In Dade County, FL, contractors cannot blast in order to form the man-made lakes needed for drainage in every new development, “unless it’s two miles away from residential areas, and that never happens,” according to Delfin Pernas, owner, with his brother Carlos Pernas, of Persant Construction Co. of Miami.

So Persant became the first company in Florida to purchase a John Deere 750 LC excavator from the newly formed Nortrax Equipment Company, according to Jaime Pineiro manager of Nortrax’s Miami branch.

“We have to go 25 or 30 feet down through coral rock and limestone, layers of various hardness,” Pernas said. “When you hit 13 or 14 feet, it’s like concrete. It has to be dug by these big machines [the Deere 750 LCs]. Regular machines won’t do the job.

“We always buy a lot of John Deere equipment and I’m confident it will do the job,” Pernas said.

The 750 LC uses “a very, very strong bucket called the ugly bucket,” to get the job done, Pineiro said.

Nortrax was formed in l999, according to Pineiro, “and we’ve already had half a million dollars in sales, including many to Persant, who has been a very loyal customer.”

Nortrax has seven branches in Florida, its Southeast Division. They include the Miami branch and branches in Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers, Land O’Lakes, and West Palm Beach, Pineiro said. Tampa has two branches.

The company has offices in the Northeast and in Minnesota, he said.

“We sell, rent, lease and repair John Deere construction equipment and Bomag compaction equipment,” Pineiro said.