Today, Giuffre Bros. Cranes Inc., Milwaukee, sells to more boom-truck contractors than any company in the United States.

Celebrating 58 years of business in 2021, Dominic Giuffre and his family have combined hard work, responsiveness to market needs, creative equipment packaging and innovative financing to reach a pinnacle in their industry.

in 1963 Dominic drove his families dump-truck while finishing high school. When Dominic graduated two years later in 1965, he bought a 5-ton crane.

He continued on to operate several other types of equipment as he would add them to fleet, acquiring a dozen miscellaneous pieces by 1972 including trucks, cranes and excavators.

Dominic not only worked in the field but also handled administrative tasks as well, teaching himself as the company grew. By the early ’70s he had begun to recognize how truck-mounted cranes could increase efficiency in the roofing, sign and tree-care industries.

According to Dominic, introducing the concept of truck-mounted, contractor-operated cranes was a tough sell in the beginning. Then he found a contractor with foresight — Langer Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc. of Milwaukee — willing to try something new.

Dominic taught one of Langer’s laborers how to operate a crane right on a job site. The demonstration went so well, that Langer purchased a boom truck and immediately put it to work in the field.

With Dominic regularly visiting job sites in order to demonstrate his boom trucks abilities to other Wisconsin contractors, he was finding that business owners were hesitant to make a large purchase outright, and that there was a need to be able to offer them a more cost effective avenue to put the equipment to work immediately. His solution? With great success, bare rentals and crane leasing soon because another faucet in Giuffre's business model.

With this burst of growth, he began to brainstorm how he could expand this idea to a much larger scale, and exposure through conventions and trade shows helped spread the Giuffre name throughout the United States.

The roofing industry was the first to see the value of truck-mounted cranes, and experience was teaching Dominic which attachments roofers needed to enhance efficiency.

Word spread about truck-mounted cranes customized for roofing contractors that were available for immediate delivery at highly competitive prices, and financing was available with the package.

Volume went up and prices came down, enabling the company to sell at prices that were — and still are — well below the competition.

Glen Langer, retired president of Langer Roofing, believes that creating a special equipment package for roofers and exhibiting at regional and national conventions have played a key role in Giuffre Bros.’ success.

One of Giuffre's first boom truck sales

To all of you, from all of us at Giuffre Bros - Thank you for 58 great years!

Dominic Giuffre
Vice President

Ready financing helps contractors purchase equipment

Convincing roofing, sign and tree-care contractors that it was in their best interest to purchase equipment was the next step. Again, there was hesitation. Business owners of the 1980s weren’t sure they wanted to make that kind of investment, and financing could be a hurdle.

"Giuffre was an innovator when they put together the roofer’s crane package," says Cudahy president David Keilpinski

Dominic responded by teaming up with Ford Motor Company and Simon-RO Cranes (now Terex) to build the Dino 1500™ crane, mount it on a Ford diesel truck and provide financing for the package through Ford Motor Credit.

Cudahy Roofing Purchases their first crane from Giuffre

In the early ’70s Cudahy Roofing, Cudahy, Wis., was the first firm to make the purchasing leap. "Giuffre was an innovator when they put together the roofer’s crane package," says Cudahy president David Keilpinski, "and they brought it to the market when the industry was changing."

For example, he says that because of the weight of the rolls, it is doubtful that today’s popular single-ply rubber sheet roofing would have reached its present level of use without cranes.

Giuffre Bros has been privileged to be able to provide sale and service to Cudahy Roofing ever since their first crane purchase.

Giuffre Bros. can attribute a lot of it's current success in Boom Truck industry due in part to it's rich history, and intimate relationship with the roofing industry, and specifically Roofers like Mark Langer, and Dave Keilpinski.

The Giuffre's innovative ideas, along with their new relationship with Simon-RO Cranes (now Terex) help change the face of the roofing industry for ever.