Graders come in handy in a lot of ways. They are those big machines with a blade on the front that is often used to level roads and other areas so that they aren’t so rough and bumpy. I’ve seen farmers use them to grade their gravel lanes so that getting in and out of the farm isn’t so difficult for their sedans and pick up trucks. But for industrial uses, graders are often one of the most important pieces of heavy equipment on the work site.

Construction companies often use graders to level out areas where a building will take place. If a home is going to be built, an apartment complex constructed, or a large commercial building even, then the ground where it will stand will need to be flattened. That’s a good use for a grader.

In colder areas, especially in northern states and Canada, graders are used to push snow off the streets in winter months.

Cities, municipalities, states, and even the federal government all use graders when building roads. From city streets and county roads to federal highways and interstates, road surfaces need to be leveled and smoothed before concrete or asphalt can be laid. In the northwest, logging companies need to smooth out pathways for logging trucks. Graders come in handy for that task.

Rural areas in all parts of the country use graders for improving gravel and dirt roads. Over time, and through harsh weather conditions, such roads can get rough.

There are a lot of uses for graders and a lot of opportunities for grader operators to earn a wage. This is the perfect time to start looking into training so that you can find the right opportunities in your area.

Graders – they’re weird looking beasts yet they perform a role that is vital to the success of any road building program. If you were to closely examine a grader its design would probably confound you. They are long and narrow and at times their front wheel bend at such an angle you would swear they were about to snap off. The design of a grader, like most heavy equipment, is one built from need.

Before graders, roads were built by hand with hundreds of laborers working long hours in the hot blazing sun to lay roads that were not quite level, but for their time, good enough. If you wanted a smoother or flatter finish to the road, you brought in heavy rollers like the old fashioned steam rollers. Now, although rollers are still used, they perform a different role.

The advent of graders has meant that work gangs are no longer needed in such high numbers. In fact, these days most workers on road crews are qualified in some field – we certainly don’t need the scores of laborers we once did. The role of a grader is fairly straightforward although the job itself is certainly not ‘straightforward’. The grader ‘grades’ the surface. In other words it carves and shapes the road much like a knife cutting through butter. The very slight slope that all roads have owes itself to the precise skills of a grader operator – skills that can be developed in as short as three weeks yet take a lifetime to really master.

You can start that journey to becoming a master grader operator by completing a three week heavy equipment training program that provides you with the skills to operate equipment like graders. If you’re ready for the journey, we are ready to help you through those first few weeks – you just need to take those first few steps.

If you were to choose a career in heavy equipment, which machinery would you specialize in? There is a wide variety to choose from, one being the grader – or motor grader. Why should you select the motor grader instead of a bulldozer or excavator? They are both great machines, however, the motor grader has a couple of extras going for it. These include:

• Technology: Graders lead the way when it comes to technology. They use GPS, laser and on-board computers. Whenever there is a new technology being tested – you can almost guarantee that graders will be a part of that trial.
• Skills: Grader operators are amongst the most skilled when it comes to heavy equipment. They have to be, they are the finishers when it comes to many projects. Where bulldozers use brute force to move dirt, graders use fine controls, exacting angles and precision driving to achieve that finished result.
• Money: Money is always mentioned when it comes to comparing grader operators to other heavy equipment. But then, they are often paid more – need I say any more?
• Pride: While all operators take pride in their work, grader operators often take just a little more. The reason for that is because you can see their finished results. Using the bulldozer and road building as an example again, they carve out ground but then the grader comes in and reworks what the bulldozer has done. It is the grader operator that puts the final touch when it comes to evenness and slope and everything that goes into preparing a road for sealing.

That’s four good reasons I can think of for selecting a career as a grader operator. Here’s a fifth. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are highly skilled at training heavy equipment operators, grader operators included. They can have you trained and ready to start work in as little as three weeks. Are you ready for an interesting career as a grader operator? If so, contact us at ATS for more information on our next training program.