Precision in the Park

Out in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia, where the nearest dealer can be hours away from the job site, machine durability and ease of maintenance are key for keeping downtime to a minimum.

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For Proform Civil owner Dale Weerts, Caterpillar® machinery purchased through local dealer WesTrac has provided the comfort, accuracy and reliability he needs to undertake road building, car park construction and bulk earthworks in WA.

Having set up his family business in 2013, and with the support of the dealer, Dale has built up a fleet of Caterpillar machinery that has allowed the business to take on challenging bulk earthworks to a tight schedule and with minimal disruption to a National Park site.

Earthmoving Equipment Magazine caught up with Dale after the recent completion of a major road build and car park project for the State Government to learn more about Proform Civil and how Caterpillar's machinery design and cutting-edge technology has helped him grow his business.

From design to digging

"I started out doing civil design work," Dale said. "I worked with local governments and ended up working with Rio Tinto for a bit as well, doing a lot of design work on roads, railways and culverts. It got to the point where, as I was sat there designing projects at my computer, I wondered how I would go about building it." This, he says, led him to project management where he managed contractors for building projects and saw his passion grow for getting involved at the ground level.

"I always had some small machinery, like a Bobcat, to do yard work," Dale said.

"Then, when I moved to a five-acre block, there was a lot of hard ground that needed digging and I ended up buying a little five-tonne excavator. Even before it arrived I had people asking me to do jobs and I ended up doing our neighbour's asphalt driveway. So that's how the contracting side started out.