So you needed a smaller machine, more adapted to Europe, or what was the requirement?

Yes, one of the main issues was that the U.S. market was Somero's primary focus at the time. They claimed to be a worldwide company, but they didn't consider global requirements. This has changed over the last few years. In Europe, we needed something towable behind a pickup truck, weighing under 2.5 tons, small, easy to maneuver, and capable of rotating on site. At that time, all we had was a very affordable product from Ligchine.

How much did it cost?

When it first launched, it was around £80,000, compared to the Somero machine, which was about £150,000. I discussed with Somero about their S15R, which was available, and I said that even if we reduced the price of the S15R to match Ligchine's, customers wouldn't buy it due to higher ownership costs. The transport cost for an S15 to a site was significantly more than for a Ligchine, which could be towed by a pickup. In the UK, people were getting quotes of £800 to £1,000 each time to move the machine to a site. That could mean the difference between profit and loss on a site, so offering the machine at the same price wasn't viable.

Do all of them only have Somero machines, or do any of them also use Ligchine machines? Is it very use-case specific?

Out of the ones I just mentioned, only one has Ligchine machines. They have two Ligchine machines. Stanford used to have a Ligchine. They bought it for a specific project they were doing at the time. I'm currently talking to one of those contractors about a Ligchine machine. They want a demonstration from us, but that's for some of the smaller jobs, not the bigger ones they're doing. So again, if Ligchine is competing with Somero against the S-22 or S-28, in my mind, there's nothing on the market that can compete with those machines.