:blush: I'M interested in a local buisness that's selling a mulch application system consisting of a truck that blows mulch thru up to 400 feet of hose. Has anybody ever used this type of machine before? THis one spreads 60yds. an hour. The guy is asking $230,00 for the truck+ all accounts. Does anybody have an opinion or any info
Back when I was a Grounds Mgr. in charge of a very large complex, we subbed work out to a guy who spread mulch like this. Be prepared to spend some time cleaning it from the lawn areas around each bed. It was too messy of a way to apply, IMO.
I can almost guarantee you wont get 60 yds/ hr out of it. There is a guy on here who has one. You may want to search
seems like an awfully big investment to make. Unless you plan on doing multitudes of installs of over 30 yards, it seems like overkill.
company near me started with one about 2 years ago now they have 6 I think, they also purchased there own processing facility
Grass Mechanic I am suprised your contractor had a lot of clean up to do. I subed out work and my guy didn't have much mulch go where it wasn't wanted and he cleaned that up in about 5 minutes using a blower
Dan - He seemed to be in a hurry. He tried the blower method, but ended up making more of a mess. It took him better than a day to clean it all up with a rake. He might not have had much experience, because he was working for one of the largest outfits in the area.
is that 230,000. what year unit, how many hours on the machine and what type is it? EB or pacific? what kind of truck and how big of a hopper? whats the condition of the augers and conveyor. and what are the condition of the hoses and fittings. 60 yards an hour? not likely. the only place typically seeing 60 yards an hour is the EB tractor trailers out West. The business out there is astounding and the type of clients they haveallows them to move mulch. most of our clients have 240-600yds of mulch at there site. Due to traffic, site conditions etc, this usually takes several days to accomplish. This is with having mulch delivered on site and having a dedicated loader. Also if mulch is wet, its tougher to feed and eventually clogs the tubes. Maintenance is another large factor. You almost need a fulltime mechanic to service the unit, and hoses, fittings get used quickly. to be profitable the machine needs to be in the field around the clock which means employing several crews. finally, mulch is the easiest material to blow. Soil usually knocks your productivity in half. and again if soil is clumpy or wet, expect even poorer results. If you feel you have the market, est. a good business plan ahead of time. we have the business to support the units, however they are still not the bread winner of the business. we use it to boost efficiency at select job sites. and remember, the larger units are sometimes even more detrimental as they are hard to manuever in certain site conditions.
