Tractor business?? Advice/info

[Osconda]

I agree with AL Bechard about the dump trailer.

From watching my brother-in-law in the tractor bidness in central Texas....

Once he bought a dump trailer for use on his dirt work jobs, he soon found himself doing a lot of hauling with his truck. Lots of folks needed dirt/gravel/etc. but didn't need a full truck load, so he found a niche market in delivering material for local pit when small quantities are requested. He uses the trailer also for hauling his tractor around.

Getting setup into this kind of side business could eventually get you where you want to be with the equipment you want. Although I don't own a diesel truck, I will probably buy a used one next year and get rid of the gas truck I have now. I hear from most folks, at least as far as the engines go, Fords & Dodges are pretty reliable even with high mileage.

So, if you can afford it, try finding a size match between a dump trailer and the tractor you might eventually buy. You can invest the $ of a regular trailer into a dump trailer with more functionality if it will serve your business.

Consider this also, how many of us guys dump thousands of $ on hunting and fishing equipment just for the enjoyment of it the whole time knowing it will never "make" us any money. If you're into any of this stuff already, try redirecting your funds. Once you get into the tractor business you won't have time for huntin' & fishin' anyway.

If this idea is something you think about almost every night before you fall asleep, you just might get there. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Good Luck!

 

[Moon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Once you get into the tractor business you won't have time for huntin' & fishin' anyway. )</font>

Good advice, especially on the dump trailer possible niche market ....but you reminded me of a joke.

This guy got a job as a salesman at one of the big conglomerates. This place had it all. Like a walmart but also had car sales and boat sales to boot. So on his first day the salesman only made one sale; but it was huge. He sold his customer a fishing rod & reel, fishing tackle, a new boat & motor and a truck to tow it with.

The manager who hired him had heard him selling the man the fishing hooks first and of course he noticed all the rest of the gear added to the sale so he complements the new salesman saying "That is one of the best sales I've seen. The man comes in for fishing hooks and you sell him a new boat, motor and truck to tow it all with. Excellent".

The new salesman said "Thanks boss, but he didn't come in for fishing hooks, he came in for tampons. I told him not much going to be going on at your place this weekend, you might as well go fishing". /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[SCOOBY14B]

Thanks guys!!! All this info has provided me with a TON of things to think about and avenues and potential pitfalls I had not even considered.

This forum is tremendous and I got more response than I had anticipated!! Again, I always welcome any info, comments, suggestions.

THANKS!!!

 

[fire72]

My situation is similar to yours, but I've taken a little different angle on it than some of the other guys who have replied. I am also a fulltime firefighter, running my tractor as a side business. A few years back I was running my side business as lawn/landscape business, doing mainly commercial mowing. When I moved farther out from where I work, I shut the business down rather than haul my equiment that far to the big city where most of my accounts were. I also occasionally had problems with mowing accounts interfering with overtime shifts at the firehouse, which pay much better.

After doing a couple of jobs for neighbors last year, I decided this year to restart my business doing tractor work. My philosophy is never to go into debt for my business. The jobs I seek are the ones that require equipment I already have, or equipment I was already looking to buy. I always keep in mind that it's a side job, and the fire department comes first. All I ask from my business is that it brings in a few bucks to help buy equipment I want, maybe make a little play money, and possibly help pay for the equipment I already have for my own use.

My rates are, to my way of seeing things, a little low. I charge $40/hr for the first hour, $25/hr thereafter. Seems low to me, but I found that charging anywhere near what I used to charge for commercial mowing would price me out of the market in my area of rural Appalachain Ohio. Around here, guys looking to make money bush hogging are a dime a dozen. Although I do some brush cutting, I seem to have found a niche market in food plots. As a bowhunter myself, I have the equipment to maintain food plots on my property. My home county is a major deer hunting hotbed, and I've found that a lot of guys want food plots but don't have the equipment to put them in.

My long term goal is to gain a steady customer base that will call me back for other jobs in the future. To that end, I work hard to establish a good relationship with my customers and bend over backwards to save them money where it can be done without sacrificing quality. I may lose a few bucks by letting the customer know I was able to do the job faster than I anticipated, lowering my billable time, but I stand to gain much more if their good opinion of me gets me called back for another job or gets me word of mouth advertising.

I advertise in a local shopper/advertiser type weekly paper, and have business cards out in many locations. I took out a business liability policy for $1mil; I hate to pay the money when I never did before, but I'd hate worse to lose everything after trying to be cheap. Honestly, I think I'd lose my shirt trying to finance equipment specifically for my business, especially since it's only part time. Buying what you need for yourself and looking for jobs that use it might be a good way to test the waters without too much risk.

Best of luck and let us know how it works out.

 

[dknarnd]

fire72...Looked at your equipment listed and it looks like you are plowing your food plots. Any problems with rocks out there? No cultipacker?

 

[familyman]

My .02 on the trailer idea....
Transporting your tractor to spread the materials you deliver (or do any other work on the same site) would add greatly to your flexibility, so maybe a mason dump would be your best bet? I'm seriously considering the same thing, and whatever I buy would become my primary transportation, too. From the standpoint of power, durability and mileage (real important) a diesel makes the most sense to me. Finding an affordable used one will be tough, and in my area anything that's not trash will easily run $12,000.00+. Best of luck! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[fire72]

No major problem with rocks, just the occasional sudden stop when I hook a big one. I plow with the loader on the tractor to help keep the front end down, so it's just a matter of scooping up the rock and dumping it off to the side somewhere. Some of my customers are looking to just disk existing plots or bare ground, and don't want to pay the additional time for moldboard plowing. My old angle frame, smooth edge disk doesn't cut sod very well, even with added weight. For this reason I'm currently looking for an alternative, maybe a tiller, tube frame notched edge disk, or small chisel plow if I can find one. Still kicking this one around.

No cultipacker yet. The few that appear at auctions around me are always gone fast and priced high. Still looking, though. It would be ideal for the smaller seeds like clover and alfalfa, which are very popular for food plots in my area. Actually, I advertise for garden and food plot preparation, since a lot of guys want to do their own seeding and have either manual spreaders or the little ATV mounted ones. I prefer to do the tillage work and let the customer do their own seeding, although last week I did all the prep work and seeding for an absentee owner who lives two hours away. I'm also still looking for a better method of seeding larger areas. My hand and push spreaders are fine for smaller areas, but it's awful tough to gate down my 400 lb three point spreader small enough for clover. I've looked into getting a Plotmaster, but you'd better take a nitro tab and be sitting down before you ask about the price on those.

 

[Indydirtfarmer]

Fire72, take a look at the Ferguson "Yardmaker". Sweet Farm Equipment (Sponsor on this site) sells them, as well as plenty more dealers. They're made in W. Virginia. It is essentially a drop spreader with a spike tooth aerifier/roller on the back. (The roller drives the drop spreader) It's intended for a grass seeder, but works quite well (with a little practice on the set-up) as a food plot seeder. (Already seeded a couple clover fields with good success myself) It's available in 4', 5', 6', 7', and 8'. both drawn or 3-point hitch. It sells for half the price of most landscape seeders. I'm very pleased with mine.

Just a thought...........

 

[fire72]

Just looked at them on Sweet's site. Looks interesting - I'll have to do some more research on this. Thanks for the heads up.