Thanks for the 2 cents. I’m in South Dakota and staying under 26000 would be Ideal. I don’t have a CDL and have no intentions of getting one or paying the insurance for a rig that size. This is going to be a side-line gig and I want to keep the overhead low. The E60 does clock in just over 12K and if that plus the trailer puts me over 14k then I can make a slight adjustment and go for a E50 long arm or similar to shed some weight.
Part of my thinking in this business idea is based on the lack of rental options around. I have too higher a contractor to dig a trench at my day job once in a while and the equipment / contractors are coming from 3 hours out sometimes. The guys In The area with hoes are to booked up of just not interested In The one off work I have for them
As for drumming up work and renting. I’m kinda thinking I need the machine ready to go before anyone takes me seriously. This is kinda a everybody knows everybody community and everybody kowns what you got. And as far has saying, “yeah I got rental options lined up”. The good old boys around here are just gonna say “why don’t I just rent it myself”.
I guess the main question is: is a larger mini ex that is still small enough to fit on my 20ft 14k trailer. Gonna be appropriate to do the work a backhoe would generally be considered for. But also take into consideration I already got the skid loader to move piles if it’s something like a basement.
And if doesn’t work or make sense I’ll ask a broader question. What is a machine that I can mobe without a CDL that Doesn't require additional equipment or crew to get work done. And to operate it I can invoice a customer double the amount an hour that I make punching a clock for someone else? Say ($80-$100)
Curious Kitten,
My thoughts after running a 65+ employee manufacturing company and retiring into playing with light heavy equipment for fun projects including landscaping, road building, bridge repair/ building, ditching, land clearing,...
I don't know the prevailing local rates for a man & machine in S. Dakota but you can take an educated stab at the rates by doing the following: What is the monthly rental rate for the equipment you are looking at plus what is the hourly wage for a equipment operator? I use the monthly rental as this represents the amortization cost of the equipment plus a profit to the rental company.
Given current wage rates, a equipment operator is probably being paid $25 plus benefits per hour so round to $35-40/ hour. An equipment operator is not a cashier or McDonald's employee wage rate because they have no equipment operating experience and will abuse/break good equipment.
In my rural area of NC, I can easily see $100 per hour for man and machine BUT you need to consider your costs. What do you want to be paid per hour, how old are you, how bad do you want to hustle to build a side gig or full time gig, maintenance cost for commercially worked equipment ( banks typically fully amortize a excavator over three years since they consider it worthless after that and won't lend money beyond that term if excavator used as the collateral ).
What is your sunk cost for either buying new or used machine in today's market? Equipment is outrageously expensive right now. I just watched a auction for 4500 hour KX 080 is good condition go for $51K. A reasonable price for a 20K pound machine. I suggest you watch the on-line auctions to better understand prices for the equipment you are interested in.
Now to the point of excavator vs backhoe vs bulldozer, vs trackloader/skidsteer. In my opinion the backhoe, such as the Kubota
M59 TLB, is a more versatile piece of equipment than all of the other above mentioned equipment due to you have access to the greatest range of implements for various jobs and it meets the non CDL limit of 26K Lb CGVW ( combined gross vehicle weight AND it can be loaded onto a trailer rated for 14K total Lbs without exceeding the trailer rated weight. The larger TLBs (
L45 and
M59 ) are versatile ( jack of all trades king of none ) and have working implements on both ends of the machine (FEL and Hoe ) at same time. In general terms an excavator will outdig a backhoe, given comparable weights and horsepower, BUT can not carry their spoil away from the work place so a dump trailer/ dump truck is needed depending on distance earth to be moved. Same applies to backhoe and is the reason I have a 3500
diesel dualie and 14K Lb / 7 cubic yard dump trailer. In summary the equipment other than the backhoe are more specialized pieces of equipment that work better than the generalized backhoe. The trackloader is somewhat generalized because, like the TLBs, it too has large range of implements BUT I have never seen a trackloader with a loader bucket and backhoe on the machine at the same time.
Caveat: A TLB is different from a John Deere type backhoe since the the Deere has fixed ( some newer have a SSQA on loader ) loader bucket and backhoe whereas the TLB have the ability to replace the loader bucket and backhoe with other implements. TLB versatility vs Deere reach and lift capacity.
Would I dig a basement with a trackloader/ skidsteer? No, not what the machine was designed for. That is work for an excavator or backhoe although I have seen it done with larger ( 40K Lb ) dozer in sandy ground but it looks like a bowl because dozer needs to push the spoil away from basement area.
I think I have answered your questions but if not then ask specific ones and I will reply.
