New old mulcher up an running!

[Steave]

Most of the time when I see an ASV100 it is used for mulching. I've seen a lot of them and only seen 1 with a bucket on it. A gentleman up the road from me was using one grading for a barn or shed. The ASV must be the go to machine if using a mulcher. There are other high flow skidsteers out there but never seen one with a forestry head.

I checked on some low flow units for my NH LX885. Whew they cost as much as the skidsteer. Not really a homeowner type of purchase. My son hired a guy to clear out around a spring. $600 a day and worth every penny. He done a nice job with very little disturbance to the ground.

 

[TSO]

$600/day is extremely cheap!

 

[Steave]

$600/day is extremely cheap!

It is. I guess I should rephase that. It was $600 minimum, and he finished it in one day, and just charged the $600. I'm not actually sure of the hours but it was essentially a day.

A local man charges $115/hr the last I checked. Not sure of his minimum.

 

[ultrarunner]

We just spent $1800 including travel for a excavator with mulch head to do hillside cleanup...

Operator arrived at dawn and left after dark... did an amazing amount of work at one time.

 

[junkjunkie]

I think the cheapest quote we had (and I've learned that the cheapest isn't always the best) was $900/day. That was quoted as a day being 8 running hours on the machine or 1 tank of fuel,whichever came first. It was also a guy who had bought a machine because he landed a job that made the first few months payments and has had trouble finding work for it since... appreciated his honesty but his business model scared the hail out of me. The most consistent quotes were in the $150/hour range with no delivery or pickup fees as long as the machine stayed on site for 5 days. The guys who had been around a bit were able to quote pretty accurately, but most wanted to "blow and go" with a disc mulcher, telling us that was where we'd get the most bang for our buck. At the end of the day, we want to make sure we have a nice finished product. Been taking it easy the last day or so (busted up some ribs... different story) but looking to get in the machine and go after the old retaining pond this weekend. Should be pretty dramatic!

 

[Steave]

I watched the a guy for a few hours on a mulcher and he would stop probably 10 minutes out of every hour and looking over the machine while it cooled a bit. Time you take a few butt breaks, lunch or whatever it would take a while to get in 8 hours running.

After the burn bans were going into effect around some counties outside Atlanta, Ga. some saw the opportuinity to start their mulching business since loans were easy to get also. Then when the housing market plummeted there were several of these machines for sale. Lots of hard earned money lost. One man with one machine depending on one particular kind of work to me would be a scary business adventure.