Business help

[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.