Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed?

   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #21  
Hi Beaudeane,

I jumped into this April of this year and really love what I am doing now at age 41. I still have to keep my old job as a pharmacist to make ends meet but am steadily growing and learning. I thank God I jumped in and have to say there have been plenty of bumps just in these few months. I thank my dad for helping as much as he has and my wife for her support. God Bless.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed?
  • Thread Starter
#22  
Mac trade, did u buy used or new? Pay cash or finance it? If u financed it, is it paying for itself yet? What kinda bumps are u talking bout that ur dad helped u with? Very cool that u are a few steps ahead of me on same journey. Hope it helps my direction & planning learning from u & all the others on here.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #23  
Two quick points. Been there done that. I would try to work as a hired operator for someone in business to get a feel and try it on. Also that route will let you have a better look at the business and competition. Trust me, there are more people doing this around you than you see. And lastely, if you want to see a big boy, look up Progrind. The owner runs a construction company and is a great guy. He is building a power packed excavator right now, good stuff.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #24  
Thanks for the encouragement yellow dog. I will see about getting the books u mentioned. Yes I have 13 acres of land that's 10 years past cutover time to practice on. Bout 18 more acres of mature mixed hardwood & pine around my house too. Got it surveyed & lines marked well then after a good bit of time on the little kubota & bush hog & seeing no more than I had accomplished I started getting the fever for mulching. Figured if I had a need for it, a lot of folks around here may also. Then a couple months ago my buddy across the road was trying to clear some brush from sides of his creek. He stuck his tractor so bad mine wouldn't budge it, nor would my 4x4 pickup that we tried to pull it out with. Wrecker bill & he was outta the muck finally. He finally ended up chain sawing & a lot more time & manual labor later he still not done. May be that God put it on me cause can't shake it yet.

There are a lot of guys doing this type of work. The quality of work ranges from poor to excellent and a lot in between. Machines range from big to little and I'm hearing that some regions don't have enough contractors. I was just offered work all the way up in Louisiana because they can't get operators with smaller machines but since I don't mulch full time, I would have to give up some of my other bread and butter services. Point is, if you do good work, there are places where you will have more work than you can handle.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #25  
Mac trade, did u buy used or new? Pay cash or finance it? If u financed it, is it paying for itself yet? What kinda bumps are u talking bout that ur dad helped u with? Very cool that u are a few steps ahead of me on same journey. Hope it helps my direction & planning learning from u & all the others on here.

I financed the bobcat grapple and bought the bucket and rotary cutter. I have been able to make enough to pay for the financed machinery and insurance but am paying for all the miscellaneous expenses out of pocket (other job). The bumps are rotary cutter keeps falling apart literally went a month with out work and learning how to bid jobs. My dad is retired from construction and he is helping me (keeping busy) get this business off the ground.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed?
  • Thread Starter
#26  
Thanks for the input Robbie. I have the opportunity to watch & help my preacher coming in next few weeks. He has a s250 & a loftiness head. He says he only uses it a few times a year & mostly does dirt work & builds a few houses or remodels homes most the time. The other machine I know of in my area is an asv & not sure of brand of head on it. I know it hasn't moved in over 2 years. The owner of it hit big $$ on a lottery & basically have big boy toys they don't use. Tried looking up progrind & found one in Houston & a website bout a manufacturer of excavator mounted heads. Not sure if same outfit u were talking bout or not.
Yellow dog, got the 2 Jon Acuff books on audiobook couple days ago. Will be listening to them while I'm truckin. Bout to leave home & start work now. I understand the best product for the customers hard earned $$ is gonna be top of my selling list, otherwise I won't stick outta the crowd
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #27  
well you have the semi, but no trailer notations for it.
--you do not have a modified pickup truck with flat bed, or anything like that with a goose neck trailer or a BP (bumper pull trailer).
--you have licence to drive the semi....

larger equipment hauler? with correct trailer? some jobs just demand heavier / bigger equipment to get the stuff done. vs smaller size tractors / equipment.

say uShip - The Online Shipping Marketplace - Ship Freight, Furniture, Cars or Moves and see about bids for equipment hauler to haul stuff for other folks, not much driving of the equipment beyond loading / unloading. but shrugs. it might help pay for a heavier duty, longer, low boy or like trailer for your 2005 Freightliner semi, that is more geared for heavier taller equipment. so ya not taking out a bridge with an excavator or a TLB (tractor loader backhoe) or the like, do to height issues.

have seen many combines, bigger agricultural tractors, dozes, etc... go down the road, some times requiring notation of extra wide or over wide banners being placed on semi / trailer.

a big enough truck and trailer are by no means cheap to buy. to haul stuff from job site to job site. are you wanting to down grade? and be more of a landscape person? with smaller stuff? or be more of a bigger crew of folks with bigger machinery? or be a one man person that does the rough stuff say with a dozer, or a TLB or some such?

