In Denmark, Michael Sørensen from MS Entreprenør has invested in a Hydrema 926F backhoe loader filled to the brim with extra equipment. Including specially painted black rims, which are becoming a new trend, as well as a wide range of other items that increase job satisfaction in a busy everyday life.

- When the 12 hours have passed in the backhoe, I have to go home to drive a tractor. I spend an average of 2200-2400 hours in the backhoe loader and about 800 hours in the tractor per year. So it is a good full-time position, and I am not bored, says Michael Sørensen, who is self-employed in the company MS Entreprenør, where he carries out excavation tasks connected with major construction projects. MS Entreprenør has thus been hired to work on a project such as the new tramway as well as the University Hospital and in Odense, Denmark, as a subcontractor. In addition, excavation tasks for high-voltage cables and other large projects where many tons of soil have to be moved daily.

The construction site's running Swiss Army knife.

Fourteen years ago, when Michael Sørensen was 18 years old, he invested in his first backhoe loader. A Hydrema 906. "The one with a metal engine hood," says Michael Sørensen. Today, he drives his seventh Hydrema, a brand new Hydrema 926F, which was delivered with black rims as the finishing touch to an unusually long list of optional equipment fitted on the machine.

- I got my new backhoe delivered with black rims, so I get a little bit more attention. It's something that makes people remember and know me on the construction site and other places I operate. I also think it looks great together with the yellow color. Furthermore, when it then runs on tires from Alliance, which are of excellent quality, durable, comfortable and versatile, this helps me to get ahead; Michael Sørensen proudly states about his new backhoe, with which he can solve many different tasks:

- I can use it for many different tasks, whether for digging, loading, lifting, pulling, pushing, carrying, or transporting. In short, it can do everything that a 30-ton excavator cannot. So you can say it's the construction site's running Swiss Army knife!

Black rims are trending

At Hydrema's service centre in Kolding, Michael Sørensen's Hydrema 926F backhoe loader with black rims is just one of several examples of an increasing trend, where customized solutions are in high demand:

- We have delivered several backhoes with black rims, which seem to be a bit of a new trend. We get them delivered directly from Nordisk Dæk Import, which produces and delivers special rims from the company's factory a few kilometres from here. This means we can make customized solutions with specific tires and special rims in just the color that suits us, says Michael Hansen, a sales representative at Hydrema Center South in Kolding.

- We are generally experiencing that our customers are increasingly demanding this type of individually adapted solutions, not only concerning rims in other colors, but with so much more. So we have a lot of focus on delivering special solutions to our customers, which the very well-equipped backhoe we delivered to Michael Sørensen, is a great example of, he explains.

Increases job satisfaction

Some might call it a bit excessive to invest in a Hydrema Backhoe loader with as much equipment as Michael Sørensen has chosen to do, but for him, it's also about job satisfaction in a busy everyday life, where he often works from sunrise to sunset.

- For me, it increases job satisfaction with such a dream machine. I also experience that the machines, in general, are more pimped - if you can put it that way. I think it's because a lot of people utilize regular operators on their machines, and people take care of the machines when they have a cool, new, and well-equipped work tool. You are more responsible and connected, says Michael Sørensen, who, in parallel with the trend towards the more regular operator, is also experiencing increasing specialization in the industry:

- My impression is that the industry has been divided a little bit more into machine operators and craftsmen. We have become more specialized, and there has been more focus on education. Simultaneously, there are not that many of us in the market, so it is also important to keep skilled employees. Here, too, I think it pays to invest in some proper equipment that one appreciates and takes care of, he says.

In addition to the earthmoving part of his business, Michael Sørensen also runs a small agricultural contractor business and occasionally moves containers at the weekend when time allows.