Poured-wall contractors can increase form-handling speed and efficiency by using truck-mounted cranes to hoist form panels off the truck and form baskets to lower them directly into the basement excavation. By reducing the need to handle the forms manually, this equipment allows contractors to complete jobs sooner using less labor. It also reduces form wear and tear and backbreaking lifting.

A truck-mounted crane is a combination hauling and lifting unit, consisting of a hydraulically powered boom mounted on a flatbed or heavy-duty pickup truck. Two standard boom types are available on truck-mounted cranes: articulated (often called a “knuckleboom”) and telescoping. Articulated booms have horizontal reaches of up to 70 feet and vertical reaches of up to 83 feet. They can also reach down below truck level for easy placement of forms into excavations. Telescoping booms are practical for jobs requiring greater reach. Though they can’t fold and unfold like articulating booms, most models have a range up to 75 degrees and are equipped with a winch to pick up and set down loads.

Most contractors who use truck-mounted cranes to hoist wall forms say metal baskets are indispensable for holding form panels and filler pieces. They make it possible to move as many as two dozen 8-foot-tall form panels at a time.