When Roger Beck founded Beck Construction in 1968, the company was primarily an excavation and grading contractor. Thirty-five years later, the company, now named Beck Equipment Inc., prides itself in its commitment to good, used equipment. With years of industry experience under its belt, the company has proven its used machinery is a value to its customers.
The Beck Equipment story began soon after Roger Beck returned from a tour in Vietnam, where he served in the Navy’s construction battalion. Beck, who holds an engineering degree from Cornell University, purchased three Cat D8 2U Series dozers and used them in pond construction and site work. As Beck Construction achieved many successes, it expanded its inventory to include a fleet of scrapers and worked out of a building in McLean, NY.
Beck Equipment’s dedication to used construction equipment came soon after, when the company began to branch out into selling and renting used machinery. Beginning in the mid-’70s and throughout the ’80s, sales and rentals became an increasingly large part of Beck’s total sales, leading the company to drop the contracting part of the business in the early ’90s.
With a primary focus on rentals, Beck Equipment provides its customers with an extensive variety of rental equipment — all available on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
The company’s 25,000- sq.-ft. (2,323 sq m) facility in Preble, NY, is home to 21 employees and the more than 200 machines and 400 buckets and attachments in its inventory, which includes dozers, loaders, excavators, loader backhoes, compactors, graders, scrapers, screening plants and haul trucks.
The company has excavators up to the 100,000-lb. (45,359 kg) category and dozers up to the D9 size. Beck also has a fleet of service trucks that play an important role in quickly servicing the equipment the company rents.
Beck Equipment’s contracting background has played an important role in its success.
In 1995, current Vice President Tim Morse joined Roger Beck. With 10 years of experience operating a contracting firm, Morse has been a major benefit to the company. Since his arrival, he has played a big part in doubling Beck’s total sales, and the company’s rental revenue increases regularly.
Jack Whyte, Beck service manager, has been with the company for 21 years. According to Roger Beck, White is a dedicated, loyal and reliable employee who’s been a key player in Beck’s success.
Beck Equipment’s sales market is not only limited to the northeastern United States. As equipment transactions take place nationally and internationally, it is not uncommon for the company to sell packages of five or six pieces of equipment to a single buyer. Beck’s largest sale — a Cat 375 hydraulic excavator — took place in Virginia.
According to Roger Beck, the company’s most notable achievement is that it has managed to develop a strong reputation for reliably representing its equipment. Because Beck Equipment rebuilds, repairs and tries out the equipment it sells, the company is able to offer a warranty on most of its equipment.
Roger Beck’s commitment to quality products comes from his years of industry experience, in which he has seen many changes.
“Throughout my history,” he said, “contractors continue to rent more and more. They don’t seem to keep equipment for nearly as long as they used to. It’s not uncommon to see a contractor purchase a piece for a single job and then turn it over.
“Contractors don’t want to get involved in serious maintenance or service programs anymore so they tend to keep newer equipment in their inventory,” Beck noted. “There is certainly a greatly increased demand for reliable equipment these days.”
For more information call 607/749-7950.
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