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NDTO News Article

Fargo-based EZ Spot UR builds national, international business

Earl Emerson is building a growing business out of making other people’s jobs a whole lot easier.

For 14 years Emerson’s Fargo-based company, EZ Spot UR, has built attachments for skid steers, excavators and tractors, empowering  sole operators to tackle jobs that otherwise require an army of helpers or the use of equipment  not intended or safe for the task at hand.

From humble beginnings in a Christine, N.D. farm shop, Emerson has built his company into a worldwide provider of tractor attachments.  Today, from offices and a manufacturing plant in South Fargo, EZ-Spot-UR builds about 25 different attachments and sells them to a wide range of customers in every state and six foreign countries.  The attachments can be quickly mounted on all makes of skid steers, tele-booms, excavators and utility tractors,

“Our mission is to build quality equipment that exceeds our customers’ needs,”  Emerson said. “We don’t build junk. There’s no future in it.”

EZ Spot UR exports to China, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Russia, Canada and Columbia. The company also is working to secure dealers in Australia and Saudi Arabia, Sales Manager Lonny Emerson said.

EZ Spot UR attachments can be found at construction sites, in oil fields, railroad and utility easements and just about anywhere else workers need to tackle hefty jobs.  The attachments are used to efficiently and safely transport and erect poles and piping, repair railroad track, transport fully grown trees and boulders, to demolish old structures and many other tasks.

EZ Spot UR’s line includes “Big Bertha”, an hydraulic-powered claw used to handle 45-foot poles. Recently the company built an even larger claw for use in Russia’s oil fields.

“It’s Big Bertha on steroids,” Emerson said. The claw was designed to handle 60-foot pipes weighing 6,100 pounds, Lonny Emerson said.

Setting EZ Sport UR apart from competitors is the company’s quick-connect design. With a universal base plate mount, workers can easily switch from one attachment to another to efficiently handle a multitude of jobs.  Customers also turn to EZ Spot UR because the company’s attachments are designed with a hydraulic-powered rotary, making them more versatile for the unique challenges of every job.

Emerson said he sees a bright future in his market. As construction companies, utilities and other customers search for ways to cut costs, they increasingly turn to EZ Spot UR to improve work efficiencies, improve safety and reduce manual labor.

EZ Spot UR made believers out of utility companies and hundreds of homeowners in Northwest South Dakota who lost power during an early May storm.  Ice buildup and high winds snapped 1,300 45-foot utility poles.

The local utility contracted Griffith Excavation to help remove the sheered poles and replace them. With eight employees, and two skid steer loaders equipped with EZ Spot UR’s pole-setting claw attachments, Ken Griffith replaced 800 d poles near Bison and Buffalo South Dakota in about 20 days. The local electric cooperative amassed crews totaling about 100 workers. Using conventional trucks and equipment, they replaced 500 poles in the same amount of time, Griffith said.

“The best they got done was 12 poles in a day,” Griffith said. “Our best was 51 in a day. Officials from the power cooperative eventually pulled six of their crews off the job, realizing that Griffith’s approach was much faster and cost effective, Griffith said.

“We never had one problem during the entire job,” Griffith said. “The (EZ Spot Ur) pole setters are bullet proof.”

Griffith said he bought five more of EZ Spot UR’s pole-setters and resold them to the local power cooperative and another utility company.

“With the skid-steers and EZ Spot UR’s attachments, we made believers out of a lot of people,” Griffith said.

For more information about EZ Spot UR, call      (701) 282-2772 or visit www.ezspotur.com.