WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT
Crawford Custom Consulting, Inc. was founded January 7, 2002 by William Hough. Having over 50 years experience, his drive and dedication to the crane and lift industry has put Crawford Custom Consulting at the forefront of quality based crane services.
As a family based company, with four generations of experience in the industry, we believe the single most valuable asset of any company is the people who make it work. We are dedicated to providing the most informative, documented and highest quality inspection and training services in the industry. Our goal is to ensure your personnel and equipment are safe, knowledgeable and in-line with the current OSHA, ASME & ANSI standards and laws.
With a full line of training classes, inspection services, load testing services, consulting and accident investigation, Crawford Custom Consulting has quickly become an industry leader in crane and lift industry training, certification and inspection.
cCc History
JOINING THE ARMY
It all started in August of 1959 when William (Bill) Hough joined the army for basic training. In 1960-61 Bill was shipped to Korea where he operated a M62 10-ton wrecker with an Austin Western crane that was used for heavy truck recovery. This was his very first experience operating a crane. This is where his interest into the crane life was sparked.
Once Bill returned to civilian life, his dad, Thomas Hough, was operating a crane on construction projects for Interstate 79 in Pennsylvania. Bill got straight to work building his own career by joining the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 66 in Pittsburgh on July 1st, 1964.
Crawford Custom Consulting, a family-run company, has 4 generations of members of the International Union of Operating Engineers. You can read here for more information on Local 66.
Although Bill didn’t operate a crane, he did, however, operate bulldozers and earth movers during the construction projects of Interstate 79 in Crawford and Erie Counties and Interstate 80. The downfall of operating these specific machines, the weather has to be good for the work to be done.. Bill wanted to steadily work, so he found interest in dragline excavating making $3.26 per hour, because dragline work is an all year around gig.
But Bill’s interest in cranes was still flourishing in the back of his mind and he wanted to learn more. The experience and knowledge that Bill obtained working with these machines lead the way for his first crane industry job working for T. Bruce Campbell Construction as an oiler working on Interstate 80. His friends said he was out of his mind for taking a pay cut moving from $3.26 as a dragline operator to $1.96 per hour as an oiler. But Bill was determined, he wanted to transition to the crane business for the year around work and over time the pay would be more, along with plentiful work once he was a crane operator. Flash forward for a moment to today, Bill has since retired from a fruitful career in the crane business. So, apparently, he wasn’t out of his mind after all.
LET'S CONTINUE ON BILL'S JOURNEY AND THE BIRTH OF Crawford Custom
Working for T. Bruce Campbell, Bill was part of an engineering change in crane operation. Specifically on the Grove TD 150 Model (pictured below). He sat down, in Oil City, PA, with John L. Grove, an inventor and industrialist, along with industry engineers to plan out the improvements to the machine. The engineers sketched out Bill and John’s thoughts. Born from the brainstorming was the TD 150. Built to do away with the oiler, lower the counterweight and adding the free swing. This led the way to cutting operating costs and easier functionality of today’s cranes.
John Landis Grove (January 26, 1921 – June 16, 2003) started Grove Industries, was an American inventor and industrialist, primarily known for developing the hydraulic crane and access lift industries. With innovative products and designs, such as mounting lifts on track-driven frames, locating the crane operators cab on the turret, less expensive truck mounted cranes, and ‘scissors’ lifts. By the end of his career, John held over 60 patents. Read more details here.
After working at T Bruce Campbell, Bill, being a true entrepreneur at heart, he started his first business along side his father, Thomas Hough. This partnership brought about W.W. Hough & Sons crane service. Bill felt he knew everything he needed in the industry, so he bought his first crane in 1969, a Grove 15-ton (pictured below). He was able to charge $25 an hour and pay two union workers, the operator and the oiler. Unfortunately, within a year, due to extending credit to other business and customers, they had to close W.W. Hough and Sons. Because Bill and Tom had enough owed to them, they were able to survive in supporting their families. But raising five children, Bill also continued to work out of the union hall. But owning a successful crane business was always in his heart.
1980's
In the mid 80’s Bill worked on Lake Huron for the Chevrolet Saginaw Grey Iron Foundry sourcing sand with a clam bucket on the SS Niagara. A bit of history on the foundry, in September 1918 GM Corporation started construction on the original plant called Central Foundry Division on 65 acres of land. They employed over 900 employees and melted over 200 tons of iron per day; ending the year pouring 88,547 tons. In 1927 the plant transferred to Chevrolet Motor Division and became known as Chevrolet Saginaw Grey Iron. You can read here to learn more on the history of the foundry.
