Little Advice

[Thomas]

While talking to a heavy equipment operator this morning at the dealership,{of coarse over a cup of coffee /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif}
He told there a new sort of trend in which he notice over the couple of years which is good for his business.
"New tractor owners are buying tractors in which they ask to much of them.
clearing large size lots..digging out small ponds..putting roads in..etc.."
"Once they realize the work involed they give up and call,and I come in with my D4 or D8 finish the job"

His going rate for the D8 $100.oo hour /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gifbut for $800.oo a day thats lot of work done,and cheaper than taking life out of ones tractor.

This advice may not be true to your area but in this area it holds true,
for they don't call it the Granite State for nothing. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif


Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[gerard]

Gotta agree - wisdom is knowing what you CAN do yourself, what you CAN"t do yourself, and what you SHOULDN'T do yourself! I just had an acre leveled for an outdoor arena. It was pretty flat to start but had a slight slope requiring about 2 feet taken off the high side and two feet brought up on the low side. Could I have done it with my tractor and box blade? Probably, but it only took a medium sized dozer with a 6 way blade and a good operator about 6hours to do it right. Don't regret my decision for a minute (Especially since I get to do the "fine tuning" with my tractor anyway!!)

 

[Roger Mulkey]

Yea, I hear you. I thought I was going to do most of this with my L4310 Kubota.

 

[TomG]

Yep. This summer, I faced a hole that had been a 5' cellar and a pile of fill in the front half that went 5' above ground level. I looked at the 10' wall of fill and thought: 'Nope, here's one for the dozer guy.' Took me about a minute to figure that with my baby tractor, I'd either end up dug in on top of the fill or in the hole and buried under the fill.

It took the dozer a couple of hours, and I was so happy with the money spent that I had the dozer spread the topsoil as well. Got to keep in mind that different jobs take different tools, and few can afford everything unless they're making money with them and can keep them busy.

By the same token, the dozer guy has a large tracked backhoe, and he doesn't have a compact tractor. If he did the trenching for our underground electrical service, half the trees and sod on one side of the yard would be gone.