United Fence & Construction Co.

Intrepid Travelers

Little Rock’s United Fence and Construction Co., Inc. relies on Cat® Multi Terrain Loaders to tackle jobs on tough terrain

Bill Briggs, Jr., will tell you that no two fence installation projects are alike. Between the weather and the Arkansas terrain, every project Briggs’ United Fence and Construction Co., Inc. crews face poses a unique challenge. And meeting those challenges has been United’s specialty since Bill Briggs, Sr. founded the company in 1953 in Fort Smith, Ark. By the time Bill Jr. started working full time for his father in 1975, the company had set up headquarters in Little Rock. The son took ownership of the company in 1999 and United’s 23 crew members continue to take on jobs throughout the state.

Flotation & Traction
Take the recent Saline County airport project, for example. Rain had fallen unceasingly for days and the United crew was under the gun to install some 40,000 feet of chain link fence around the airport perimeter. Flat lands along the fence right of way were sopped while the steeper slopes were slick with mud. The company relied on its two rubber track Cat® Multi Terrain Loaders (MTL’s) to get the job completed on schedule.

“We wouldn’t have been able to get that job done on time without those machines,” says Briggs, who has purchased Cat 277 and 277B MTL’s from Riggs Cat. His crews have found that the flotation of rubber tracks allow the machine to easily move through the wettest of low lands. On steep, muddy slopes, the rubber tracks offered exceptional traction, stability and security. The two machines are seldom on straight, flat ground.

United is hired to install large fencing projects for commercial, residential, civic and public works projects. If on one day the crews are working in boggy lowlands, the next day they’ll likely be winding a fence somewhere through the state’s mountainous, thick forests. “The undercarriage on the Cat machines have held up exceptionally well in any of these working conditions. And we’ve done a ton of work with them,” says Briggs. “These Multi Terrain Loaders are such productive machines for us because they can go into areas where other machines we’ve used simply can’t go.”

Work Tool Adaptability

While the two MTL’s are equipped with a Cat six-way Variable Power/Angle/Tilt (VPAT) blade used constantly for clearing fence right of ways or leveling dirt, they are also often equipped with 8-, 10- and 12-inch augers for drilling post holes.

But United has gone far beyond the norm by adapting to the machines several work tools crucial to their applications. In regular use is a front-mounted wire fence dispenser which holds 100-foot rolls of fence and dispenses the roll, stretches and tightens the fencing, as the MTL moves along the fenceline. United also uses a front-mounted concrete hopper. Operators load the hopper at a cement mixer, then transport it across the site with the MTL to wherever concrete bases for posts must be poured.

“We don’t buy work tools, just to buy work tools,” notes Briggs. “We use these attachments all the time. They have to perform to our needs.” Other commonly used tools include a wire roller for picking up old fencing, a post puller, buckets and forks. “We’re also looking at mulchers and trenchers,” he adds.

The 277B is equipped with a quick coupler to speed work tool changes. Operator Eric Collins who spends most of his work day on the Cat MTL’s, says, “The quick coupler makes things so easy. I’m constantly changing work tools and when you are doing that all day, quick couplers save a lot of time.”

Collins says the fast, smooth hydraulics of the 277 and 277B are an ideal fit for some of the company’s most sophisticated hydraulic attachments. The thumb roller controls on the hydraulic pilot joystick controls on the 277B, he adds, aid in providing precise work tool operation. “All these features add up to more and bigger production,” he says.

Briggs recalls first looking at rubber track machines during the winter of 2005 when United was scheduled to begin a ballfield project. “It had been raining nonstop. I looked at all the track machines out there and we decided on the Cat MTL for several reasons. First, there’s always the Caterpillar name. The machine was priced competitively. And, it has the suspended undercarriage, which significantly improves the ride. Our operators prefer to use the Cat machines rather than any other machine in our fleet.

“Service and support from Riggs Cat has been excellent. They’ve been there for us. When we started up with that first machine on the ballfield project, their people were out there showing us how to handle that machine until we were up and running smoothly. We do most of our own maintenance, but when we’ve needed service, no matter where we might be working, they’ve been quick to respond.”

“Service and support from Riggs Cat has been excellent. They’ve been there for us. When we started up with that first machine on the ballfield project, their people were out there showing us how to handle that machine until we were up and running smoothly.”

— Bill Riggs, Jr.,
United Fence and
Construction Co., Inc.

Company Profile
United Fence and Construction Co., Inc., Little Rock, Ark.
Principal: Bill Briggs, Jr.
Applications: Commercial, residential, civic and public works fence installation
Cat Fleet: 277 and 277B Multi Terrain Loaders
Caterpillar Dealer: Riggs Cat