Business help

[05rammer]

I've been wanting to start my own mulching business for a while now, just not sure how to start. The only guys that I know of mulching by me are at least two hours away. Everybody the clears in my area uses dozers. I'm not sure what is the best way to advertise and how to get people convinced that mulching is the way to go. I was thinking about buying a single axle road tractor, already have a tandem dual gooseneck, and getting some attachments like grapple a tree shear and renting the mulcher and skid as needed. Any advice would be appreciated

 

[tonyoz]

Ok Rammer here's my take.
Renting equipment has some big pluses
1, When the job finishes your payments finish
2, Wear and tear breakdowns are not your problem
3, When broken down the rent stops until you're back working
4, Renting makes your business more versatile, you can rent any type of machine you consider appropriate for any task you maybe asked to do.
The downside is that you pay more while the machine is working.
The upside is that you may pay less per month overall.
The tax part of the abovementioned I have no understanding of in your neck of the woods.
IMHO renting is a real good way to start in this game. If it doesn't work out then you won't loose you're shirt but if all goes well then you have the opportunity to do whats best at that time.

 

[eddie48]

Three relationships every new businessman (or woman) needs: A Banker, A Lawyer and An Accountant. If you have a relationship with those three people, you can set up and run almost any business you want. The banker can help you finance your equipment or facilities; The lawyer can set your business up legally and help with any contracts you get; and, the accountant will be able to advise you about smart business decisions and keep your taxes and other financial records straight.

 

[05rammer]

What do you guys recommend for advertising?

 

[tonyoz]

Three relationships every new businessman (or woman) needs: A Banker, A Lawyer and An Accountant. If you have a relationship with those three people, you can set up and run almost any business you want. The banker can help you finance your equipment or facilities; The lawyer can set your business up legally and help with any contracts you get; and, the accountant will be able to advise you about smart business decisions and keep your taxes and other financial records straight.

Eddie, there's one thing they can't do and that's win a job and have a happy customer. It all starts from there

 

[05rammer]

Eddie, there's one thing they can't do and that's win a job and have a happy customer. It all starts from there

Is buying a few attachments for skid and renting the skid itself a good idea. No rental company has a good sized shear or a saw.

 

[tonyoz]

Is buying a few attachments for skid and renting the skid itself a good idea. No rental company has a good sized shear or a saw.

I own my mulcher head and that saves me 300 bucks a day on the rental. Rental outfits here have a limited range of attachments so I guess it's the same in your neck of the woods. Having your own specialized attachments IMHO is a good idea and if everything thing works out when and if you buy a machine of your own thats all you buy at that time. :thumbsup:

 

[nybirdman]

I hired two clearing contractors last year;first one owned a 65h.p.Skid steer with a rotary head and did an o.k.job for what he had.The second used a "rented" 90 h.p. with a Fecon head and did a very good job.I would think starting a clearing business the "rental" stuff would make more economic sense.

 

[05rammer]

What are you guys doing for advertising? I know word of mouth is best but how do you get the word out at first?

 

[eddie48]

Join the local chamber of commerce. All of them that I have been involved with give each member the opportunity to tell all of the others about what they do and what they are looking for for help or work, etc. It's really all about networking. Making friends. Join any group, Optimists, Lions, Church group, Rotary, etc.

AS far as direct advertising; Is there a local "penny saver" type of publication? That's a good place to put a small, inexpensive ad. Do you know someone who can help put together a website for you? I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money, at first, but you can find lots of inexpensive ways to get your name out.

 

[Old Red]

Three relationships every new businessman (or woman) needs: A Banker, A Lawyer and An Accountant. If you have a relationship with those three people, you can set up and run almost any business you want. The banker can help you finance your equipment or facilities; The lawyer can set your business up legally and help with any contracts you get; and, the accountant will be able to advise you about smart business decisions and keep your taxes and other financial records straight.

Sorry but most accountants I know are terrible and I mean TERRIBLE at business decisions...they can provide you with information to make the business decision, but decisions makers themselves? Terrible overall.....they are exceptions.....but they have a hard time seeing big pictures. Just ask any CEO how good of decision makers their CFO's are.

