Skid Steer for Side Business?

[Tractorable]

I have a friend and colleague and we work together in the same corporate office for our "real jobs". He owns a Bobcat skid steer, a dump trailer, and an F250.

As a side business, he rents his skid steer and dump trailer to a landscaping company for $50/hr. The landscaping company then charges their customers $100/hr when the machine is used for a job.

The landscaping company sends him a check every month based on how many hours they use the machine. My buddy said he made some pretty good money when it snowed 30 inches here in Virginia when the skid Steer was used non-stop for a week straight clearing snow in the neighborhoods.

What do you guys think of a side gig like this? Could it potentially be profitable just owning the machinery and letting some one else do the work?

Thoughts?

 

[Sysop]

From everything I've seen, running equipment part-time as a side-gig is near impossible. To be able to afford the insurance required to cover your butt and still make anything requires full-time efforts. To rent the stuff out to someone, I'd want to be sure (signed agreement) they're accepting all liability for anything that happens with your equipment.

Beyond that, yes, it can be very profitable. Rental yards, landscapers, and excavation services all seem to do well. In most cases the equipment owner is generally not the one to operate it. Each have their ways of dealing with the liability of things that go wrong. You would want to do the same.

 

[TSO]

Yes but only if you are handy enough to fix it. Things break. I break stuff all the time with my tracked skid steer. Not usually the machine itself, but implements. As long as you can weld and repair things, it can work. It also depends on how the landscaper takes care of the machine...

But the formula works... Making money while not actually doing any work!

 

[bspeedy]

So... for 2000 hours on the skid steer, he will see 100 grand without doing anything. If the landscaping company maintains it and fuels it, that's a super deal. I'm usually a skeptic, but I'd say sign me up for that.

 

[mopardude318]

So... for 2000 hours on the skid steer, he will see 100 grand without doing anything. If the landscaping company maintains it and fuels it, that's a super deal. I'm usually a skeptic, but I'd say sign me up for that.

when ya put it like that...makes me wanna buy a used one and get to work!

 

[LD1]

So... for 2000 hours on the skid steer, he will see 100 grand without doing anything. If the landscaping company maintains it and fuels it, that's a super deal. I'm usually a skeptic, but I'd say sign me up for that.

Unlikely the land scape company is maintaining it, rather just keeping it full of fuel.

Better deal would be put the 2000hrs on it yourself and pocket the full 200k rather than let the landscape company take half of it for simply buying the fuel and paying an operator $15-$20/hr

 

[bspeedy]

Unlikely the land scape company is maintaining it, rather just keeping it full of fuel.

Better deal would be put the 2000hrs on it yourself and pocket the full 200k rather than let the landscape company take half of it for simply buying the fuel and paying an operator $15-$20/hr

Hi, LD1. Maybe I'm lazy. I think 100 grand for doing very little is better than 200 grand for doing all the estimating, hauling, negotiating, hiring, firing, storage, greasing and fueling.

 

[EddieWalker]

If it's too good to be true, RUN AWAY!!! Every rental company that I deal with struggles with keeping their equipment running. I have four in my area. Every landscape company that I know rents their equipment and puts whoever is handy in it, regardless of skill or ability. They laugh at the damage they do, and when they break it, they get upset at the rental company, and blame them for the failure of the equipment. Then they want the day for free, with a replacement to finish the job.

You either need a lot of luck, or very deep pockets to rent anything out.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

If it's too good to be true, RUN AWAY!!! Every rental company that I deal with struggles with keeping their equipment running. I have four in my area. Every landscape company that I know rents their equipment and puts whoever is handy in it, regardless of skill or ability. They laugh at the damage they do, and when they break it, they get upset at the rental company, and blame them for the failure of the equipment. Then they want the day for free, with a replacement to finish the job.

You either need a lot of luck, or very deep pockets to rent anything out.

Agreed... I wouldn't risk my equipment renting it out. Now, if my butt is on it, and I'm being paid, that is another story.

 

[Tomtint]

I have a skidsteer that I use for my own needs. It does not get more than 100 hrs a year and it still has maintence costs that are spendy. .. I once read the maintence cost to run a skid was something like 15.00 per hour. This does not include the cost of the unit itself or any added insurances.