Bob Dietz and Sons

The Deere 250G diversified the company’s equipment line-up, “but it’s the engcon that makes it special. We can dig deeper, reach farther and lift heavier things,” Brian said, during a welcome break away from the 95-degree (35-degrees Celsius) heat inside the work site’s small air conditioned project trailer.

The biggest difference between using the new large engcon and a smaller model?

“You smile more using the big one,” Tony laughs. “More smiles per hour.”

Their father Bob, started Bob Dietz and Sons, Inc 1976 in New Paltz, New York. He retired recently, and the brothers, who had been operating heavy equipment with their dad since they were kids, took over.

They’ve been growing the business ever since.

“The tech is propelling us so fast forward that it’s crazy,” Brian said. “And engcon is a huge part of that because it eliminates much of the human labor from many jobs.”

Just that morning, Brian said, they sent a pair of engconequipped excavators to a project.

“[Usually]…that would take three or four additional laborers if it was just a standard excavator,” he said. Instead, they sent only two operators, one to a machine.

“So this site,” Brian said, motioning toward the 15-ac condominium project in Marlboro, New York, “has those guys here, working on demolition projects instead of being over there.”

This project is labor intensive, including tree-clearing, cuts and fills, retention ponds, roads and foundations, and digging trenches for water, sewer and electric, grading and more. Excavators equipped with engcon Tiltrotators make a big difference.

“Once you use an engcon, and you see the production, the ease of doing everything you want to do the first time, and not having to reposition the machine to grade something or reach something, you have to have it. When you get into a big machine that doesn’t have that, it’s very frustrating. You feel so limited,” Brian said.

“You can’t say it enough times, once you run (an engcon) you don’t want to run an excavator without it,” Brian added. Not surprisingly, the Dietz brothers have a strong relationship with engcon, even visiting Sweden to see the factory.

“It was cool to see the pride in the employees and the teams,” Brian remembered “Seeing the amount of work that they go through to put these machines through the testing, the amount of abuse, it gives us the confidence that it’s not going to break.”

And the ability to easily switch hydraulic attachments without the driver getting out of the cab is a huge benefit.

“The EC-Oil single handedly takes engcon to another level.” Brian said. “It’s really cool to not leave the seat, unhook and couple into another attachment. You’re always using the right tool.”

There’s more than just a little left of those kids that scampered into the cabs of their dad’s machines all those years ago. They still have a joy and enthusiasm for what they do, and that may be a part of what makes them so successful.

“If you’re running a mini excavator, it’s enjoyable,” Tony said, “but you get in a monster excavator?” His eyes lit-up and he added, “It’s FUN! That’s living!”

About their future with engcon, Tony added: “engcon allows us to grow without adding more people in the moment. You can send two guys and accomplish what is four guys’ work.” And that’s important when you have nearly 20 projects in the works, including work for the new Klocke Distillery in Claverack, NY, the Wylder Resort in Windham, NY, and multiple luxury home projects.

Brian said the Dietz company intends to continue to grow with engcon. “We see the return on it…they pay for themselves quickly. I think it raises even the quality of your work, even an average operator can do higher quality work. It gives the operator more options,” especially in tight space.

New technologies, including engcon’s, enables mid-size companies like Dietz and Sons to compete against larger competition.

And that’s exactly what they intend to do.