Gaining a Competitive Advantage Through Technology
Cody Taxacher embodies the classic landscaper story; the guy who started out mowing neighbors’ grass and just kept growing. As the business grew, so did the work and Cody saw a niche opportunity for completing smaller jobs so he purchased an excavator. Today, the Connellsville-based Taxacher Specialties performs municipal sewer and water lines, road cutting, land clearing, and grave digging – basically a little bit of everything.
Accuracy is Key
Through it all, Taxacher works to stay ahead of the competition, which is why he recently acquired a
Trimble GCSFlex Grade Control System and Level Best Laser Grading Box from SITECH Allegheny, a division of Cleveland Brothers.
“I want everything to be dead-on accurate when I go do a job,” says Taxacher. “If someone says they want four inches of gravel in their driveway, I can give them four inches.”
Using the Level Best for cutting roads gets everything perfectly on grade, cutting time by a least one third.
“Any kind of flat work that needs to be super-precise, we get that out,” Taxacher says. “It eliminates our
need for using the grade rod and rake like we used to.”
Using Level Best on his Cat® 299D compact track loader, Taxacher can assure that customers waste no
concrete or gravel. “You don’t over dig by three feet and have to put in three feet of gravel,” he says. “You
dig it. You know everything’s right.”
One System Providing Efficient Results
Taxacher Specialties digs about 425 graves a year for 48 cemeteries. With the Trimble GCSFlex, acquired in March 2016, a job that once took nearly an hour per grave now takes 20 to 30 minutes. Employed on excavators, the Trimble system is “our tape measure in the cab,” Taxacher says. “You get in the machine, and you never have to leave the cab. There’s a little computer screen, you follow it, and it does everything for you.”
The GCSFlex system works year-round, seven days a week, in any conditions. True to its name, the system is indeed flexible and is easily installed between Cat and non-Cat machines within the Taxacher fleet.
“You can move it from one machine to another. It’s very versatile,” says Taxacher. “You can have three pieces of equipment and transfer one flex system from one to the other once it is installed. It’s very nice and saves a lot of money.”
Using Technology to Set them Apart from the Competition
The two systems help Taxacher Specialties perform efficiently and deliver on his promises. Today, customers “want to see some technology when you come to the job. They want something to be completely accurate,” says Taxacher.
For Taxacher Specialties, minimizing waste was a selling point, and so were the responsive sales and
service departments at SITECH Allegheny, which offers construction technology solutions to help customers leverage innovative technology to reduce operating costs, and improve accuracy, safety, and productivity.
Taxacher recalls one Friday before a holiday weekend when a wire problem surfaced on the Trimble.
“I called at 8 a.m., and they were there by noon,” he says. “We had graves to dig all weekend. I said, ‘Guys, we need to get this fixed,’ and they had two crews out there that day.”
Having no prior experience with either system, Taxacher’s sales rep walked him through the new technology. Both systems have been a game changer for the business – giving Taxacher Specialties the competitive advantage.