Mike McGuire is on the Case

by Nick Drew | Mon 30 Jan 2017

Mike McGuire is on the Case

The Digger Man Blog recently caught up with an ex work colleague and friend who took the plunge into plant operating and has never looked back.

I first met Mike McGuire when we were working together on the White House project in St Austell, Cornwall in 2008. At the time we were both working for Plymouth based contractor P.J. Kingwell & Sons, who were the principle groundwork contractors on the job. I was operating a new Case CX130B and Mike was one of the groundwork team. Mike is one of life’s likeable fellas, good fun to be around and always up for a laugh, but it’s probably fair comment to say that he wasn’t overly impressed with the groundwork role and it was clear to see that he wanted to either have a career change or move onto another role in construction. ss851603

Photo:Old work mates R us: Mike McGuire (Right) and Doug Muir (Left) On the WhiteHouse Project Winter 2008. Mike started to show an interest in operating plant and worked hard to obtain the necessary CPCS tickets. After about a year on the site I had been offered another job elsewhere and it wasn’t long before Mike took over the seat in the Case CX130B that I had been operating on the firm. ss851124

It’s often said that those who have spent time on the ground always end up making the best machine operators, as they have worked at the coal face and as such they have the knowledge of how to make the ground crews job a lot easier because they have been there and done it. With seat hours racking up Mike took the opportunity to move around a bit gaining experience on a number of firms down in the South West which included spells on the usual suspects in this area. More recently Mike returned to the MJL Group which is where we caught up with him again on a site in Launceston in Cornwall.

Mike has now gained an enviable reputation as a highly skilled operator, but one who also takes pride in the machines he operates and the quality of work he turns out. Mike has spent time on a number of different makes over the years including spells on Doosan and Case excavators.

Mike is currently operating a Case CX210C model which as I expected is in immaculate condition inside and out. Like many in the industry today Mike has good things to say about the Japanese Sumitomo based Case excavators, Mike said, “I think the Case machines are great bits of kit, good on power, with excellent fuel consumption and so smooth to operate, add into the mix the comfort levels inside the cab and it just makes for a great all round machine, I’m really looking forward to my next upgrade to a D Series model which will happen soon I hope!”

Mike (34) who lives in Plymouth with his wife and young son says he has seen a lot of changes in the industry during his 9 years in it, likening it to more of a popularity contest on sites these days, fortunately for Mike he has a good working relationship with his boss and just lets his skills on site do the talking.

The Digger Man Blog would like to thank Mike for finding the time to chat with us on what looked to be a very busy site.

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