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In the construction industry, language can be everything. Being on the side of the counter that rents scaffold out to contractors, construction companies, installers or just the average Joe Homeowner looking to do a weekend painting project, the language can vary from person to person. Sometimes finding out exactly what someone is looking to rent is a matter of light detective work, drilling down and asking the right questions.

The most egregious use of any term in the scaffold and rental industry is the term ‘outrigger.’ Now, nine times out of ten, the person across the counter from us asking for an outrigger is actually asking for what is known as a side-arm. However, that same person could refer to a side-arm as a ‘stand-off’ or a ‘side-wall bracket.’ This results in a slew of questions from our end, such as:

“Are you looking for something to stand-off from a level of scaffold, allowing you to get closer to the surface you’re working on?”

“Are you looking to add stability to the bottom of a rolling tower?”

If the answer to the first question posed is yes, they’re looking for a side-arm. Seacoast generally carries them in 10”, 21”, 24”, 30”, 36” and 42”. The majority of the time, this is what a customer is looking for when they ask for an outrigger. In a typical frame and brace scaffold setup, 5’x7’ the side-arms would be placed along the 7’ length. A plank can be dropped onto the side-arms, allowing someone to effectively work off of the scaffold. We also offer side-arm end guards, which act as a guard rail and will help with OSHA compliance.

Now, if the answer to the second question happens to be a yes, now we’re talking about a real outrigger. When a rolling scaffold tower is being used, that is, with caster wheels instead of fixed or adjustable base jacks, an outrigger may need to come into play if width and height factors are exceeded. OSHA has a 4:1 safety factor, so in this case, a 5’ wide by 20’ tall rolling tower would need to have outriggers affixed to the bottom of the staging. An outrigger would be clamped to each leg of the staging, with a caster in each outrigger. Two outriggers are braced together with a bay brace, effectively widening the base and putting the user in compliance with OSHA.

Everyone has got a different name for everything in the construction industry. Two people could be talking about the exact same item and think they’re speaking different languages to one another. Through direct contact and probing questions, we can always work out what any customer will need to complete their job.

As has been discussed previously in this space, scaffold presents a variety of options beyond just staging up the side of a building. From a ski jump at the TODAY Show, to set design for theater productions and media towers for collegiate sporting events, the possibilities are nearly limitless. Seacoast Scaffold has rented and erected scaffold to build observation towers / platforms for events like the Frozen Rush at Sunday River, ballet productions of Peter Pan, and lighting towers for a First Friday event at the Portland Museum of Art.

The versatility of scaffolding, especially ring pole, means in some cases the builder is only limited by their imagination. This could be something as simple as creating a stage for presentations out of frame and brace, just like Riding to the Top in Windham does every year for their big BBQ event. A Portland dance studio, Vivid Motion, created a pirate ship and tree house out of ring pole for their dance production of Peter Pan last year.

Projects like these come up a few times a year and always add a new wrinkle to the thought process of building or renting out a job. For instance, lighting and camera equipment can be quite heavy, meaning that in the planning, the math must be done to ensure the tower can withstand that weight, plus an operator at the top. A ski jump packed with snow needs to be able to handle the weight of the snow and the skiers performing.

Seacoast Scaffold has the ability to rent and erect equipment far beyond the scope of staging external and internal structures. With a little forethought and ingenuity, you may even find a use for scaffold that you never thought was likely or even possible. Granted, while most ring pole is erected into a series of boxes, it never hurts to think outside of them.

Alum-A-Pole or Pump Jack Scaffolding is a great choice for outdoor home improvement projects. Need to paint the house, but don’t want to climb and move a ladder constantly just so you can get from area to area? With Alum-A-Pole you can leave the ladder in the garage and get your house painted, or even sided with real efficiency.

Alum-A-Pole is a fairly simple concept, two poles, generally 24’ in length, each have a jack attached to them. The jack can also be attached to a bench platform, allowing the user to put a 14” wide plank on the backside of the staging. A 20” plank is used to stand on, and a user gets on either end of the plank, with the jack and literally pumps it up into the air with their feet.

These systems can go as high as 48’ and as long as you need from 16’ on up to 48’ in length, making it perfect for staging the sides of a house. Not to mention, having a 16’ or longer run to work off of, which sure beats climbing up and down a ladder with a paint bucket all day. A complete setup, which generally includes poles, jacks, bench brackets (for your back plank), two planks (one 14” wide and one 20” wide), safety netting, end rails, as well as braces that screw into the side of the building to keep the poles upright.

Seacoast Scaffold offers package rentals based on different parameters to suit the needs of each customer. Packages run from a 16’x24’ setup, all the way to 48’x48. Renting by the package will save the customer money as opposed to creating their own setup and renting it piece by piece. Alum-A-Pole is an outstanding option for homeowners and painters alike, allowing the safety and efficiency to get a job done quickly.

When most people think of scaffold, they think of it in its simplest terms. Generally, that amounts to putting scaffold up against a building to paint, install siding, or do masonry work. However, system scaffold, more commonly known as ring pole is incredibly versatile and allows for a wide range of projects with a scope that goes far beyond just setting up scaffold along the side of a building. For Seacoast Scaffold, there’s no better recent example of this then the job we recently completed in Rockefeller Plaza, in setting up a miniature ski slope for the TODAY Show and the U.S. Ski Team Winter Olympic hopefuls.

After being contacted by Brad Clark at the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in Lake Placid, NY, a plan was made for Seacoast to take a crew down to New York City to create the ski jump out of scaffold for a live television performance on NBC. Now, this is where Seacoast Scaffold’s versatility comes in. The TODAY Show begins airing at 7 a.m., and otherwise, New York City is a pretty busy place. This meant we needed to erect the scaffold overnight. A truck of equipment and two more trucks carrying an erection and dismantle crews headed for New York, and began building at 8 p.m.

Under these unusual time constraints, the team had the 10’x10’ top platform sitting 12’ high with stair access and a 30’ slope at 33° completed and ready to go for the morning ski exhibition. The crew used aluminum beams across the staging to lay laminated boards down. On top of the boards, plywood was screwed down before a dump trailer was brought in and snow was loaded onto the incline and onto the street to create the ski run.

Following the airing of the ski exhibition, the crew worked on dismantling the scaffolding and equipment and was back in Maine the following afternoon. This build, in conjunction with ORDA and NBC Universal showcased not only the versatility of ring pole scaffold, but also of Seacoast Scaffold’s builders. This was an unusual job that we are tasked with from time to time, along with projects like creating television towers for events at Sunday River or locally for the Portland Museum of Art, scaffold isn’t just for scaling the side of a building.