I get to play with a big toy(200 deere with brush cutter)

[minimax]

I get to play with a big toy.I'm renting a 200 size deere trackhoe with a Quadco 52" disc type brush cutter on it,to grind 3 acres of 6"-12" alder trees:):).The lowboy is droping it off tomorrow.I start on Monday and will have pic's.

minimax

[Gravel Rat]

It probably won't feel any different than your little Deere :laugh:

[Scag48]

Good times! Sounds like you're staying busy which is good, I hear it's been pretty dead in your neighborhood for the last 6 months.

[minimax]

Dead for some and busy for others.I plan to stay as one of the others.
I have been staying steady.

PS I plan on riding along with you in the snowcat one night if you can let me in Feb.

minimax

[Gravel Rat]

Bush and trees never stop growing and in some areas you can't let the brush take over. I don't know about in the Pac Nor west but here we have the rotten Hymilaian (sp) black berrys and salmon berry bushes they will take over your yard if your not carefull. Then you have the rat trees like Alder and Maple.

[bobcatexc]

Hope your not cutting next to homes or along highways. Those disc mowers like to throw crap everywhere. Owner of BMW for some reason don't see the humor in throwing wood chunks at their car driving bye. :confused: Be careful is all I can say, we have a cage on front window and I've somehow busted the side window before.

I've been meaning to ask you minimax about your mini-ex and mower about how bad it throws material, I know you mow ditch banks along roads.

[bobcat_ron]

Going from a 35 to a 200 excavator is a real shock to your ego, it's a bugger for me.

[minimax]

I"m cutting out away from cars and houses so I should be OK.
My mini with the flail head does not throw stuff to bad,It only throw stuff out the left side of the( sitting in the seat) head.But I have throw rocks 500+ feet :nono:.I have only broke 2 windows in 3500 hrs of cutting.

minimax

[coopers]

Mini, where'd you get the attachment for that 200? Special request through Pape or is there someone up north that has that already set up for an excavator.

[minimax]

Pape rents 160's and 200's set up with cutters

minimax

[riverwalklandscaping]

wouldn't it be easier to call the air force and just have them carpet bomb the site? haha j/k have fun!

[coopers]

Pape rents 160's and 200's set up with cutters

minimax

Oh, very cool.

[minimax]

Well I had a good and bad day.I got started today and half hour into mowing I wrapped up a 3/4" logging cable,We could not get that thing off to save are life,so I had to back to the shop and get the "hot wench" and the cable came right out.I got about a hour more mowing done and a 1 1/4" hose blew up,that took a 1 1/2 hour to fix.I got about 1 arce of the 3 acres done.There was a real nice pete pulling the lowboy.
Here are some pics.
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minimax

[minimax]

Here are the before and day 1 after Pic's.
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minimax

[stuvecorp]

What do the clients plan on doing in the cleared areas? That lowboy is nice, must haul some big stuff to have two pushers.

[talus]

Never seen a quad axle tractor before. That is a sweet lookin rig though.

[kreft]

Nice rig!! How do you like the deere so far?

[DUSTYCEDAR]

Hate when the hose blows

[minimax]

Day 2,Went really well today.Here are some more pics from today and some pics of the other manchines working on site.The hill in the pics is about 40' feet high was a real pain to brushcut I could not get the tracks to bite in.
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minimax

[bobcat_ron]

Looks like you could still spend another few hours grinding the piles at the bottom of the hill.

[skennedy04]

If you dont mind me asking what is that running you a day??

[riverwalklandscaping]

just curious you doing this by the hour or was it bid? also what's going in the cleared area? a house?

[minimax]

Day 3,Well I finished grind all the stand trees and brush and then reground the slash piles today.I like the deere alot.I'm charging $170 per hour for the machine. The customer is clearing so he can have some cows.Here are some pics of today and the pete and lowboy.
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minimax

[minimax]

Load out time!!!
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minimax

[Treemow]

$200,000.00 machine @ $170.00 hr......Wow!

[ClearViewGroup]

sounds way low..using one of our heads you would be done too fast to make anything :cool2:

[Treemow]

Yes I agree. That would not be able to cover wear and tear on that size machine. Then you have fuel, insurance, and operator expense. Mobilization and demobilization have to be costly.

