Clearview Demolition grows with Link-Belt excavators

Tearing down buildings made of concrete and steel is incredibly rough on heavy equipment, and Clearview Demolition, a B.C.-based demolition contractor with extensive experience in industrial, commercial, and residential demolition, has come to rely on Inland Truck and Equipment to supply a range of heavy-duty Link-Belt machines to satisfy its diverse demolition job sites.

The Clearview Demolition story

Clearview Demolition Ltd has a long history of demolishing buildings in B.C.; however, the company didn't start with demolition. The company was originally incorporated in 2006 as Clearview Grinding, a new venture for Mike Lalonde, who owned Blue Pine Enterprises, a company focused on land clearing, mulching, and grinding with a handful of excavators. In 2008, Brad Morrison (a friend of Lalonde's since Jr. High) joined the Clearview Grinding team to shift the company's focus in a new direction: demolition.

Clearview Grinding's first large project was to demolish a large plot of houses for BC Housing. Once abatement had been completed, Clearview Grinding used a Morbark 4600 grinder to grind up all wood on site, recovering 96 percent of the material. Clearview Grinding was the first company to use a grinder for this type of project, reducing waste sent to landfills; ground materials were sold as fuel. 

As the company continued to grow, taking on other demolition projects, the name was changed to Clearview Demolition. Clearview Demolition was soon working on bridge, high rise, and pulp mill demolition projects; the company purchased a mobile crusher for concrete recycling and later acquired excavator-mounted shears to recycle steel. Clearview Demolition's first large project, a pulp and paper mill in Prince Rupert, required the complete demolition and recycling of the mill facility and surrounding infrastructure. 

"Once you get a few of those projects under your belt, you get to be known as the guys," says Morrison, now general manager of Clearview Demolition. 

The company acquired its first high-reach excavator, originally spotted at a 2010 demolition conference in Las Vegas, in 2013 out of California. Adding the first high-reach machine to its fleet helped Clearview take on projects like a 10-storey high-rise project in Richmond and a building fire demolition project on Granville Street in Vancouver. The high-reach machine proved advantageous, as it could be positioned in the parking lot to preserve the building's concrete slab.

Today Clearview Demolition has over 60 employees, 60+ pieces of heavy equipment, and is solely focused on industrial, commercial, and residential demolition across Canada. And, Morrison notes, "We focus on one thing, and we are very good at it." 

Clearview's sister company, Blue Pine Enterprises, still operates and focuses on commercial landscaping, specializing in lock block walls and detail work.

Clearview grows its fleet with a variety of Link-Belt machines

Clearview's fleet of equipment has expanded as the company has grown in the demolition space. Clearview has owned multiple brands of equipment, but now acquires primarily Link-Belt excavators and operates the largest Link-Belt excavator fleet in Western Canada, with 17 machines.
 
Clearview purchased its first two Link-Belt 350 excavators in 2019. "We were looking to try something different, we tested a few machines side by side, the Link-Belt price point was good, comfort was great, and fuel burn was less than other machines," says Morrison. 

The company operates Link-Belt's 15-metric-ton 145 through to 245, 300, 350, 355, and up to the 490, which weighs in at 52 metric tons.

"Our overall operating costs have dropped. We are not easy on gear, we are hammering concrete, shearing steel, wrecking buildings," notes Morrison.

Sold and serviced by Inland Truck and Equipment in British Columbia, the expansive Link-Belt product line covers nine conventional sizes from 13 to 75 tons in the construction, forestry, and material handler categories. 

LBX Company recently celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Link-Belt brand, which started with the link-belt drive chain patented by William Dana Ewart 1874. The company started building crawler-mounted crane shovels, forerunners of modern excavators in the 1920s. In 1998, the excavator division of Link-Belt Construction Equipment Co., LBX Company, was formed and headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Today, Link-Belt excavators are manufactured in Chiba, Japan, and a new manufacturing plant recently opened in Indonesia. 

Clearview has equipped each Link-Belt machine with demolition attachments, such as second member shears, pulverizers, hydraulic hammers, grapples, and magnetic buckets. All 17 excavators are set up with rotate hydraulic circuits and dedicated extra hydraulic flow circuits to run second member shears, grapples, and hydraulic hammers. 

Clearview currently has second member LaBounty shears on four Link-Belt excavators and a Hitachi machine: a Link-Belt 145 with LaBounty 100, three Link-Belt 350 excavators with LaBounty 2500 shears, and a Hitachi EX800 excavator with a LaBounty 7500. 

On Clearview's newer 2023 Link-Belt 355 X4S excavator, prioritizing the hydraulic energy to swing motor, boom, or stick function is done through the new 10-inch in-cab screen. 

"Changing hydraulic prioritization circuits is as simple as pushing a button on the console and selecting what circuit you want to prioritize on the screen," says Mark Williams, equipment specialist with Inland Truck and Equipment. 

Clearview is also looking ahead at configuring a Link-Belt excavator for high-reach applications using a 350 or larger machine as the carrier and customizing it with a third-party high-reach boom and work tool.

Clearview's excavators are versatile for B.C. demolition jobs

You can find Clearview's fleet of Link-Belt excavators on demolition projects throughout B.C.'s lower mainland and beyond. While common for civil contractors, the zero-tail-swing machines aren't what you would expect on a demolition project; however, they have proved very advantageous for Clearview. 