TLB (tractor loader backhoes) = pond digging, basement digging, digging out stumps,

grappel, moving garbage piles of crud to a better area, to be burned / placed.

dozers, pushing stuff over, leveling things out.

agriculture style TLB were backhoe comes off, being able to use other 3pt hitch implements. ((industrial TLB's the backhoe most likely does not come off for access to a 3pt hitch))

tract machines, brings up a bigger issue of service tracts, they are a different monster vs wheeled vehicles. from just general maintenance, to simply repairing them / pulling tracts back on if ya break one. to other.

does your driver licenses, let you handle/drive dump trucks for your area? do you have access to some spot for fill material or to get rid of material (dirt, trees, etc...) and do you know the requirements / regulations of doing so?

septic tank and septic field digging... are you familiar with installing of these? along with not driving over them without destroying them.

are you familiar of how close you can get to a home with a basement? without destroying basement wall if you have to drive up near one?

are you familiar with paper work to put in a driveway as in actually going across the ditch, and connecting it to the road out in front of the property?

===========
how much experience do you have at leveling things out and more so sloping? dealing with erosion control? are you familiar with any of the federal, state, county, specific paper work that needs to be filled out and submitted, there is a lot of erosion control stuff out there, in how to deal with it, and submitting plans to government. are you familiar with OSHA requirements? are you familiar with different types of "compaction" and how to achieve it?

some of the stuff requires sign off via an engineer before work can start.

how familiar are you with of different machines out there? more so industrial machines? not just a general tractor.

===========
if your lacking in something, then read up on it, on the internet to familiarize yourself with it. it is not a monkey see, monkey do thing at times, but skill, both operator skill, and other knowledge.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #28  
here is his website http://progrindsystems.com/ and seems you might have an easy in. You and your preacher work out rental price on his machine. When you find work rent it. This would be the least financial burden starting. The other machine's you listed, those are not the ones w you need to worry about, its the guys you WILL see when your on a job drive by. Point being, anyone can go buy a skid steer and mulch. Set yourself up the best you can, and have an exit strategy. I did not. Plan for the worst and enjoy the best.
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed?
  • Thread Starter
#29  
Boggen, I don't have a lowboy trailer. I do have a 16 ft tandem axle & a f250 but that may be a little light to move equiptment far or often. Thinking a goose neck double tandem & a 350 be better. I can legally haul & drive on the road anything with the drivers license I have. OSHA I am also familiar with due to me truckin sand into the gas wells in Pa for 3 years & the last 2 hauling chemicals down south. Both jobs were a niche market & have never had the desire to haul oversize as to limited income to the driver after expenses. I've never done septic system install or repair. Really I just see the need I have had from clearing property lines thru the woods for a fence, clearing & leveling a spot for my shop, expanding my driveway to my shop, making a bigger yard around my house from what was once woods, storm cleanup after tornados & winds laid a bunch of trees down on my place, trying get food plots started behind the house, etc. The little kubota I have has the loader & backhoe attachment but really ain't a construction type piece of equiptment though it has dug several water lines in & done a bunch of light grade work at my place. I just want out of trucking & think I see a need for a service completely unrelated to the field I've worked in over 20 years. May not end up even doing it but with all the attachments available on the compact track loaders that I know ain't cheap either, may be able to give me a more satisfying life & a dollar in my pocket. Thanks for the input & I do think questioning myself b4 I'm committed to it is a good idea.
Robbie, that is the one I found. Thanks. I pretty much volunteered to help him on the jobs he has coming up for the learning experience alone. May see bout the rental thing also
 
   / Knowing what u know now, what woulda changed? #30  
I financed the bobcat grapple and bought the bucket and rotary cutter. I have been able to make enough to pay for the financed machinery and insurance but am paying for all the miscellaneous expenses out of pocket (other job). The bumps are rotary cutter keeps falling apart literally went a month with out work and learning how to bid jobs. My dad is retired from construction and he is helping me (keeping busy) get this business off the ground.

I used Brushcats and a Davco when I needed a rotary. They are different animals. The new style brushcat, at 1900 lbs, is not going to fall apart and will do 3-4 inches no problem. The Davco didn't mow grass well but it shredded larger trees though it through chunks all over the place.

A small mulcher might fit your line of work.
 

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