Knowing he needed to expand his fleet of trucks, Kerry Harbaugh, president of Harbaugh and Sons Construction Co. Inc., decided to see how different brands perform before making a purchase.

He rented a few different models to assist with the excavation of an eight-acre lake in the Edenshire development in northeast Madison County. The crew ran six trucks at the site to move the material three-quarters of a mile.

And from this test run, Harbaugh decided to purchase the Case 330 artic truck from Cowin Equipment last spring.

This is Harbaugh and Sons’ first Case truck, but it has been buying equipment from Cowin since 1992, when it took home a Kobelco trackhoe.

He purchased the 30-ton Case truck from salesman Jay Rousey based on its value and dependability.

“So far, it’s done an excellent job,” Harbaugh said. “Depending on our workload, I would definitely consider buying another one.”

The contractor, which has been in business since 1978, was founded by Casey Harbaugh, who has since entered semi-retirement. Kerry’s brother, Joey, is the vice president and treasurer. It employs 45 people and has more than 25 pieces of equipment in its fleet.

Harbaugh and Sons specializes in mountainside residential developments, subdivisions, utilities and earthmoving.

The Case truck is currently being used at the family-owned dirt pit, but Harbaugh expects it to soon move to the 80-acre Beaver Dam Road subdivision in northwest Madison County. There, it will help move 350,000 cu. yds. of dirt. Harbaugh and Sons is the general contractor on this job.

Value is what attracted Larry Robinson of the Hoover, Ala.-based D.A. Utilities to the Case 330 artic truck, too.

“I looked at other models and some wanted twice as much,” he said.

Robinson purchased the truck from Cowin salesman Mike Sims more than a year ago and has been happy with its performance.

When shopping for an artic truck, Robinson looked at other manufacturers, but found Case provided the best value. Plus, he liked its bed design, which has a single cylinder under it.

“We don’t run the machine all the time and have only 1,200 hours on it, but we haven’t had any real problems,” Robinson said.

D.A. Utilities has its own technician, but relies on Cowin for any warranty issues.

“The Cowin service department jumps in when I’m in a bind and takes care of what I need on any machine I’ve purchased from them,” he said.

The contractor has a loyalty to Case equipment.

“I’ve always been a Case man, way before they ever started selling artic trucks,” Robinson said. “I started out running Case backhoes 35 years ago.”

He started doing business with Cowin the day it took on the Case line approximately five years ago.

D.A. Utilities’ Case truck is currently being used on a 108-acre residential development in Montevallo, Ala., called Colonial Oaks. Traditionally a utility contractor, the firm expanded into site development three years ago. CEG Staff

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