The Link-Belt 145 and 245 zero-tail-swing machines have been versatile for select demolition of homes on a land redevelopment project. Due to permitting, only certain structures could be removed, with some relocated completely instead of being demolished. Clearview's zero-swing fleet went to work removing garages, grubbing around homes needing relocation, and demolishing houses in close quarters while preserving adjacent structures. The zero-tail-swing machines were also ideal for demolition work on concrete slabs where machine weight is restricted but the performance of a full-size machine is expected. 

"These machines have lots of power, Bluetooth is great, and they are comfortable for a full day's work," says Sasha Penner, heavy equipment operator for Clearview Demolition. 

On a five-storey abatement and demolition project at UBC Vancouver, an old research facility, Clearview deployed a Link-Belt 210 excavator fitted with magnetic bucket for sorting steel from concrete, a 300 excavator with a concrete pulverizer attachment, and a 490 excavator with bucket and thumb for demolition of the structure. 

Clearview's Link-Belt 300 X4 HD excavator is a heavy-duty series machine to handle tough demolition applications. New as of 2023, the HD series machine builds upon the standard excavator, but is specialized for tough applications like demolition, land clearing, heavy excavation, and pipeline work. Available in the 210, 250, and 300 sizes, the HD series uses standard house with heavy-duty boom and stick set-up, boom cylinders mounted underneath giving 4 to 6 feet of extra reach. The undercarriage is upgraded with a high and wide road builder style that provides extra clearance and adds height to the machine. Rock guards and belly pan are included. 

"Our work is in the air all the time. With civil guys it's how deep can you go, for us it's how high can we reach," says Morrison. Providing a good operator experience is also important, and operator feedback on the excavators has been great. 

"[It's a] very comfortable machine, easy to operate, easy to get into versus other machines," mentions Ethan Nikula, heavy equipment operator of seven years with Clearview Demolition, operating the 490 X4. 

"Super comfortable, great on fuel, lots of power compared to other brands of equipment in our fleet — reliable and smooth," says John Bailey, heavy equipment operator with Clearview Demolition, running a 300 X4 used to topple the walls of a self-storage building. 

The new X4 Link-Belt machines come with an updated cab complete with air ride seats, comfortable joysticks with endless adjustable positions, a large monitor, Bluetooth, and a quiet operating experience.

Unparalleled support is available — if it's needed

Equipment is only as good as the support and service you can get for it, and Inland Truck and Equipment has been available to support Clearview Demolition's fleet from day one — but these robust machines haven't needed it.

"I'd love to comment on the service, but we have never had to bring them in," says Morrison. Clearview does regular maintenance in house and has never had to bring a machine in for major repairs or rebuilds. LBX offers a 5-year or 5,000-hour full-machine warranty, which includes complimentary oil sampling of major fluid circuits to catch any issues early. 

Inland Truck and Equipment genuinely cares about its customers, taking Clearview to Chiba, Japan, where they got a first-hand look at the factory where 32 machines per day come off the assembly line. 

"What I thought was most impressive, when we finished the factory tour, all engineers from LBX were sitting there asking for our feedback on their product," says Morrison. Customer feedback is important to LBX, so much so that when Clearview returned to B.C., feedback from operators was gathered at their annual company meeting and sent back to LBX. Whether it be major or minor improvements, customer feedback remains an important part of LBX's business building heavy equipment.

Clearview stays connected to its machines with telematics

Link-Belt's new RemoteCARE app allows for complete monitoring of all aspects of a fleet. Valuable telematics data like fuel levels, diesel exhaust fluid levels, machine start and finish times, and service codes can be viewed all in one easy to use portal. 

"Whether you have one machine, or you have 17 machines like Clearview Demolition, you load your serial number into the app and see everything about your equipment," explains Lalonde. Valuable data insights like idle time can be referenced in the app to trigger the auto off function, saving fuel and keeping hours down on equipment. A map shows the location of all equipment in real time, allowing for accurate and quick asset tracking. Link-Belt's RemoteCARE has no subscription fee and it stays with the machine for its life, meaning future owners can also use it. 

Clearview has already realized the benefit of RemoteCARE. For instance, when planning future projects, knowing asset location in real-time assists in planning logistics and offers a superior real-time database compared to a spreadsheet.

"The GPS on RemoteCARE has been awesome to track all our equipment, and helps us plan future projects," says Richard Thomson, project manager with Clearview Demolition. Even in instances where an attachment was misplaced, Clearview can track that machine's location history up to one year prior to locate where an attachment may have been left on site. Other valuable data such as service codes or alerts from machines notify Clearview's mechanics of issues and what parts may be needed before they go out into the field. 

"I meet with Travis Scott, Clearview's head mechanic, and he tracks all maintenance through the app to get a snapshot of where equipment is at in servicing phases. Instead of frantically running around, he can plan preventive maintenance services through the app," says Lalonde. 

The RemoteCARE app has proven itself numerous times; one instance was during demolition of a derelict storage facility with insulation. The excavator radiator became clogged with insulation debris, causing an elevated temperature alarm. Clearview's mechanics became aware of the issue and instructed the operator to clean the radiator without having to go into the field to troubleshoot. With multiple assets spread out on job sites across B.C., the app also provides peace of mind with its security features; the RemoteCARE software can be set to produce anti-theft alerts, notifying Clearview of unplanned equipment start-ups and moves. 

Looking ahead, Clearview Demolition plans to continually add Link-Belt machines to its fleet to take on more demolition projects throughout Western Canada. In the demolition business, you never know who is going to call with the next project — but when they do, Clearview Demolition and its fleet will be ready.

Mack Plovie is the president and chief dirt enthusiast of Earthmovers Media Group.