ForConstructionPros.com

Certain terms in the American vernacular produce elaborate scenes in our minds, thanks mostly to television and movies. Take for instance the phrase "chop shop". You might envision a bright red convertible screeching down a street in a high-speed chase with the cops. A secret garage door opens up at the end of an alley and the criminal drives this desirable hot rod into a high-tech, underground chop shop where ready mechanics immediately strip the wheels, take off the doors and begin applying a new coat of paint to the recently acquired steal.

Now imagine a similar scene, only instead of a red convertible, the thief is driving a backhoe-loader. This might make for a ridiculous visual, but George Kreis, vice president of operations at J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, Inc., a heavy highway and utility contractor headquartered in Hackensack, NJ, knows the weight of this latter scenario. Although it may have never had a towable air compressor involved in a high-speed chase, like many other contractors, Fletcher Creamer has been a victim of construction equipment theft.

"We've lost several pieces of equipment right here in the New York metropolitan area and never saw them again," Kreis says.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, equipment theft costs construction companies up to $1 billion per year in lost assets. Past studies have shown that less than 10% of stolen construction equipment is ever recovered.

Obstacles to theft prevention

Preventing equipment theft can be problematic. For instance, many types of equipment have universal keys; it can be difficult to secure large pieces of equipment beyond parking them in a fenced area with a lock; and you may be required to leave equipment on a jobsite overnight or over a weekend because it's impractical to tow it to and from your equipment yard.