Just to play devils advocate I suppose you could say that the technology creates a new skillset that must be learned. That being said, I see where you are coming from; I guess it has a lot to do with a company's bottom line. I know I can't afford one so I tend to stick to what I can reach, so to speak. I have used high reach equipmenet in the past and am ambivalent. I have seen them used correctly and seen them used where they were absolutely unecessary.

That is a great question. I don’t know if we have lost touch in a sense. It is just the way things and technology is going. With buildings getting built closer and closer together, the industry has to come up with new ways to combat these things.

I think some of it is that XYZ Company has one so now for me to compete I need one also. I have only seen a couple of projects that used them and they were effective, but I think that was mainly the operator. Like demobud I have seen them used on a couple of projects and thought what the heck are they doing.

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I have to say I'm really impressed with how some of the European companies are adapting miniexes for taller building demo; using them to bring tight structures down from the inside out, one floor at a time (kinda like we used to in the old days with sledges and wheel barrows).

My Greek partner, Nikos, has truly impressed me with the execution of multi-stories demolition with minis. He came over and assisted me with a seperation on an 8-story hospital in Memphis. I was nicely educated on simplicity and economics.
I watched him do a 5-story in Thessaloniki, Greece at a rate of a floor every 2 days until it was excavator height. Saved alot with just the minis...fuel, space, efficiency and time.

They do seem to be efficient when the due the work that way.

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High reach not always necessary. I watched an amazing job go down with a CAT 365 downtown today. The operator built a huge ramp with debris from the neighboring building that he had just demo'ed and cleverly used that to climb up to reach up to the fifth story of the building he was tearing down. The 365 did the job perfectly, with no high reach or extended boom necessary. Just awesome to watch the power in that 365 machine too.

Although our machine is not a true "highreach" it did cost me $55k to put together on our base machine giving us 45' of working reach with a 200. We just used it to remove 22,000 sf of exterior stucco off of plywood in about 24 hours. The formula looks like this. $$+$$$=$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And if you calculate in the fact we haul this machine behind our hooklift requiring only a $28.00 permit you can throw a few more of these in the bank $$$$$$$$.

I would have to assume that if you can justify the cost over a long term basis, kudos to you. It appeared to faciltate a particular need immediately. I just hope it doesn't get rusty in the yard.
Mazzochi/LVI seem to keep their high reaches busy.
I can still floor by floor quicker and trip more square feet in a day than any high reach. Red Mandell can prove the same doing floor by floor too! He's the best at it.
When you can demo about 32,000 sq.ft. a day of an eight story (heavy r/c)with your high reach call me. I'd enjoy doing the time study for you!

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!