Buying my first tractor

[ericmb]

I’m thinking about buying a tractor to build homes with. The homes will primarily be slab homes with a possibility of a walkout basement.

In the past I’ve rented or borrowed skid steers for the work and I’m thinking of buying my own equipment. My wife and I live in a small city on a lot and we’re looking at buying 5 acres or more in a few years. That’s where the tractor comes in.

I was thinking a tractor with a loader and backhoe would meet the requirements of home building and we would add a mower deck in the future.

What advice would you have on the type of tractor to purchase? I was thinking between 35-40hp but I’m not sure if 25hp would work as well. If I can use the tractor for all but digging out a basement it’s not the end of the world. Most slabs around here require a 12” bucket and 30” deep or so. I would be building homes on lots, not acreage if that matters.

 

[4570Man]

Are you talking about building your house or multiple houses? If multiple ditch the tractor idea and get a skid steer and mini excavator.

 

[jeff9366]

What you are considering is not tractor work.

You need a heavy skid steer or heavy compact track loader.

In addition you may need a mini-excavator.



The bucket on a skid steer butts up against the skid steer frame, so you are pushing with the whole machine.

The bucket on a tractor is on the end of long, whips, relatively weak arms. You cannot dig effectively with a tractor bucket. Nor can you lift much, relative to a skid steer.

Skid steers have powerful hydraulic pumps, specified for continuous use.

Tractors have weak hydraulic pumps, only for intermittent use.

 

[ericmb]

A skid steer would be preferred, I don’t disagree, especially if I was building multiple houses a year. I should have clarified that I’m looking at building one house a year and while I know that a tractor would be clunky, would I be able to do trench work and landscaping with it? The tractor would be the tool of choice for maintaining acreage, it would be a double win if trenching and loader work could be done with it as well.

 

[duffer]

If you only build 1 home a year, you could probably get by with a tractor and front loader. I would strongly suggest renting an excavator (mini or otherwise) to dig footings and trenches needed.

With 5 acres, you'll need a tractor for mowing, clearing, and other misc stuff. Probably more than you know. A 25 hp tractor won't cut it for what you're describing, unless you want to "live" on it. Mine is 38 hp and does everything I ask of it. 35-45 hp will allow you to do most anything you need. Except fall 100' trees.

 

[3gunr]

Slab home with a walkout basement ? I agree with duffer on tractor size.

 

[JCoastie]

To really answer the question, as you've rented skid steers for the job, next time rent a tractor and see how well it works before diving in and making the purchase.

 

[Egon]

A skid steer would be preferred, I don’t disagree, especially if I was building multiple houses a year. I should have clarified that I’m looking at building one house a year and while I know that a tractor would be clunky, would I be able to do trench work and landscaping with it? The tractor would be the tool of choice for maintaining acreage, it would be a double win if trenching and loader work could be done with it as well.

For one home a year the 25HP tractor with frame mounted backhoe and mower will work. Your biggest concern would be rock and lift height if material must be hauled away. You will also have to move material around on site for which it would work well. It would be very suitable for landscaping. Trench work can be done also. It’s best if trench depth be about dipper depth for ease of operation.

A tractor similar to a JD 4200 would be ideal.

 

[sea2summit]

Essential Craftsman on Youtube is one of my favorites and he is a contractor. He's got an older Kubota w/backhoe he brings out for applicable jobs mostly site prep like brush hogging, filling a ditch to drive trucks access, minor landscaping, etc. I've never seen him use his tractor for actually doing the heavy lifting of foundation work/house building, he contracts a lot of that work out and he's a very accomplished operator himself. I'd follow his example.

 

[jeff9366]

What advice would you have on the type of tractor to purchase? I was thinking 35-40hp but I wonder if 25hp would work?

The most efficient way to shop for tractors is to first identify potential tractor applications, then, through consulataton, establish bare tractor weight necessary to safely accomplish your applications. Tractor dealers, experienced tractor owners and TractorByNet.com are sources for weight recommendations.

Bare tractor weight is a fundamental tractor specification easily found in sales brochures and web sites, readily comparable across tractor brands and tractor models, new and used. Shop your weight range within tractor brands. Budget will eliminate some choices.

Tractors are inherently unstable operating on sloped ground. Tractor rear wheel/tire spread, sometimes adjustable, is a critical factor increasing compact tractor stability working sloped or uneven ground. A 6" to 10" wider rear axle substantially decreases tractor rollover potential.

When considering a tractor purchase, bare tractor weight first, tractor horsepower second, rear axle width third, rear wheel ballast fourth.


