Report to EGG about Bumpa

---Hey, sorry to have missed your request. ---Bumpa is all it is reported to be IF & WHEN you need it. Upon reflection I might not have bought it due to the down economy and slow business. I am a low overhead guy and buying equipment in a down economy is a no-no. ---So we have used it 4x in about a year and half. One was for another contractor who borrowed it. That is another issue. Now that I have it my friends all want to borrow it. Loaning equipment is a fast way to equipment breaking and NOT working when I need it. ---It has a 37 foot reach so it will reach most areas for residential. It is very quiet. It requires 2 guys to set up and those guys on the video are very experienced and strong. It is not that easy to set up. It weighs about 300 lbs so getting it on my pickup ladder rack is a 2 man job with several grunts. On the job it takes us about 10 minutes to set up. ---We don't set it up like they do. We don't stand it straight up. We lay it on its side and unfold it that way. Much easier and far less dangerous. I by myself can grab the end and pull it up the ladder to position it on the roof. That is the light weight end. The motor end stays on the ground. ---There is a remote control box that attatches to the end on the roof so the receiver of material can start and stop it as needed. ---The last time we used it was about 3 weeks ago for another contractor. We loaded heavy shakes (100 lbs/ bundle). 2 guys on the ground bringing the bundles about 100 feet to the Bumpa from the driveway. Me and another guy on the 8/12 roof receiving the bundles. I took them off the Bumpa and the other guy moved them across the toe boards. It took 4 guys 2 hours for 18 sq. But it was WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better then bucking them up a ladder. ---Bumpa is great when you need it. However, how often do we really need it? That is the key issue for me and I am thinking I just don't need it enough to justify buying it. Lanny

That sounds alot like the advantages I had with the Lift conveyors. I've had four over the years, 2 bought new and 2 used. Unfortunately my last working one got blown off a roof about two years ago and now I'm without.

Using two of them with a middle relay guy, you could access really impossible sites. Mine were 41' and 36' The new ones I bought were around $3,000, the used ones around $1200. The ability to leave whole sides unloaded and uncluttered for areas for cutting hips or storing garbage or stringing ropes etc. really helps with tile, as I imagine it would with shakes. It enabled us to have a 'kanban' (just-in-time) system for the materials instead of what's most convenient for the supplier.

---I bought this one used from a guy in California. He drove up to me and delivered it which was nice. I have never contacted Bumpa or any outlet that sells them nor do I know of any. I have seen some lifts that run up a regular ladder. While they can do the job I doubt they have the versatility of the Bumpa. ---Bumpa will reach 37 feet but I could set it up on the back of our truckbed and reach another 8 feet if needed. Since the material would be in the truck anyway that might be needed sometime. ---We used it on a Grand Canyon job about 6 months ago with 200+ bundles. The delivery truck could not go down the customer's driveway. It worked like a charm. We set it up the first day and would send up about 40 bundles. Then we would install and repeat when we needed more bundles. We left it set up for 4 days while we completed the job. It was nice not having to load all 200+ plus bundles at once. Lanny

Thanks lanny. That one time is usually all it takes to convince me I parted with the right money, but I agree...still sitting on the fence. Trouble is, when you need it you need it NOW, not in ten days or something. It's the kind of thing you wish you could rent for a price not too dear as your friend did with yours. Not sure if they are even marketing them any more; do you have any follow-up contact with them?

WE have an extendo forklift and that will do most of what we want to do!