In the late 80’s Bill went to work for Steel City Machinery and Rigging in Pittsburgh, which was later bought by Anthony Crane, the largest crane rental company in the U.S., headquartered in West Mifflin, PA. This transition would be a major break in Bill’s career. Shortly before Steel City Machinery was sold, they had, at that time in this area, the largest operating hydraulic crane, a 365-ton Krupp.
1990's
In late August of 1990, Bill traveled to Houston, Texas to operate the largest hydraulic crane at the time, the very first 650-ton Demag. (Pictured below)
This crane led to major projects for Bill and Anthony Crane, once the concept of the crane caught on with the Hydraulic over conventional lift. Companies were skeptical about the machine. But once it was proven, the work began to roll in.
In 1993, Anthony Crane purchased the Liebherr 1000-ton lattice boom/hydraulic boom (Pictured below), it came into Florida from Germany for the Golden Glades interchange in the Miami area. Bill had to lift 80-ton girders to build a new flyover ramp. Over the years, this crane had traveled all over the U.S. due to its amazing capabilities and being the largest crane at the time. (Read here for the Miami Herald article on Bill working on this project)
The above Liebherr was used for the making of the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, Sudden Death, November 16, 1994. Opening the roof on Pittsburgh’s own Civic Arena, the 138’ of main boom and 300’ luffing jib was used to hold the helicopter for the final crash in the movie. The crane raised and lowered the winch that was attached to the helicopter, then the helicopter was remotely moved for the stunt. Nine cameras recorded the event, which was filmed several times, and hundreds of emergency vehicles were on standby in case of an accident.
OVERSEAS ADVENTURES IN CONSULTING
Tired of traveling all over the U.S., Bill was ready to work steadily closer to home. This is where he decided to concentrate on crane consulting. However, consulting still brought him all over the country including overseas. You see, Bill is very knowledgeable and an easy-going gentleman, so many people enjoyed working with him. His consulting services led to overseas projects as a crane specialist for Anthony Crane in places such as Taiwan, Europe, and India.
Safety inspection services became important when the Petro Chemical industry suffered safety ramifications, and this led the way for the need of inspectors. Bill became a knowledgable and reputable third-party crane and rigging inspector for Anthony Crane. Remember in the beginning when Anthony Crane bought Steel City Machinery that this was a transition that would boost Bill’s Career. The adventures he had with Anthony Crane in overseas consulting made such an impact on Bill’s life. Anthony Crane sold four cranes to the India government and Bill was sent to spend 32 days to train the operators and supervise the crane setup. In order to get around and communicate in an unfamiliar country Bill had his own driver and interpreter to assist him in his job.
“The cuisine,” Bill recalled with a chuckle, “was a bit hard to get used to, if you needed to lose a few pounds, it was a heck of a diet plan.”
Next, he was sent to Taiwan. Again, Anthony Crane asked Bill to spend three days in Taiwan to inspect potential crane purchase. Unfortunately, the cranes were not worth buying, but Bill was thankful for the opportunity to experience the country.
Anthony Crane also sent Bill to Germany, shortly after the Berlin wall was torn down in 1991, to look at purchasing another crane. While in Europe, he visited the Liebherr manufacturing plant where he learned the 1000-ton crane schematics and maintenance. In the meeting Bill had a perfect view of the snowy caps of the Swiss Alps. He said it was the most beautiful sight. One minute he had a clear view, the next, the fog would whip in and completely camouflage the landscape and then just as quickly clear away. It just amazed him.
In 2000, Gannon University decided to have a crane day as a continuing education opportunity for their physics professors. They picked a ‘crane day’ study because of the crane set up for PNC park and Heinz Filed construction that was nearby. Bill was asked by Anthony Crane to assist in teaching, however, to Bill’s dismay he ended up teaching the class singlehandedly to 14 physics professors. As you can imagine, he was very nervous teaching to university professors. But they gave a warm welcome to Bill by inquiring about his experience. Crane talk was a sure-fire way to help Bill relax and the class turned out to be one of the most memorable days of his life. As an exercise, the professors broke off into groups to build little crane replicas out of tongue depressors and string in order to test load capacity. It became a fierce but entertaining competition. Needless to say, it was a fun experiment, but not practical.