[Construct'O]

You missed a few stumps !!!!!!!:laugh::usflag:

[bobcat_ron]

$200,000.00 machine @ $170.00 hr......Wow!

That's what we charge per hour for our setup on a 320 Cat and Promac head.

[Treemow]

I am curious, if at say 2500 hrs. and the machine is run out, do you have replacement cost built in. I'm used to CTL's in the fact that grinding with them is very hard on the machine. They are junk at 2000 hrs. Teeth at $100 a pop every 300 hrs. Tracks at every 750 hrs at $3000.00.....and so on. The $170 a hr. seems like a bargain.

[ClearViewGroup]

i will grant you that there is less wear on the excavator because of the fact that the under carriage doesnt take the abuse that a ctl does (doesnt move as fast or as often plus its mostly all steel) but still thats alot of machine for $170 an hour even these days

[Treemow]

I wouldn't be able to run it at that price. Gotta keep shoes on the babies feet.

[Junior M]

Yall got to remember this 200 is just a rental, so Mini has to pay no wear and tear, its a one time thing, and if your competition is charging $170 for there 200 with a mulching head, then you cant charge more than that or you wont get any work..

[Treemow]

A 200lc rents for $125 a hour with just a bucket. That has to be at least a $50,000 Slashbuster. Maybe I'm not adding right.

[Junior M]

A 200lc rents for $125 a hour with just a bucket. That has to be at least a $50,000 Slashbuster. Maybe I'm not adding right.
What rental company/dealership rents by the hour? They go by the 8hr day around here.. You figure he had four 10hour days, thats a total of 40hours multiplied by $170 comes to $6800, more than enough to pay for that machine imo...

[Treemow]

What rental company/dealership rents by the hour? They go by the 8hr day around here.. You figure he had four 10hour days, thats a total of 40hours multiplied by $170 comes to $6800, more than enough to pay for that machine imo...

They actually rent by 8 hrs. I was breaking it out to compare apples to apples.

[Junior M]

They actually rent by 8 hrs. I was breaking it out to compare apples to apples.
I said that :hammerhead: A rental company rents by the day which converts to 8hours..

[Treemow]

I was dividing $1000.00 by 8 hrs. Hence, $125 a hour. $175 to haul the machine.

[minimax]

The 200 with the 52" brush cutter rents for $835 per day(8 hours) which works out to $104.37 per hour.It burns between 6 to 8 gal. of fuel per hour,8 gallons X $2.00 per gallon= $16 per hour.$104.37 + $16 = $120.37 per hour in costs,I put $49.63 per hour in my pocket.I think $170 hour is more than plenty.The 200 I had has 3700 hours on the 1st under carriage, and that under carriage will go that many hours again easy before you have any problems.The teeth on the cutter head are $30 per tooth,and have 4 sides you can cut with you just turn them 90 degrees,but lets say you only turn them 2 times and you only get 75 hours per side(the teeth showed not wear in 24 hours so I think you could get 400 hours per set real easy),so 150 hours per set of teeth,20 teeth at $30 per tooth is $600 divide by 150 hours = $4 per hour.
I would like to see you out work a 200 size hoe with a cutter on it with your CTL and fixed tooth head for what you guy charge.I hope this makes it more clear.
minimax

[Treemow]

It was very clear the rental rate you are getting is phenomnal. They will not rent mulchers in this area . The CTL's are for selective clearing . A 200 would be no good at trying to take 4" saplings out of stand 12" oaks with a 600 stem per acre count. They each have their place. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and clarifying the rental rates. I was seeking to find how the clearing business operates throughout the country. You have a really nice setup. Keep up the good work.

[coopers]

The linkbelt looks like it didn't move.

[ksss]

*trucewhiteflag*The linkbelt looks like it didn't move.



And its a better machine. :cool2:

[minimax]

I linkbelt worked about the same time I did but it was parked when I took pic's
minimax

[coopers]

What's the scoop on the guy w/ the linkbelt mini? Did you have him come in or did the owner? Did you have a choice to do everything on the job like what the other guy was there for or no?