 

[4570Man]

Does anyone mulch with a heavy duty skid steer rotary mower? I get to "rent" the Kubota CTL at work. The rent price isn't bad and it's based on use so it doesn't cost me anything if it sits parked for a day. I've been considering a similar business plan as the OP. The heavy duty rotary mowers aren't cheap at around 10k. The Fecon heads are really expensive. And it would seem that the maintenance cost of a rotary mower would be a lot less.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Does anyone mulch with a heavy duty skid steer rotary mower? I get to "rent" the Kubota CTL at work. The rent price isn't bad and it's based on use so it doesn't cost me anything if it sits parked for a day. I've been considering a similar business plan as the OP. The heavy duty rotary mowers aren't cheap at around 10k. The Fecon heads are really expensive. And it would seem that the maintenance cost of a rotary mower would be a lot less.

They work but the quality of mulch is much better with the mulch head. Easiest way if using a brush hog vs finish mower. The brush hog just beats and batters the material and splinters it. The mulching head cuts and pulverizes the material and can get into the Dirt to get some roots.

Brett

 

[rustyshakelford]

Does anyone mulch with a heavy duty skid steer rotary mower? I get to "rent" the Kubota CTL at work. The rent price isn't bad and it's based on use so it doesn't cost me anything if it sits parked for a day. I've been considering a similar business plan as the OP. The heavy duty rotary mowers aren't cheap at around 10k. The Fecon heads are really expensive. And it would seem that the maintenance cost of a rotary mower would be a lot less.

They work but the quality of mulch is much better with the mulch head. Easiest way if using a brush hog vs finish mower. The brush hog just beats and batters the material and splinters it. The mulching head cuts and pulverizes the material and can get into the Dirt to get some roots.

Brett

 

[nybirdman]

No comparison of a rotary cutter versus a mulcher.Just went through this last summer;hired a skid-steer with a rotrary(65HP) and spent two weeks cleaning up;later hired a skid steer(95 hp with a FECON) head and spent maybe two days doing clean-up in approximately the same square footage.
Rotary knocks it down and the FECON eats it up+the roots.

 

[4570Man]

Is the Fecon worth like double the job price to cover the much more expensive head?

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Leasing is a straight write off. Find out what leasing rates will be and bid jobs appropriately. a forest multcher is way, way faster than just about anything except a dozer. A D6 jobber charges $165.00 per hour, my local power company charges $90 and hour for a Terrex 110 with a forest multcher (these idiots killed the business for everybody else). I think the forest mulcher should be at $165 and hour in my area as well.

A heavy rotary cutter on a tractor is $80 an hour. An excavator with a mulching head is $120-165 an hour depending on the size of the excavator and how steap the bank is.

If you're pulling stumps or sheering trees, get a Kubota track loader with high flow. New about $60K. A track loader will kick the crap out of a tractor.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It's always nice if you can start a business as a hobby. Or often an off shoot of another on-going business. And demand just takes off. You know what your market is.

There has never been a saying "build a business and they will come". They might, but too many business failures suggest, this usually isn't the case.

I own a bunch of rather specialized equipment, ditch cutting, large scale mowing and so forth, that I thought would find customers, but after decades, it never really did. Mind you, I never advertised and am not a sales type.

 

[Rustyiron]

What are you guys doing for advertising? I know word of mouth is best but how do you get the word out at first?

If a dozer is the "norm" for your area, you'll need to educate your potential cliental first. "It's the way we always do it" is hard to change, but one job on a busy road might start the ball rolling along with your name & number, and MULCHING/clearing on a 4'x4' sign (done by a sign company) could make believers out of them.
All the advertising in the world for "mulching" & clearing...... you may as well be talking in Chinese if the term "mulching" really unfamiliar to land owners.

Who does the burning after the dozer piles it up? Mulching will eliminate that aspect of the job along with (on some site's) all the straggler roots & small debris left behind. This should be considered in your pricing and pushed as a selling point.
In the wrong hands you could tear up a set of cutters real fast, can you find this equipment locally for rental?

 

[Industrial Toys]

A lot of people have work that needs doing. But they are not interested in paying big money to get it done. If they get wind of someone doing good work "cheap" they get interested. And I am the same way. That does seem to happen less and less often as the playing field gets somewhat leveled by government.

At the same time, I don't feel like being that guy working cheap, and it's not a workable business model for a new business either especially with invested capital or loans to be paid.