Working for housebuilders in the north-east of Scotland has been the bedrock of growth for Huntly in Aberdeenshire-based A&A Elphinstone, and Doosan and Bobcat machines are helping to power their expansion.
“I spent my early years working for a company that hired machines out to groundworks companies and realised that it was something I wanted to do myself,” explains Andy Elphinstone, owner of A&A Elphinstone. “So I started my own business – first with one machine working on private projects and gradually expanding to take on larger and larger contracts.”
The company provides a wide range of services, covering many different groundworks and paving applications. These include building works, drainage, sewers, roads, track works, winter maintenance, lockblock, kerbing, tarring, slabbing and concrete work and imprints.
“We take great pride in our work and treat every project with the same level of care and attention,” continues Andy. “As a result, we have been chosen to carry out projects all over North East Scotland.”
A&A Elphinstone generally provides a turnkey approach, taking on projects from start to finish, from preparing construction sites and laying the foundations and drainage for new homes to putting in driveways, footpaths and landscaping once the homes have been built, as Andy explains: “We are usually the first and last trades working on site. We start the job putting in levels, digging the ground, excavating and concreting the foundations, and building the foundations until the floor is on and the work is up to the damp proof course.”
New Doosan and Bobcat Excavators
To power the company’s expansion, A&A Elphinstone has recently purchased several new Doosan and Bobcat excavators from Inverurie-based Balgownie, the local Authorised Doosan and Bobcat dealer. A&A Elphinstone has added new Doosan 22 tonne DX225LC-5, 14 tonne DX140LC-5 and 8 tonne DX85R-3 excavator models as well as Bobcat E20 and E85 mini-excavators.
“I have been very impressed with the performance of the Doosan and Bobcat machines, which we use in every part of the business and we receive excellent back-up from Balgownie to ensure we get the maximum uptime,” said Andy Elphinstone.
Balgownie customers like A&A Elphinstone benefit from superb on-site service networks, covering everything from emergency repairs to routine maintenance. The company’s factory-trained engineers have many years of hands-on experience of repairs and servicing of plant and machinery.
As well as covering existing contracts, Balgownie provides flexible service agreements, depending on the requirements of the customer. They offer service and warranty work on all existing Doosan and Bobcat machines in their areas, backed by a full selection of genuine accessories and parts. Balgownie holds a stock of new and used Doosan and Bobcat branded machines, to respond quickly to customers’ needs.
The New Machine Fleet at Elphinstone
The Doosan DX225LC-5 crawler excavator is powered by the well-proven 6-cylinder, turbocharged Doosan DL06P water-cooled diesel engine, providing a high power output of 124 kW (166 HP) at 1,800 RPM. It combines plenty of power with high torque at a lower number of revolutions, ensuring higher reliability over time than other 21 tonne machines, which have 4-cylinder engines running at much higher revs.
Andy Elphinstone added: “The new Doosan and Bobcat machines have helped us expand in the housing market, but we’ve also been busy in industrial and private sector work. The 22-tonner does most of the heavy digging work on the sites supported by the DX140LC-5 which is also good for digging out foundations and for drainage work.”
Like the DX225LC-5, the DX140LC-5 is also part of the company’s ‘LC-5’ range of machines meeting Stage IV emission regulations. It offers much more than the previous Stage IIIB model, with extra engine power and torque, higher traction boosted by an increase in drawbar pull of about 18 per cent and front lifting capacity increased on average by 10 per cent and side capacities 12.5 per cent higher.
Like all Doosan Stage IV compliant excavators, wheel loaders and articulated dump trucks (ADTs), the DX225LC-5 and DX140LC-5 offer the advantage that there is no Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) needed, relying solely on Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) to meet Stage IV emission requirements.
The DX85R-3 8 tonne reduced tail swing excavator from Doosan is powered by a Yanmar 4TNV98C diesel engine providing 44.3 kW of power at a rated speed of 2,100 rpm. Complementing the 10 per cent increase in power over the previous DX80R model, the DX85R-3 excavator offers excellent fuel efficiency, among the best in its class. The bucket digging force of 6.3 tonne also represents an increase of 12 per cent over the previous model.
