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With increased steel prices, equipment trailers have become a major investment. "Today, you have to pay more attention to the details because you are investing $75,000, $100,000 or $200,000," says Jim Ladner, national sales manager, Landoll Corp. "It isn't like 20 years ago when they were a third the price."

The decisions you make now can have consequences well into the future. "In most cases, we have life cycle on our product of 15 to 18 years," says Ladner. "If you look back 18 years, what did the equipment look like? Keep in mind that the equipment in the construction field always tends to grow and get heavier. You need to look down the road and buy a trailer that is probably more than you really need, but will do the job for you tomorrow."

Ladner adds that no single trailer is likely to haul all of your equipment. You should designate trailers to groups of equipment suited to that trailer design.

As equipment designs change, it may also be more of a challenge to get by with the trailers you have used in the past. Fred McClure, engineering manager, Eager Beaver Trailers cites its 10-ton tag trailer as a unique example. "When we started building it almost 30 years ago, the typical backhoe that was put on it weighed 14,000 lbs. Today, the same series of backhoe literally grew in weight from 14,000 lbs. to closer to 18,000 lbs."

However, many contractors resist going up to a 12-ton trailer since they have to pay Federal Excise Tax (FET). "The private contractor is still trying to hold onto the 10-ton trailer and not pay the FET on it," says McClure. "He has to be very critical on how he loads it so he is not overloading the tires and axles."