[minimax]

The guy with the linkbelt is a good friend of mine and he has worked for the owner of the property before, but we can't burn in snohomish county anymore so He bought me in to grind every thing up.
minimax

[QwikDraw]

$104.37 + $16 = $120.37 per hour in costs,I put $49.63 per hour in my pocket.I think $170 hour is more than plenty.


$49.63 minus

Taxes, insurance, advertising, fuel to get to the job, trk reg, ins, wear, time to price job, time for paper work and I"m sure I'm missing a few. $49 sure isn't all profit!

I've seen your other prices, you could do much better. I started low when I got in, now I price better and walk away from jobs that don't pay enough.

My skid steer doesn't move for less than $125 with a rotary and much more for the mulch head. I've only had 3 weeks down time in two years and that was due to a large company had budget cuts.

[minimax]

I don't see how you can charge more than the other guys in the area and still get work.There is one guy in my area that charges $130 hr for a rayco with a FAE head and worked less that a 100 hrs last year and has yet to work this year at all.(He called me asking for work)I would love to charge more, but I would rather work 5+ days a week and make good money, than sit at home and watch the guys making $85 dollars per hour and me making none because I priced myself out of work.The guy with the rayco does not charge a minimum to come out and has no haul fee.More power to you other guys that can charge alot more, I would love to see you cost per hour break downs.Here is what the other guys charge these rate 120 size hoe=$115 per hr,160 size=$130-$140,200 size $145-$150.D3-D4 size dozer $85-$95 per hour,580 size backhoe $75-$90,35 size mini=$65-$85,50-75 size $80-$95 per hour.Tractor with bush hog=$50-$65 per hour.Tractor with side boom=$85 per hour

minimax

[QwikDraw]

MM,

Maybe I just don't understand how you make ends meet. After 2 years my machines are costly to maintain. I guess if it works that's great...maybe I need some of your secrets

I've talked to guys mulching up and down the east coast...most are atleast $150 per hour

[coopers]

In these times you sometimes have to make sacrifices like minimax said. People all around this state need jobs bad and if you try and push a full meal deal then you're running a fine line as to whether you get the job or not. As mini said, and he's right, why sit and have no work when you can give a little on bids and get the job. It's better to make some money to pay for the expenses than to sit on your ass and have no money because the customer said screw you I'm going somewhere else. Customers know these are tough times and they'll fight back and say pound sand and go with someone else. It may be fine in conneticut but here you have to be willing to negotiate with the customer as they are more than willing to find a bargain knowing someone out there will drop their price a little to stay working.

[AWJ Services]

Taxes, insurance, advertising, fuel to get to the job, trk reg, ins, wear, time to price job, time for paper work and I"m sure I'm missing a few. $49 sure isn't all profit!

I see guys who do alot of jobs for a long time including guys like Minimax, but I never see the Forestry head guys stay in business for very long?
I believe there is a huge expense in running the Forestry head on a skid steer in a full time business.
With machine maint, fuel, driving, and support equipment I wonder if 150 dollars an hour is enough?

Just a thought?


In these times you sometimes have to make sacrifices like minimax said.

I may question a few guys business practices on this board ,but Minimax seems to be doing the right things.
I agree that you have to adjust your charges with the economy.

[coopers]

I may question a few guys business practices on this board ,but Minimax seems to be doing the right things.
I agree that you have to adjust your charges with the economy.

Yes, and just for the record I'm not suggesting major underbidding to screw everyone over, it's simply adjusting and adapting to the economy and competition and staying afloat.

[Mowingman]

Job looks nice, but I think a dedicated tracked mulcher would have been a lot more effecient. Here is what I have been using for the last 13 months. It is a Fecon FTX140 with a 6' Fecon head. On the job you did, I could probably have done it in 1 - 1 1/2 days, with no other machines needed. It can be hauled on a gooseneck trailer behind a 1 ton truck, so moving cost is very low.
Around here, the Fecon rents for $1200/day, so you do have to really get a lot done every day, to make it pay out. It eats about 6 - 7 GPH of diesel.