Buy BX attachments or Rent a Takeuchi tracked or Bobcat Skidsteer?

[shrekbelly]

my dilemma, buy attachments (and then ultimately resell) or rent a tracked takeuchi beast or bobcat. have about 10,000 sq ft of a 2 phase renovation.
the takeuchi would enable me to save dollars and complete my tasks in a fraction of the time.
anybody take this road themselves? if need be, i can make a dunce cap and find a corner to sit in, for not really working the (h_ll), out of new bx2360?!?
hookopotomus regards, shrekbelly

 

[KeithInSpace]

If your task includes bulk/mass grading of something over 200 cubic yards of material, then renting a 'larger' machine would make sense.

The thing I've found about renting machines, thought, is that you MUST finish your project in a certain amount of time. I don't know what your time constraints are like, but I have maybe 2 hours...3 if I'm lucky...to shoehorn a project (or a bit of a project) in the evening, on Saturday morning, Sunday after church, whatever. Seldom am I able to rent something and work for two 14 hour days so I'm CERTAIN I won't need that machine a week after I give it back.

That is why I LOVE having my tractor. I saved over $5,000 putting in a paver patio myself, but I did it 3 hours at a time over 3 weeks. Never could I have rented a machine that made any sense under those conditions. That's the beauty of owning a BX/tractor.

My Stepdad rented a Bobcat once to work on his 1/4 acre lot...never again will he do that. He waited until I was available to trailer my BX to his house before he'd rent another one of those things. You'll save time because they're stronger, but it'll cost you on the back-side because they make one HECK of a mess.

Having performed a 40,000 SF lawn rehab, including placement/grading of 60 CY of new screened topsoil, I can tell you that the BX will do whatever you ask of it.

 

[TripleR]

Keith makes some really good points.

For that big of a project, I personally would either rent a bigger machine or buy a good used one and resell it.

It is going to take a lot of time to do that with your BX and unless you are like me and retired, it is going to be hard to find the time.

 

[shrekbelly]

thanks for your input. i have 10-15 trees to cut down in the renovation area.
once i get that done-hopefully, i'll have it figured out by then!?!

regards, shrekbelly

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I have the tractors and I have the implements but some times I hire someone to come in and do some jobs that can be done in a tenth of the time it would take me and the abuse on my tractor, not dozer/excavator. I'm a Kubota believer but these machines have limits and are breakable. To try and work one (way) past it's capability to me is not wise. I've rented a skidsteer before I bought my tractors and they can do alot but someone that knows how to operate one vs me learning to use one is a world of difference. I have hired a man with a big skidsteer to do some work for me and he can do in an hour what takes me 3 with a rented one and he doesn'r leave the mess. Just one mans opinion offering things to consider.

 

[KeithInSpace]

So you know, I've downed over 20 trees on my property varying in caliper from 8 inch to 20 inch. About 10 of those were 10" to 12" Pine. The balance were either White Oak or Maple. The Pines because their only purpose in life is to fall down in a wind storm and break other things...most others because they were heavily diseased or already dead. And one because it was defining a "hole" in my property that ended up being properly graded nearly 2 feet higher than the base of the tree to better the entire area.

I felled 2/3 of them myself with the remaining dropped by a professional because of proximity to the house.

I removed all of the stumps (except 2...one because of proximity to another live tree and the other because I haven't gotten around to it) with my BX...several without the backhoe and most with.

Took a few more minutes with the smaller equipment, but I haven't complained one bit. It'd take a pretty good size backhoe to do a quicker job, but a bigger backhoe would have wrecked the surrounding turf, adding restoration to the time spent on the project. Net wash, in my opinion.

 

[BotaBX24er]

If you buy, you can do it on your own time and the way that you would like to have things done. If you rent, unless you have everything in place, you will be pressed under time constraints and may not get what you want done. I agree with other folks...tractors have limitations, acknowledge those limitations and bring in professionals when they are challenged.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

When I built my house about 6 years ago I spent almost a month cleaning up a big thicket of cedars and hugh felled trees. Cutting them down then cutting them up. One day the man that leveled my lot for where my house was to sit was next door working on my neighbors lot with a dozer. I asked him to come over when he finished. He came over and I told him to finish up knocking down the small and scraggly trees and round up all my piles of cut up logs and leave the bigger hardwoods. He did in about 2 hours what had taken me a month to do and it cost me about $175. I did not have my BX2200 at the time but the trees were so thick it would have taken another month to do what he did with the dozer. I've enjoyed doing my own landscape work on my acres of hillside, rocky treed land but there's a time to call in the calvary.