THE START OF A FAMILY BUSINESS
After working for Anthony Crane for 16 years all over the U.S and overseas with crane operating, inspecting and consulting, Bill felt he had well-rounded expertise in the industry and decided he could do this on his own. He retired from Anthony’s at the age of 59 and started Crawford Custom Consulting in 2002. Crawford Custom Consulting name came about because of the county name the headquarters resides and the desire to be versatile with service offerings within the industry.
CCC started out renting a little 20×24 building for the office while doing crane inspections and consulting. Bill was able to hire his first employee in 2004, his brother-in-law, Russel Meyers, to help with the demand in inspecting. Bill also added crane training to help assist companies with the safety of their employees. Due to growing pains, in 2007 Bill bought the barn and 1-acre property that the rental building was sitting on. The entire Hough family pitched in for the renovations of the barn and property.
Today we have a 3-story building with offices, classrooms, service bays, rig testing, and a yard with seven various cranes for hands-on training. When you visit, you’ll find lots of history mementos telling the story of how it all began. It’s like a treasure hunt, lots to explore. We hope to see you in class here in Meadville or at one of our other three locations, at your own facility or out and about.
FAMILY GROWTH IN NEW LOCATIONS
With all successful businesses, it tends to feel the growing pains. Scott Hough, COO of our Tennessee division, initially moved to Tennessee to be closer to his children. Along with inquiries to have class offerings in the area, it was decided to expand the family business by opening up a location in Spring Hill, TN.
Our Lakewood, NJ location began from a dear friendship with Kenny Shinn and his son TJ Shinn at Shinn Cranes. With the passing of Kenny, Tj has taken over the family business. Below is a wonderful tribute to Kenny. It shows how much involvement he had in the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators program.
Thomas Hough - 1st Generation Crane Operator
Thomas Hough - 1st Generation Crane Operator
Taking a coffee break. Look at that safety helmet!
William Hough - 2nd Generation Crane Operator
William Hough - 2nd Generation Crane Operator
Sitting in a random old crane he just happen across.
Bill's First Serious Crane Operation
Bill's First Serious Crane Operation
Working for T. Bruce Campbell, Bill operated his first crane, a 15 Ton Amercian Truck Crane. In this photo the American Crane is lifting a 15 ton tank. This weight ratio was unheard of back then.
First Crane Purchase
First Crane Purchase
When Bill decided to start his own business with his father, Thomas Hough, W.W. Hough & Sons was born. They purchased their first crane, the Grove 15-ton.
Miami Herald Newspaper Article
Miami Herald Newspaper Article
1993 article about our founder, William Hough, hoisting 80-ton girders for the Golden Glades Interchange in Miami-Dade County, Florida with, at the time, the world’s largest mobile crane that was owned by Anthony Cranes. Read the full article here.
Crawford Custom's First Home
Crawford Custom's First Home
Bill rented this little 20×24 building in 2002 for his office while offering crane inspections and consulting. Bill was able to hire his first employee in 2004.
Crawford Custom Consulting Headquarters Today
Crawford Custom Consulting Headquarters Today
Helicopter Fuselage from Movie Sudden Death
Helicopter Fuselage from Movie Sudden Death
William (Bill) Hough operated the Liebherr 1000 ton lattice boom for the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Sudden Death. The movie was shot at Pittsburgh, Pa’s own Civics Arena. Bill held the helicopter with the Liebherr crane during the scene above the opened top of the Civics Arena. Pictured is the fuselage of said helicopter that was given to Bill as a momentum.
Vintage Iron Feature
Vintage Iron Feature
Crane Hot Line featured our Little Giant Model 48 and 1978 Link-Belt LS-78 cranes in their April 2019 magazine edition. Read the full article here.
Meadville Headquarters Before and After Photos
Crawford Custom Tennessee Location
Crawford Custom Tennessee Location
Crawford Custom New Jersey Location
Crawford Custom New Jersey Location
THE cCc CREW
Crawford Custom has a knowledgable, certified, and experienced crew members who are ready to assist you in training, inspection, certification and consulting. Read more about our individual team members. Connect, converse and learn more about the people who makes Crawford Custom Consulting a reputable company.