JLC Cranes Ltd. is a visionary, industry-leading family business that has been on an upward trajectory since its inception in 2017. Building Ireland caught up with hands-on founder / managing director Joe Brouder, who boasts a lifetime of invaluable experience and an unparalleled depth of knowledge in the highly specialist and critical-to-construction realm of cranes.
Providing cutting-edge solutions and exceptional services to meet all crane-related needs, JLC Cranes stands as a beacon of expertise in the construction industry, supplying and erecting a flexible fleet of tower cranes, mobile cranes, spider cranes and truck-mounted cranes to a wide range of projects and sites nationwide.
Although a relatively-new name as JLC was only incorporated seven years ago, with a quarter of a century’s experience and having successfully, safely and professionally completed thousands of projects, founder Joe Brouder is widely regarded across the industry as one of Ireland’s foremost crane experts.
“I started off in the industry in 1999, erecting tower cranes, and have recently got more into mobiles and spiders,” Joe reflects. “It’s in the last two years that I’ve really got into the mobile cranes and that’s an area we’ll be getting more and more into as time goes on.”
Having amassed invaluable experience and expertise whilst working for Casey Cranes for eight years, Joe was involved in a partnership for the best part of a decade before setting up JLC Cranes in 2017. JLC Cranes’ full suite of services is tailored to meet, nay exceed all crane-related needs, offering a growing range of Liebherr mobile cranes, spanning from 5 to 150 tonnes, ensuring that every lifting requirement is met with precision and efficiency.
Meanwhile, their collaboration with WOLFFKRAN brings forth tower cranes with capacities ranging from 6 to 28 tonnes, setting the benchmark for reliability and performance. Additionally, JLC’s spider cranes showcase their commitment to innovation, offering versatile solutions for challenging spaces.
Beyond equipment, JLC is a veritable one-stop shop whose services extend to crane erection and dismantling, executed with meticulous attention to safety and precision. With seasoned expertise and a keen focus on technological advancements, JLC Cranes Ltd. remains dedicated to elevating all projects with unparalleled crane solutions.
Although Joe’s journey began with tower cranes and this remains a key area of expertise, JLC is undergoing a shift towards mobile cranes. “I’ve bought two mobiles in the past two years,” he continues. “In 2022, we bought a Liebherr LTM 130-tonne crane and this year we added an LTM 150-tonne. We’re currently looking at a 60-tonne mobile Liebherr, which we hope to add to the fleet after Christmas – that’ll be our third mobile crane purchased inside three years.
“Mobile cranes are the future and we want to get more into them. The tower crane game is grand and will always be part of what we do, but I’m in my 50s now and tower cranes are a young man’s game. Mobile cranes – and spiders – is where I want to be, going forward. In this line of work, you have to keep investing back into the business and hopefully by this time next year we’ll have five mobile cranes in the fleet.”
Down through the years, JLC Cranes have delivered expert, value-added services to a who’s who of contractors, including Tier One companies like BAM, Hegarty and John Paul, to mention just a few. Joe has had the distinction of looking after all BAM’s tower cranes since 1999 and has an unblemished track record erecting cranes on sites across the globe.
“We’ve worked at Intel – I had a tower crane on the roof there and spider cranes – and I’ve had cranes on site at the new Children’s Hospital for a few years. We did Boland’s Mill, Vision Built and Maltings and Granary, and many other landmark projects, while I have had cranes on sites all over the world, from Ghana to Switzerland, Germany, Holland, etc.
“Thankfully, things remain very busy and there’s strong demand for our services. All of our spider cranes are out at the minute as well as the mobile cranes and we have a number of tower cranes up in the air as we speak. Generally, you will always have a crane or two in the yard. But we have a strong order book going into 2025 and after Christmas I expect to have work for all seven tower cranes.”
Generating employment for a team of 13 at the time of writing, JLC Cranes is an upwardly-mobile family business for which the sky is quite literally the limit. No job is deemed too big or too small, too awkward, or too far away…
Tower cranes soar above construction sites, providing precise and efficient vertical and horizontal load movement. Mobile cranes are versatile, capable of reaching different locations swiftly, while truck-mounted cranes offer mobility and convenience for on-road applications.
For more compact and specialised tasks, spider cranes excel in tight spaces, making them invaluable in urban environments. These crane types collectively cater for a broad spectrum of lifting requirements, ensuring that there is a JLC crane suited for every job, no matter the size or complexity.
“We have a solution for every job,” Joe reiterates. “And we look after everything from start to finish. If I get a tower crane job, I’ll supply, deliver, erect and dismantle it. Everything is handled in-house, using our own equipment and men.
“We provide great cranes and back them up with excellent service. Service is everything and I have never lost a customer over service. You have to look after them all, at the end of the day, and that’s where our focus is. Once you give customers a quality service, then they will stick with you.”
Joe is joined in the day-to-day running of this outstanding family business, which gives the construction industry a welcome lift of a daily basis, by his partner in the office, while the crane-driving team includes a couple of cousins – all of which ensures a keen personal touch.
“I’ve been at this a long time but we’re only getting going, really,” he concludes. “It’s only seven years since I went out on my own and we’re building it up slowly but surely. I’d be very well known in the crane game for tower cranes and mobile cranes. We have the experience and knowhow to consistently deliver high-quality crane solutions, tailored to each individual job – that’s what we intend to keep doing.”
JLC Cranes,
Woodlands,
Rathangan,
County Kildare.
Tel: 045 528864
Mobile: 087 123 4723
Email: [email protected]
Web: jlccranes.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jlccranesltd
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February, Vol 11 No 2