For construction work the minimum suitable tractor will weigh 3,500 to 4,000 pounds bare weight and have 66" wide for stability under load. This is a high sales volume tractor segment. Every producer makes several 3,500 to 4,000 pound bare weight models. One tractor series meeting these specs is the Kubota MX series:

VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kubota+mx+series+tractor

 

[Jchonline]

A skid steer would be preferred, I don’t disagree, especially if I was building multiple houses a year. I should have clarified that I’m looking at building one house a year and while I know that a tractor would be clunky, would I be able to do trench work and landscaping with it? The tractor would be the tool of choice for maintaining acreage, it would be a double win if trenching and loader work could be done with it as well.

Eric the problem with a tractor backhoe (unless you get a true TLB (full size Deere/NH or the Kubota line) is usually reach. For instance the mainstream subframe backhoes on a larger compact tractor have a 9 ft reach. That seems like a bunch until you are digging 5 feet in the ground and you realize you have to be just about over the spot you are digging and move the machine every 3 spoil dumps. My backhoe is 14 ft and I can't imagine having one much shorter. I dug foundation footings, water line, gas line, propane tank hole, and electric lines with mine and it was fine. Foundation was sketchy in spots and a larger machine would have been better.

The second problem is grading. Yes you can get a box blade and move some dirt around, yes you can back blade with the bucket and spread some material. The problem with the tractor IMO is wheels. Skid steer tracked or bulldozer or mini-ex with a blade push the dirt, meaning you are contacting the uneven patch before the machine runs over it. This is crucial to getting quick, level passes and establishing grade. I messed with a 2 acre area on my place with a rear blade, root rake (for roots) and the bucket for a couple of days before I had a friend with a D4 come in and finish it in 2 hours. Just no comparison.

Can you get it done, sure. Is it going to take you 4 times as long...at least. The point here is if you consider your time spent and the wear on the machine it is probably more cost effective to just rent the equipment you need and be done with the dirt work in a day than it would be to spend 4 days of your time on a tractor. If time is money, then the tractor is a bad choice for this type of work. If you have lots of time, then go for it. If I were to recommend 1 machine for that, it would be Kubota L47 or M62. They have great BH, construction quality build, and all the features of a tractor. They are $$$ though. Good luck!

 

[ericmb]

A 35-40hp tractor is what I’m looking for. There’s just an abundance of 25hp for sale around me, so I was curious if they may work.

The lots I have built on in the past are cleared farmland and very flat (no basements in this development). So far we haven’t hit any rocks or other obstacles, it’s just been clean dirt (clay in Missouri). No trees to contend with either. I would need to move gravel and chat for filling in the forms.

The acreage we are looking at is similar, except larger. Also cleared and no trees, a little hilly. It would be easy to build a walkout basement because of the fall of the land, but there would also be a lot of dirt to move as well.

My wife is on board with a tractor because she knows we’ll need something for the acreage. I’m curious about buying one now and saving the rental on equipment. I also want to believe that it could make building the house a bit easier for standing walls and moving material around, maybe even lifting some material to the roof. When I rent equipment I just use it for moving dirt, I don’t keep it for long term use. A day or two at most to keep the fees down.

 

[rScotty]

A 35-40hp tractor is what I’m looking for. There’s just an abundance of 25hp for sale around me, so I was curious if they may work.

The lots I have built on in the past are cleared farmland and very flat (no basements in this development). So far we haven’t hit any rocks or other obstacles, it’s just been clean dirt (clay in Missouri). No trees to contend with either. I would need to move gravel and chat for filling in the forms.

The acreage we are looking at is similar, except larger. Also cleared and no trees, a little hilly. It would be easy to build a walkout basement because of the fall of the land, but there would also be a lot of dirt to move as well.

My wife is on board with a tractor because she knows we’ll need something for the acreage. I’m curious about buying one now and saving the rental on equipment. I also want to believe that it could make building the house a bit easier for standing walls and moving material around, maybe even lifting some material to the roof. When I rent equipment I just use it for moving dirt, I don’t keep it for long term use. A day or two at most to keep the fees down.

A small tractor with a front loader and good 3pt hitch will be as handy as a pocket knife.
Sure you would like a 40/50 hp TLB - but the cost!!

Lots of people on this forum started small & then went on to more specialized machines, but if you are a guy with a shovel and a dream then that 25 hp tractor will make it much more possible & be incredibly useful.
Be sure to get power steering - loaders are heavy. 4wd if you possibly can. Wide tires have more stability. And my own preference is for a simpler tranmsmission than a HST - athough I own both.
Used implements cost a fraction of new, and work just exactly as well. So save your money there.
There are lots of good low hour tractors too.
Get your nice 26 hp tractor now - personally I'd get that B26 Kubota TLB with backhoe & thumb if you can afford it.
You'll probably end up with some specialized larger machine, but a lot of us keep that small tractor for chores.
Of course if you can afford a TLB like the L47, M59 or M62 you will ultimately be money ahead...
But if you can't, it will give you something to look forward to while using your 25hp chore tractor.

