Earning money with a 4' bucket?

[turnkey4099]

Jeez what is it with you guys???
First I get told that I'm a "maverick", then I get described as "some guy", then you try to make out my 46hp tractor (which is built a lot stronger than most tractors today btw) is nothing more than a sub compact. Then my tractor and loader gets compared with nothing more useful than one man and a shovel and now you are implying that I believe my tractor is a JCB.
I'm just trying to find a way to earn some money, it's not a crime nor is trying to find out if I can use my machine in some useful way. I did ask right from the start if people thought it would be too small, so I WAS AWARE that it might well be, yet many of you seem to think I wasn't and had to be told in pretty patronsing ways that it was too small.
I have not suggested I dig a new Panama Canal singlehandedly with a lawnmower for heavens sake.
I know I'm not American and may be seen as an outsider,, but some of the ways people have approached this was frankly downright rude and I dont see that happening to others on here, who do live in the US.
Happy Christmas

We're just trying to point you at some reality. Reality is that no boss is going to hire some guy he doesn't know who shows up with a farm tractor. Yes, you might make some money working for citizens around there but it will take you a year of two to build a rep. Then you might get a toe in the door with construction outfits.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

When a person writes "nothing more than a toy tractor wanting to play with the big boys", they aren't out to "save grief" they are out to cause it.
I'm not a fool so please don't try to treat me like one. You may have won an 'Oscar' for your performance so far on TBN but don't overreach yourself by being cocky and assuming others are sufficiently dim enough be to taken in with nastiness cozied up next to 'advice'. The two don't mix and show your real intentions.

"Big construction outfits are going to treat you just as you have been treated on here" And who voted you a proxy construction site bully anyway?

You came into the thread asking for opinions. You didn't like the ones you got and apparently aren't willing to take the suggestions about where your idea might work. Enough, I'm out of here.

Harry K

 

[stan33]

You aren't gonna win an argument with me or construction company that you tractor is gonna do loader work better. Skid loaders were built for the sole purpose of doing that, and they do it well.

Don't put 'words in my mouth'. What I said was "In an area where you can get any type or size of loader at the drop of a hat, I would agree, but here where you can't I think there is more chance." In no way is that saying a tractor is better, only that in this situation it might prove more available.
You aren't going to win an argument with me by twisting what I said into something else. If your determination to always be right leads you to 'punching below the belt' then you need to think again.

I am trying to help. Trying to steer you in the direction of doing residential work

And as I already said, there just aren't the residential properties existing here, on which to do that kind of work.

 

[stan33]

stan33, Some people on here can be a bit tetchy with their advice from time to time, but the majority are ALWAYS helpful. Your problem is that you are in a totally different position to almost every TBN member.

I was in Northern NSW when I farmed in Oz, about 50 miles south of Moree. I understand exactly your position, but do not understand a lot of US terminology. For instance, I do not know what others posters are on about when they refer to "unions" being involved in projects. I also get the impression that big as the US is (smaller than Australia of course) they do not have the long distances between properties or towns. If somebody has to haul equipment a couple of hundred miles (maybe a lot more depending on where you are situated) or have you do the job before he can get the equipment there, then he will pick you.

I bought a boomspray and let it be known I would spray crops around about. I got a fair bit of work because I had the only spray within at least a 20 mile radius - just that little extra income. I am sure you would be the same with your FEL. How many others around about have one? I have not owned one myself since 1979. I cannot think of anybody near me in NSW who had one either. Yet in the US it appears to be an essential piece of equipment.

My brother once had a contract to build a golf course on one of the Shetland Isles. A local crofter with a little grey Fergie and a FEL made a lot of money.

Yup, spot on, thanks.

 

[bcp]

Around here in SW WA (Washington, not W. Australia ) about once a month I see a "farm" tractor on a construction site. It is ALWAYS one on these--a large JD 4WD with a scraper. I have never seen any other AG tractor of any size.



Small equipment like compact loaders, like the link, and mini- and micro- excavators are showing up more and more.

Compact Wheel Loaders | R420S | Kubota Tractor Corporation

The only place I see AG tractors off the farm is lot mowing for fire hazard or brush removal.

Any fence post pounders/removers in your area? Or something else the typical large farm might not have?

Bruce

 

[stan33]

Any fence post pounders/removers in your area? Or something else the typical large farm might not have?

Bruce

The two or three fencing contractors have their own tractors/FEL's for fenceline clearance and post pounding. And the farmers who do their own fencing etc are pretty well equipped, with what they need. And ironically I think they would be far less likely to hire a tractor than a construction site who needs an FEL quick. They would just borrow what they need from a neighbour if they didn't have it.

I think OldMacdonald shows well, that trying to overlay what happens in the US and what happens or could happen here is not going to give me an accurate idea of what my situation might be.
There seem to be significant differences in almost every respect.

So thanks to all who contributed, however some may have come across. I think this thread has been very informative from lots of angles.
And Happy Christmas.