year/2,000-hour planned maintenance contract. ProCare allows business owners to invest in new equipment while helping to make owning and operating costs more predictable for the first three years of lease or ownership.

“When we bought these machines, a major factor was ProCare,” Webb says. “We didn’t want to touch these excavators for the life that we owned them. And our shop, we have two or three mechanics in our shop, a field mechanic, and they’re overwhelmed with just the amount of trucks and other equipment that we have that’s older. We wanted these machines to be on the job site, zero downtime, working every single day, we didn’t want to have to think twice about it. And these machines, the serviceability is there. Our dealer is taking care of us.”

“Not having to worry about it allows me and my guys to focus on other tasks that are way more important.”

With a large fleet, and the brutal nature of their jobsites, dealer support is essential. “Lawrence Equipment came in guns blazing when we came in to buy these machines,” Webb explains. “They put the best offer on the table, the best service, the best support. They told us that they would take care of us and they have done that. We have no problem with what they’ve been doing. They stop by our shop. They call me every week to make sure everything is going on. I’m in constant communication with them.”

“We Want to be the Best”

The fact that East Coast Demolition has remained successful throughout the highs and lows of the last 40 years says a lot about the company. “We sweat and bleed demolition — it’s what we do,” Webb concludes. “And we’re not here to put it on social media and brag and stuff. When it comes down to it, we’re here every single day. We’re grinding it out. We’re getting it done. We don’t want to be a national company. We don’t want to be the largest company. We want to be the best demolition company out there — the most reputable — who takes the most pride in the work that they do. And we want people to want us on their projects and to help people out and to be able to grow this business, not only for our employees, but for the area.”

“It’s a family business, and we want to continue to grow that family and just do the right thing. Doing good business — doing honest business — you can’t compete with that.”

Sidebar: Custom TV450 CTL Provides Power, Safety and Versatility

Another key piece of equipment in East Coast’s fleet is a heavily modified CASE TV450 compact track loader. This powerful, large-frame CTL offers a rated operating capacity of 4,500 pounds at 50-percent tipping load. The machine features an industry-leading 9,188 pounds of breakout force, and optional high-flow (3,450 psi at 39.5 gpm) and enhanced high-flow (4,000 psi at 35 gpm) hydraulics for high-power attachments.

The TV450 is packed with premium features like heavy-duty front and side lights, front cylinder guards, a heavy-duty rear door, remote oil and fuel filters, as well as debris ingression sealing to prevent material from entering the engine compartment —but that’s just the beginning. East Coast Demolition has outfitted their TV450 to perform in the most extreme environments with additional guarding, high-flow hydraulics, and a bold, sleek gray paintjob.

“The reason that we purchased this machine and built it like we did and with the color scheme and the package, is not only because we wanted the most badass CTL that we can put on the market, but we also wanted to keep our operators as safe as possible, and we want to be able to run multiple attachments with this machine,” Webb explains. “We’ve got the high-flow with the forestry guarding package so we’re able to run mulchers, we’re able to run hammers, we’re able to run shears on this unit, grapple buckets.”

“It was key to us to have not only the best, baddest machine we can get, but all these things that we’ve put on this machine makes the operators safe—and it looks cool too.”