Workaholic
New member
Hi everyone,
I have been following the mulching posts for awhile now as Im always looking for niche markets to expand into.
I've seen alot of newbie posts on here and the replys they get. Before I ask "how do i start a mulching business" and get replys from the veterans saying its not feasable and to not get into the business I will kind of state my position I am in.
I currently own a 2005 case 95XT skidsteer that I just purchased for snow removal and it sits all summer. I wouldnt mind buying a head for the machine and adding it to my list of services. This would be experimental and I would of course not rely on it.
I own an 8 employee property maintenance company that can run without me in the field all the time and turns some decent profit with 2 fulltime maintenance crews. I am in the possition to take some risk and expand / diversify.
Without me running one of my mowing crews all the time I have more time to do side jobs. Since I still have 2 mowing crews going full time generating income I am not concerned about how busy/slow I am with my own side jobs.
I started looking for job/contract ventures that didnt rely heavily on employees, something that could be accomplished solo or with a borrowed man from my mowing crew and I wouldnt feel like I had to keep additional guys busy/steady. Something that after its paid for, didnt have huge ongoing overhead and could survive a dry spell. Just a little gravy here and there. So...
I bought a hydroseeder.
With my contacts from commercial, municipal and school board customers I deal with i was able to secure about a dozen hydroseeding jobs last year and the machine paid for itself very fast. I typically made enough in a days work to be content not working on the mowing crew myself for a week or two (made enough to cover my replacement foremans wages) Buying the hydroseeder basically made it so that for every 60 hour week i used to work mowing I now work about 12 (field hrs).
So Im happy with the hydroseeder purchase and now I want to consume some more time. I occasionally see tenders coming up in my area and surrounding for mulching services. For the ones that I have access to the results for I have notice that most often there is only 1 company bidding!! Talk about naming your price. Best part is this company is from way out of town.. 5 hrs+ away.
Considering I dont have much competition I have decided I am going to bite the bullet and buy a mulching head. I will start with some familys brush lots playing around a bit.. Do a years worth of residential under 1 acre jobs. Get the feel for physical operations, capabilities as well as trust in the equipment and then slowly start bidding bigger jobs. Who knows, maybe become my areas prefered (and/or) only forestry mulching company. Pickup some better, more-dedicated equipment down the road if the workload permits.
So.. (almost done my novel)
I guess my question is. Whats a good reliable head to look for on the used market for my regular flow 2005 case 95xt. At this point productivity is not important. Basically just reliability and compatibility with my skidsteer. I know I am VERY limited with head choices having regular flow hydraulics. Looking to spend 10-15k on the head plus of coarse any additional hardware to prep my skidsteer to handle the head such as over-the-tire tracks.
Any advice on brand/ places to buy/ teeth choices, etc would be greatly appreciated.
I have been following the mulching posts for awhile now as Im always looking for niche markets to expand into.
I've seen alot of newbie posts on here and the replys they get. Before I ask "how do i start a mulching business" and get replys from the veterans saying its not feasable and to not get into the business I will kind of state my position I am in.
I currently own a 2005 case 95XT skidsteer that I just purchased for snow removal and it sits all summer. I wouldnt mind buying a head for the machine and adding it to my list of services. This would be experimental and I would of course not rely on it.
I own an 8 employee property maintenance company that can run without me in the field all the time and turns some decent profit with 2 fulltime maintenance crews. I am in the possition to take some risk and expand / diversify.
Without me running one of my mowing crews all the time I have more time to do side jobs. Since I still have 2 mowing crews going full time generating income I am not concerned about how busy/slow I am with my own side jobs.
I started looking for job/contract ventures that didnt rely heavily on employees, something that could be accomplished solo or with a borrowed man from my mowing crew and I wouldnt feel like I had to keep additional guys busy/steady. Something that after its paid for, didnt have huge ongoing overhead and could survive a dry spell. Just a little gravy here and there. So...
I bought a hydroseeder.
With my contacts from commercial, municipal and school board customers I deal with i was able to secure about a dozen hydroseeding jobs last year and the machine paid for itself very fast. I typically made enough in a days work to be content not working on the mowing crew myself for a week or two (made enough to cover my replacement foremans wages) Buying the hydroseeder basically made it so that for every 60 hour week i used to work mowing I now work about 12 (field hrs).
So Im happy with the hydroseeder purchase and now I want to consume some more time. I occasionally see tenders coming up in my area and surrounding for mulching services. For the ones that I have access to the results for I have notice that most often there is only 1 company bidding!! Talk about naming your price. Best part is this company is from way out of town.. 5 hrs+ away.
Considering I dont have much competition I have decided I am going to bite the bullet and buy a mulching head. I will start with some familys brush lots playing around a bit.. Do a years worth of residential under 1 acre jobs. Get the feel for physical operations, capabilities as well as trust in the equipment and then slowly start bidding bigger jobs. Who knows, maybe become my areas prefered (and/or) only forestry mulching company. Pickup some better, more-dedicated equipment down the road if the workload permits.
So.. (almost done my novel)
I guess my question is. Whats a good reliable head to look for on the used market for my regular flow 2005 case 95xt. At this point productivity is not important. Basically just reliability and compatibility with my skidsteer. I know I am VERY limited with head choices having regular flow hydraulics. Looking to spend 10-15k on the head plus of coarse any additional hardware to prep my skidsteer to handle the head such as over-the-tire tracks.
Any advice on brand/ places to buy/ teeth choices, etc would be greatly appreciated.
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