The Break Fast Show #980

August 15, 2025 Video

In today’s show: LiuGong’s exciting electric range; making the grade; we’re taking a detailed look at the latest ADTs from Develon; and we’re Down Under with Kobelco.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Left Hand versus Right Hand.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

Trading Places

August 14, 2025 Long Form

Picture this. It’s a regular Tuesday morning. The sun’s barely up, the kettle’s just boiled, and somewhere in this great and glorious industry of ours, something utterly ridiculous and entirely unexpected happens. A demolition boss and a demolition worker swap lives. I’m not talking “trade jobs for a week” in one of those cheesy team-building exercises. I mean a full-on body swap. Like the movie Freaky Friday, except with more high-vis and swearing and fewer teenage tantrums.

One minute, Dave – who has been driving an excavator for the past 15 years – is pulling on his boots, and the next, he’s sat in a leather chair behind a mahogany desk, staring at a laptop that’s pinging like a microwave. And up the road, Martin – who actually owns the company, drives a flash car, and has Managing Director on his business card – is suddenly in a muddy site cabin, holding a hard hat and wondering why his hands already smell faintly of diesel.

This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.

The Break Fast Show #979

August 14, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Volvo’s latest excavators explained; Komatsu’s latest wheel loaders are designed to deliver; ZQuip and Leica come together for forge the future; and how the Cat Central app is simplifying equipment maintenance.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Trading places.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

One bite at a time

August 13, 2025 Long Form

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

It’s an old joke. Not a great one. But, if you think about it, it’s not really a joke at all. It’s a survival guide disguised as humour. Because when you’re standing in front of something so big, so complex, so completely unmanageable that you can’t even get your head around it, you’ve only got two choices: you can throw up your hands and walk away; or you can take that first bite.

Our industry — demolition, construction, all of it — is an elephant. A big one. And, truth be told, not a particularly friendly one. We’ve got accidents that shouldn’t happen but still do. We’ve got men and women who never make it home because something went wrong. We’ve got a skills gap you could drive a dump truck through. We’ve got sites where women and minorities are still treated like they’ve wandered into the wrong party. We’ve got conditions that would make an office worker faint before lunch. We’ve got workloads that swing from famine to feast in the space of a week. We’ve got margins so thin you can see through them. And we’ve got a mental health crisis that is costing lives on an almost daily basis.

That’s a lot of elephant.

This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.

The Break Fast Show #978

August 13, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Boosting your profitability with Hitachi Construction Machinery; on the road with Takeuchi; prepping your Liebherr telehandler for a day of work; and John Deere keeps the wheels – and the tracks – turning.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: One bite at a time.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

If it’s broke, don’t fix it

August 12, 2025 Long Form

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Setting aside the poor grammar, that is a phrase we have all heard and most of us have probably used.

Here in the field of demolition and construction, we have a slightly different take on that phrase. “If it’s broke, don’t fix it unless there’s money to be made”. In short, failure is often more profitable than the solution.

Think about all the big issues facing the UK demolition and construction sector: accidents and fatalities; an insurmountable skills shortage; a deepening mental health crisis; an ongoing gender and racial imbalance; questionable working conditions.

None of these factors and challenges are new. In fact, accidents and fatalities, the skills shortage and sketchy working conditions have been a part of the industry furniture for as long as I or anyone else can remember.

No-one can claim a lack of awareness of any of these issues. They are discussed at length within companies, industries and trade bodies up and down the country. Some of them are the subject of regular campaigns and initiatives. Some even get their own dedicated day or week of recognition. But the problems underpinning those campaigns and initiatives remain because tolerating these issues is considerably cheaper than actually addressing them.

This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.

The Break Fast Show #977

August 12, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Rammer – Born in the hardest rock; Bethell Group takes to Takeuchi; you only live twice with Liebherr; and Volvo’s electric efficiency

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: It’s broke, but don’t fix it.

Join host Mark Anthony LIVE for The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.

Demo fleet under the hammer

August 11, 2025 General

The complete fleet of demolition plant, equipment and commercial vehicles previously operated by East Midlands Demolition Ltd is now available for sale via online auction. The assets are being sold on behalf of the liquidators and a major finance company, with the sale managed by BPI Asset Advisory.

The asset disposal features over 300 lots and includes a wide range of high-value and sought-after machinery such as a 2017 McCloskey J40 V2 tracked jaw crusher; a 2020 JCB 100C-2 compact tracked excavator, a 2002 Volvo A25D articulated dump truck, and a 2015 JCB 535-140 telescopic handler. Additional lots include scissor and boom lifts, tipping trailers, bucket attachments, a 2011 Scania R440 tractor unit, and a selection of commercial vans from Citroen, Ford, Mercedes, and Vauxhall.

The sale is expected to attract interest from demolition and construction companies, plant hire businesses, contractors, and other operators looking to acquire quality, well-maintained assets at auction value.

The assets are located in Derby (DE21), with viewing available by appointment only on Tuesday 2nd September.

Interested parties are invited to contact Carol Allen at carol.allen@bpiaa.com to arrange a booking.

The online auction will close on Wednesday 3rd September.

I am a diggerholic

August 11, 2025 Long Form

I have a condition. It’s an obsession, an addiction, and a compulsion, all rolled into one. Thankfully, my condition is not life-threatening. But it is life-altering. My condition is entirely self-diagnosed; but based upon the overwhelming evidence, I feel that a medical diagnosis would be purely academic.

It is time for me to come clean about my issue. So this is my confession. My name is Mark, and I am a diggerholic.

Now admittedly, I have been writing about demolition and construction equipment for three and a half decades, so it is not surprising that I have a fondness for the subject.

So how do I know that my fondness has grown into an obsession? Allow me to give you a few very recent examples.

This article continues on Demolition Insider. Please use the link below to access this article FOR FREE.

The Break Fast Show #976

August 11, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Volvo unveils its next generation of wheel loaders; Develon shows off its latest materials handler; Kemroc rips rock; and Komatsu Smart Construction gets smarter still.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: I am a diggerholic. And you might be too.

After a two-week absence, Mark Anthony returns LIVE with The Break Fast Show – the ONLY daily LiveStream built exclusively for demolition, construction, and equipment fanatics worldwide.

Breaking news. Expert views. Unmissable videos. Raw opinions. If it matters in the industry, we’re talking about it – LIVE.

Test your knowledge with the Mystery Machine, have your say in the Question of the Day, and don’t miss Mark’s Morning Monologue – a no-holds-barred take on the hottest topics.

And when the show’s done, the conversation’s just getting started. Stick around for The Craic, our legendary after-show chat!

Set your alarm. Grab your coffee. It’s time to break fast, and to break new ground.