Just my view of the situation. It appears if you have the financial wherewithall and the knowledge/experience then you can justify a longreach. If you don't, then you tend to denigrate the advantages of such a machine. If you wish to bring down an eight story building floor by floor, I wish you the best. We just brought down an eight story building, tight quarters etc. in 2 ten hour days. Salvage/Debris was loaded out by a minimal crew in 4 days. I didn't have to wear myself out building ramps, exposures were easily protected and 32,000 square feet a day was left in the rubble pile. In any event, I used to work for a fellow who used a shovel when a backhoe was nearby, a peavey when a crane was nearby and wrecked and loaded with a crane and clam bucket when an excavator was nearby. How times change!