The World of Asphalt Show and Conference, held March 13 to 15 in Charlotte, N.C., was an important event for VT LeeBoy Inc., as the company introduced its new Legend 815HD (Heavy Duty) screed to the industry at the event. The new screed was displayed with a LeeBoy 8515B paver.

The 815HD screed has taken the best from LeeBoy's regular Legend screed and made it all bigger to offer commercial contractors enhanced performance on their biggest jobs. The LeeBoy 815HD screed goes from 8 ft. (2.4 m) and the extension is 15 ft. (4.5 m). This screed is an option on the LeeBoy models 8515 and 8510 and will be standard on the new 8616 model that will be introduced later in the summer. The screed is available in electric heat, rather than propane.

Following its debut at The World of Asphalt, both paver and screed were transported to Reynolds-Warren Equipment Company in Lake City, Ga., to be prepped for the first-ever contractor delivery of the new screed.

Once prepared for delivery, the entire machine was then transported to Macon, Ga., and put in the hands of Houston Asphalt, a family owned and operated business serving all of Georgia that has been in operation since 1991.

Houston Asphalt Owner Mark Buckland, had pre-ordered the entire setup for immediate use on a new apartment complex road and parking lot paving job. Houston Asphalt already has another LeeBoy 8515 in its equipment lineup and was eager to try out a tried-and-true paver model with the new screed, which Buckland had seen demoed in North Carolina.

"We went to North Carolina and viewed the demo machine and I liked the way it performed. I noticed the difference in the mat, you could really tell the difference with this new screed," Buckland said. "That's what led us to buy a new paver with the new screed. We usually have about three jobs going on at once and we run nothing but LeeBoy 8515s on our jobs."

Steve Meissen owner of Reynolds-Warren Equipment (Georgia LeeBoy dealer) has been doing business with Buckland for more than 20 years, said, "This is the first screed of this design in operation anywhere in the country. Mark upgrades his equipment on a regular basis, but was impressed with this new screed when we made the trip to North Carolina together to see a demo of it in testing. They were paving a big job up there and both of us wanted to see it and we were talking to the contractor that had it in his hands for several months for testing and were impressed with the mat it lays. We have several pavers ordered with the HD screed and we'll be able to use Mark as an example if someone wants to see how the screed works. Mark's one of my favorite customers. He's a very honest man and his reputation in the paving field is hard to beat. We've just got a great working relationship."

Brian Hall, territory manager, MidSouth Region LeeBoy, Suwanee, Ga., added, "We're really proud that these guys chose to be the first one out of the block with our new screed. We really think it's going to perform well for them and hopefully they'll be ready for the next one in a few years."

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