On that project— a six-story residential building with a central pool courtyard— the MK63 was a clear game changer. Surrounded on all sides by the structure, with no ground-level access to the pool area, traditional lifting methods weren’ t an option. Instead, the E-Built crew picked the pallets directly from a truck parked on the street, swinging loads over the building and into the enclosed courtyard below.“ We did over 50 picks in less than eight hours,” Watson said.“ It’ s a lot easier and safer than doing that by hand.”

During the lifts, the operator had line-of-sight from the edge of the roof to the drop zone, communicating with crews below by radio to guide each load precisely into place.“ They’ d call off trolley out and cable down,” Watson explained.“ It’ s smooth, precise work— and the crane makes it easy.”

Increased Use

That kind of efficiency is exactly what’ s happening across the U. S. as mobile construction cranes, also known as self-erecting tower cranes, are increasingly used on jobsites.

The Liebherr MK63, like the larger MK series cranes now arriving in the U. S., combines the height and reach of a tower crane with the maneuverability and mobility of a truck crane. Setup takes minutes rather than hours— or in some cases, days.

On the Denver site, E-Built’ s operator rolled in, leveled the crane with a single button, switched to“ erect mode,” and watched as the crane unfolded itself in a series of 174 precise, automated steps. Proximity sensors ensured every movement was aligned and locked before the next sequence began.

“ The crane just does it,” Watson said.“ You shut off the lower engine, switch to the generator for the upper 480-volt system, and it self-levels and erects itself. You just pull the trigger. It’ s incredibly efficient.”

Left: E-Built Crane Service’ s Liebherr MK63 self-erecting tower crane was put to work setting 2,250-pound pallets of pavers inside a pool area at 118 feet. On the six-story residential building with a central pool courtyard, the crane picked the pallets directly from a truck parked on the street, swinging more than 50 loads in less than eight hours.

The MK63’ s air-cooled Deutz diesel generator keeps things quiet and compact, and it can also be plugged into shore power for near-silent operation— a big advantage for urban or noise-sensitive projects.

Early Adopters While E-Built is one of the early adopters of Liebherr’ s smaller mobile construction cranes, Ideal Crane Rental in Wisconsin and SL Chasse Steel in New Hampshire are among the first U. S. companies to take delivery of MK 73-3.1, MK 88-4.1 and MK 140-5.1 models.

For Robert Kalhagen, president of Ideal Crane Rental, Inc., it’ s been a decade in the making.“ We first saw the MK series in action over ten years ago,” Kalhagen recalled.“ We’ ve been eager to utilize this type of crane in the United States ever since.”

Ideal ordered one of each model as soon as Liebherr opened the U. S. market in 2024.“ Tasks that previously required a larger crane with multiple counterweights and jib extensions can now be managed with a crane that carries its own counterweights and can be set up in a fraction of the time,” Kalhagen explained.

Ideal’ s cranes are scheduled for a diverse range of projects— from HVAC and roofing work to steel erection, solar installation

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