The OTHER fuel crisis

May 8, 2025 General

Demolition and construction companies claim that their workers are their greatest asset. So explain this.

A company will spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a new excavator. Over the next few years, they will lavish that machine with the finest fuels and lubricants money can buy. The machine might only be in the fleet for four or five years, but during that time it will be inspected, maintained, cleaned and polished. Because machinery is sacred. Fuel is critical. Maintenance is mandatory.

Now consider the operator in the cab. Over the course of his or her career, they will cost as much as that excavator. And they will potentially stick around for 20 or 30 years. Yet they are fuelled by whatever they can grab on the go. A cold pasty. A Greggs sausage roll. A supermarket meal deal if there’s time. Washed down with a lukewarm energy drink or instant coffee from a flask older than they are.

We treat our machines like royalty. And we treat our people like dustbins.

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The Break Fast Show #929

May 8, 2025 Video

In today’s show: How CASE made an Impact; XCMG unveils its latest telescopic handler; we’re off to China to see the construction of the world’s tallest suspension bridge; and in our latest Bauma stand tour, we are checking out both Sumitomo and MST.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: The fuel crisis no-one is talking about.

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.

Industry’s imposed insecurity

May 7, 2025 Comment

Constant pressure from above equates to a constant threat of reprimand, punishment or dismissal. Constant concern over whether you’ll be paid this week, next week, or the week after. Constant worry that you might be replaced by someone less experienced and, therefore, cheaper than you. Constant fear that work will dry up or that your employer won’t keep its order book filled. Constant anxiety about what’s happening back home while you’re working away: Are the kids behaving? Are you missing all their formative years? Is your spouse coping, or lonely? Is the house secure? Is your marriage? Are your colleagues as skilled as they claim to be? Or are they drunk, high, or simply not up to the job?

Every one of these fears and worries chips away at the foundations of a worker’s wellbeing. Separately, they’re difficult. Together, they’re crushing.

And they all boil down to a single word: insecurity.

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The Break Fast Show #928

May 7, 2025 Video

In today’s show: Weidemann goes all electric with its latest loader; Liebherr harnesses camera tech to make sites safer; if we can’t go up, perhaps we need to go down – A look at the concept of “earthscrapers”; and in the latest instalment of The Break Fast Show at Bauma, we are touring the Kobelco stand.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Imposed insecurity.

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.

Construction’s lack of consequences

May 6, 2025 Comment

A construction company boss folds his failing company, leaving the supply chain in disarray. Workers unpaid, scaffolders chasing invoices, plant hire firms stuck with damaged kit and no recompense. And just when the dust settles, he reappears. New logo. New name. Same game. Same man. He re-emerges without a scratch, as if the chaos he left behind was someone else’s doing. No shame. No apology. No remorse.

A demolition worker who doesn’t show up. No message. No call. Just a machine sitting idle, its engine off, its potential squandered. An entire crew down to half pace because one man couldn’t be bothered. No formal warning. No deduction. He’s back the next day, joking like nothing happened. And somehow, he keeps his job.

A civil engineering project, sold at one price, pitched to win. Now it’s ballooned. 30, 40, even 50 percent over budget. Stakeholders gasp, politicians duck for cover, and the public sighs. But nobody gets fired. Nobody’s held accountable. They just chalk it up to “scope creep” or “market volatility.” You want the truth? It was never going to be delivered at that price. Everyone with half a brain knew.

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The Break Fast Show #927

May 6, 2025 Video

In today’s show: A US customer talks about his love for the Cat 988GC wheel loader; Wacker Neuson’s new telehandler is a speed demon; and we’re going underground to check out some autonomous mining equipment from Sandvik.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Construction’s lack of consequences.

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.

Ethical free-fall

May 5, 2025 Comment

In the past few weeks, the UK construction and demolition sector has been rocked by a series of corruption scandals that expose a deeply entrenched culture of unethical practices.

From bribery and bid-rigging to fraud and collusion, these cases reveal systemic issues that threaten the integrity of an industry vital to the nation’s infrastructure and economy. They also paint a picture of an industry in ethical free-fall.

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Scotland’s “jobs for pals” scandal

May 2, 2025 Collusion

Police in Scotland are investigating a leaked tape recording in which South Ayrshire’s Conservative leader appears to promise to help “pals” win multi-million pound demolition contracts.

In the recording of a meeting at the council’s offices in 2023 Martin Dowey – a former police officer – states: “You will be told the quotes are coming out. You put in your price, we will give you a guestimate of what is happening.”

And he appears to tell the businessman he can help him win work including a deal to demolish Ayr’s fire ravaged Station Hotel.

Although he has now resigned, Dowey has denied doing anything wrong and claims he informed police of the meeting himself in 2023.

In the recording of a meeting at the council’s offices in 2023 Dowey – a former police officer – states: “You will be told the quotes are coming out. You put in your price, we will give you a guestimate of what is happening. If you are in the last three you will get the quote. You will get it. That’s easy, that’s not a problem.

“The problem arises if you are not in the final three, I can’t do anything about that, so it’s up to us getting a proper price from you.”

He added: “If you are in the final three we decide who we pick but if you are not in the final three I can’t say ‘wait a minute, my pals aren’t on it’ or whatever, you canny say that.”

Discussing Ayr’s Station Hotel, which was being demolished after a fire, the businessman asks: “Is that a definite for us to get that one?”

Dowey answers: “Nobody else can do it, we have had companies out before you arrived on the scene, they don’t know how to do it, they are struggling, you put it in, you put your bid in. Don’t email Mike, put your bid in as normal and you will get the contract.”

Read more here.

Bureaucracy gone mad

May 2, 2025 General

We live in an age where it’s easier to demolish a tower block than to navigate the regulatory minefield leading up to it. I’ve been around this game over thirty years, and if you think the walls are what stand in the way, think again. It’s the wall of red tape. And it’s getting thicker by the day.

There was a time — not saying it was perfect — but there was a time when if a structure was unstable, unsafe, or unwanted, you’d size it up, brief the crew, fire up the gear, and do the job. Now? Now you have to conduct a pre-demolition audit, followed by an asbestos survey, a bat survey, an ecological impact study, noise impact assessment, vibration risk assessment, dust control plan, waste management plan, heritage consultation, traffic management plan, community engagement report, and I shit you not — a “considerate constructor” pledge.

And that’s before you’ve lifted so much as a clipboard.

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The Break Fast Show #926

May 2, 2025 Video

In today’s show: We’re up close with the biggest demolition excavator at Bauma 2025; Cat talks replacement engines; the scariest robot you will ever see; and we’re taking a stroll among the biggest and best attachments that Bauma had to offer.

PLUS in Mark’s Morning Monologue: Bureaucracy gone mad.

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.