Big Numbers

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When you produce, you can let the numbers speak for themselves. In one day, Robinson’s crews knock out paving nearly 20 driveways in new construction areas. But to stay productive, Robinson has learned over the years that he needs reliable equipment that dislikes downtime just as much as he does.

Driveway Paving Niches
Robinson founded Robinson Paving Inc. in Chantilly, Va., more than 20 years ago. Since then, the company, which specializes in asphalt driveways, trails, parking lots, tennis courts, and asphalt sealing, has grown to 35 employees.

New driveway construction is a special niche Robinson says he has cultivated by working with 21 homebuilders in the northern Virginia area. Building a good rapport with homebuilders requires being able to meet their pressing deadlines. In order to do this, Robinson makes sure his five crews are stocked with the equipment they need, including a Bobcat® skid-steer loader and several attachments.

In the beginning, Robinson used a drag box connected to a tractor to flatten stone. That was until he purchased his first Bobcat skid-steer loader in 1983. “It worked circles around the drag box,” he says. Ever since then, we parked that old thing and we’ve been strictly using skid-steer loaders.”

When Robinson Paving crews show up in a new housing development, they get right to work. In some limited-access areas, the crews must use the loaders to transport the asphalt from the truck to the paver. Once the material has been laid, the crew will attach an angle broom to clean up any excess material. “I’m using the angle brooms with my builders to make sure that when we finish what we’re working on, we leave the jobsite as clean or cleaner than when we got there,” he says. “It just makes for good policy.”

In addition to paving new driveways, Robinson’s company also takes on trail paving projects. In fact, his crews recently completed 1,800 linear feet of trail near the Potomac River where they had to spoon feed the asphalt from the street to the paving machine. In situations such as this, Robinson says he might have 150 tons of asphalt sitting in the street because the trucks can’t gain access to wooded areas where the paving is taking place. “We’ll have three loaders running continuously, picking up the asphalt, and running it down to the woods a quarter of a mile way,” he says. “It looks like a bumblebee factory. We’re continuously running down the material all day long.”

The Need for Tires and Tracks
As Robinson began doing more driveway paving work in new construction areas, he found that his crews were experiencing more flat tires on their skid-steer loaders. “Every crew would have two spare tires because we’d be constantly working on flats and changing them out,” he says. That’s when Robinson decided to outfit his S300 skid-steer loader and four Bobcat 863 skid-steer loaders with foam-filled tires, which allowed his crews to work on the subgrade prior to placing the mat without worrying about flats.

Ground disturbance is a critical issue for asphalt contractors. And because of the work they perform, they also need a machine that can provide strong pushing power and excellent traction even in wet and muddy conditions. So to complement his fleet of skid-steer loaders, Robinson purchased his first Bobcat compact track loader in 2003. He now owns three compact track loaders, including the T180, T190, and T250. “From November to March, it’s really nasty weather. You have to take something to the jobsite that can float across a soft terrain so you can roll it out smooth and put a good product down,” he says.

But Robinson says he still needs his fleet of skid-steer loaders for working and traveling quickly along finished surfaces.

Not only has using the combination of skid-steer and compact track loaders helped make Robinson Paving more productive, but so has the use of several attachments. In addition to angle brooms, Robinson’s crews use 72- and 74-inch buckets for grading. He recently traded in a 16-inch planer for a 40-inch planer attachment for achieving even faster production. Robinson says he uses the 40-inch planer with his S300 skid-steer loader for grinding high spots flush with the existing street surface, eliminating patching, and planing asphalt and concrete where larger milling machines can’t.

The pallet forks are also frequently used for unloading and hauling shipments of ditch pipeline, which is installed along the driveway entrances for drainage. Robinson says he receives at least two shipments of the pipe every month.

Weather plays a critical role for all contractors working in regions with changing climates. It is important for them to be as productive as possible on the days that the weather allows them to work. Purchasing the compact track loaders has enabled Robinson’s crews to work on even more days when precipitation leaves the ground wet and soft. When Robinson purchased the compact track loaders, he anticipated that his crews might use them more in the winter, which is why he opted for enclosed cabs with heat.

The versatility of the skid-steer and compact track loaders, along with the numerous attachments, helps Robinson’s crews complete their asphalt paving jobs faster, but above all, the reliability of his Bobcat loaders keeps his crews productive and his business successful.

“Downtime is the worst thing we could have in this industry, especially when you’re in a climate-controlled industry,” he says. “If you’ve got four working days and you’re losing three of them to bad weather, you can’t do anything about bad weather. But if you’re losing three of them to a down machine, then that’s something you need to do something about because it’ll cut right into you.

“My Bobcat loaders are one of few pieces of equipment that I can buy and rely on to work every day,” he says.