How Up! Up! Lifting used a knuckleboom crane truck to place four stacks of Massaranduba lumber with precision on a challenging single-lane road — no ground staging, no damage, no delays.
The project
A lakeside property owner in Lake Lure, NC selected Massaranduba — also known as Brazilian Redwood — for a new deck over the water and several other applications on their property. Massaranduba is a premium exotic hardwood prized for its exceptional density, natural rot resistance, and striking deep red color. It’s the kind of material that rewards careful handling from the moment it arrives on site.
The lumber was sourced locally through Scrounger’s Paradise, a specialty lumber dealer based in Asheville, NC. With boards ranging from 8 to 18 feet in length and organized into four distinct stacks — each with different dimensions and intended uses — sequencing the delivery was just as important as executing it safely.
The challenge: terrain, access, and space
Lake Lure properties are known for their beauty — and their logistical complexity. Many sit along steep hillsides, narrow lakeside corridors, and single-lane roads that simply weren’t designed with material deliveries in mind. This job was no exception.
The drop-off location sat on a narrow shoulder along a one-lane road. There was no room to park a long vehicle or a towed trailer, no laydown area to stage materials on the ground, and no safe way to swing a load laterally without precision control. A standard tilt bed truck — which offloads by tilting the bed and sliding material to the ground — was completely impractical. Beyond the access issues, sliding exotic hardwood lumber worth $20 or more per board foot down a metal bed onto an uneven roadside shoulder carries obvious risk of damage.
The contractor needed each stack placed in a specific location, in a specific order, based on the sequence of their build timeline. With no room to reorganize materials on-site, the delivery itself had to function like logistics — not just transport.
Why a crane truck was the right tool
Up! Up! Lifting’s crane truck — a compact flatbed with a truck-mounted articulated knuckleboom crane — was purpose-built for exactly this kind of challenge. The 16-foot flatbed kept the vehicle short enough to maneuver on a one-lane road. The knuckleboom crane’s articulated reach allowed the crew to lift and place each lumber stack with precision, without requiring the vehicle to reposition between placements or the crew to handle boards manually.
Rather than dropping materials in one pile and leaving the contractor to sort it out, we were able to set each stack in its designated location — exactly where it would be needed, in the exact order it would be used. No ground staging. No dragging boards across a narrow shoulder. No scrambling to rearrange stacks later.
Coordination with Scrounger’s Paradise
Getting the delivery sequencing right started well before the truck left the yard. We worked closely with Scrounger’s Paradise to organize the lumber during pickup — loading the stacks onto the flatbed in reverse order of placement so that the first stack needed on site would be the last loaded and the first offloaded. That kind of upstream coordination is what makes a crane truck delivery function as a true placement service, not just a haul.
Scrounger’s Paradise, located at 9 Hickman Drive off Sweeten Creek Road in Asheville, is a remarkable local resource for contractors and homeowners sourcing specialty and exotic lumber in Western North Carolina. Their knowledge of the material and willingness to coordinate around our delivery sequence made the whole job run smoothly.
The result
Over two loads, all four stacks of Massaranduba were delivered and placed exactly as the contractor specified — no damage, no delays, and no need for on-site rearrangement. The client’s investment in beautiful, exotic hardwood arrived in the same condition it left Asheville, ready to be laid down for a deck that will last decades over the water.
This job is a good illustration of a broader principle: on challenging terrain with high-value materials, the delivery method is part of the project. Choosing the right vehicle and crew isn’t just about getting materials to the site — it’s about getting them there in the right condition, in the right place, at the right time.
Up! Up! Lifting serves Asheville and Western North Carolina with crane truck loading, transport, and precision placement. If your next project involves limited access, valuable materials, or tight site constraints, we’d love to help.
