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YNN is partnering with the Austin Business Journal to bring you the latest in business news. Austin Business Journal Editor Colin Pope sits down with YNN Anchor Paul Brown every Monday in Business Now.



07/11/2012 10:41 AM

Business Now: A look at Austin's construction cranes

By: Paul Brown

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As Austin grows and attracts new development, more construction cranes are appearing all over the city.

Colin Pope, editor of the Austin Business Journal, told us about the unique industry and the people who work in it.

For more information:

To read the full article from the Austin Business Journal click here.

"It's a dangerous job because they are lifting huge things over city streets, and they've got -- in the case of the two buildings being built downtown right now, the cranes are so close to each other that the tips of them are about 6 feet away when they swing that way, so they've got to be very careful," Pope said.

Crane operators must scale several stories to get to their "offices in the sky," and they usually face a 15-hour workday.

The demand for cranes is growing because of the increase in development in Austin, and subsequently, so is the cost for cranes. Pope says it costs about $2500 to rent a crane for a month, and since no cranes currently reside in Austin, they must be shipped in from cities like Houston.

Find out more about the crane industry in the video above.