 

[Thomas]

What are future plans if purchasing 5 acres?

 

[jjp8182]

Something else to consider is lift capacity of the loader (and the reach).

However, if you're planning/needing to unload lumber from trucks (as it's commercially shipped) you're likely going to run into the loader lifting capacity limits on pretty much every 30-50hp compact utility tractor in fairly short order. ...and a fair number of smaller utility tractors as well given the unit weight of plywood and drywall.

Either backhoe or 3pt PTO-driven trencher would work for digging trenches though (trencher would likely be easier to use on a hydrostatic tractor rather than geared tractor), and depending on how much dirt needs to be move a good box blade could be useful.

Depending on the nature of landscaping being done though a tractor may be preferable to a skidsteer in some ways. Really comes down to what you want to do with the tractor and how you want to do it. The limited visibility of loader attachments on tractors can also create challenges, but if you're needing to cover a lot of ground or can use 3pt attachments for some tasks then a tractor could make sense. ...though if lifting capacity isn't an issue, I think I'd still go a bit larger (e.g. 50-60hp) in order to have the spare PTO power for any attachments that may need it (also starts to open the possibility of using PTO-driven hydraulic pumps for independent hydraulic circuits with higher flow implements).

 

[ericmb]

I don’t have any plans for the acreage beyond just living on it. We’re thinking 5-7 acres total.

The lumber company will drop off the lumber on-site, I won’t have to unload it. Moving lumber around may be easier in small bundles and lifting assembled walls would be helpful as well.

A tractor may not be the best tool for the job, that’s why I’m asking. I don’t need one for my current home, but there are some projects I would do with it if I had one. They’re also jobs I wouldn’t mess with without it either.

 

[paulfun9]

If your looking for an excuse to buy a tractor so you have it when you move to your next property and try to make it pay for itself a little before hand. Then by all means get one but understand there will most likely still be rental time for other equipment if building homes commercially. Please pay attention to weights and machine limits, this will dictate the size but unless your focus is on finish landscaping I would be looking much bigger than 25 hp tractors.

 

[jjp8182]

I don’t have any plans for the acreage beyond just living on it. We’re thinking 5-7 acres total.

The lumber company will drop off the lumber on-site, I won’t have to unload it. Moving lumber around may be easier in small bundles and lifting assembled walls would be helpful as well.

A tractor may not be the best tool for the job, that’s why I’m asking. I don’t need one for my current home, but there are some projects I would do with it if I had one. They’re also jobs I wouldn’t mess with without it either.

Identifying what you want/need to do and how quickly you want to be able to do it will drive a lot of the tractor sizing then since most of the tractor sizing will be driven by the size of the implements you want/need to be able to use.

For example: regularly mowing with a 60" vs 72" vs (extreme case) 11ft (to 16ft) finish mowers or ....leaving some areas rougher and mowing them once a year with a rotary cutter to prevent unwanted trees and other brush from taking over.

Same sort of consideration on any required driveway maintenance (or snow removal depending where in Missouri) - and any future gardening or tree planting.

 

[ericmb]

A lot of that will be determined once we move onto the property. I can say that mowing will be based on time, if I can mow 7 acres in under 2 hours great, if not some of it will be left to knockdown a couple times a year.

 

[jjp8182]

A lot of that will be determined once we move onto the property. I can say that mowing will be based on time, if I can mow 7 acres in under 2 hours great, if not some of it will be left to knockdown a couple times a year.

There are several "mowing calculators" online - which are really just doing the calculation of (working width)*(moving speed)*(an efficiency/overlap factor) to give an area covered per hour. The efficiency factor is more or less to address overlapped coverage and/or time spend turning around & maneuvering around objects.

...it can also be roughly estimated by: (ft of working width)*mph/10 to get acres/hr.

For mowing with a tractor I wouldn't expect to go much above 5mph unless the ground is smooth, and if it's relatively rough ground it's more likely to be 3mph (or less) driving speed to avoid being jostled around excessively. ...and for mowing (depending on height/thickness of the grass being cut) I'm not sure I'd go below 4Hp (at the PTO) per foot of mower working width..... 5Hp/ft is what many have recommended.

I'm use a 72" finish mower & ~28Hp at the PTO and can usually use the full mower width (unless the grass gets tall, thick and wet) up to the speed that the ground permits (generally 5-6mph in open areas).

So from that the size of implement and thus tractor can be estimated for that task. Add in any absolute constraints (like lifting capabilities, height/width limits, any specific features needed), and that can pretty much lead to the tractor size with price acting as a limiting factor ....