Lots of good points posted. Still mulling it over. Adding backhoe to the same tractor is $4600 more. Seems like a reasonable add.
Only real trenching I would do is installing a water line to barn, but there are a couple of trees near the path I’m not sure this small tractor backhoe could get through the roots.
Dealers would paint flames on the sides of all their tractors if they could sell more that way. Why do people buy 4x4 quad cab pickup trucks with 4 foot beds when they run with one occupant and the bed empty 99% of the time?
I think the majority of SCUT TLB buyers are looking for garage ornaments to impress neighbours and friends. Or they buy them thinking they will be doing all this work around the house lifting 2,000# rocks with their 1,600# machines. In reality SCUT TLB's are like buying the Swiss Army Knife with the fork and spoon and tree saw and a thousand other attachments you never use or want to.
A few electrical contractors buy them to bury lines in tight spaces but usually they go for the mini-x's which tend to be more suitable for the work.
Garage ornaments?
I honestly don’t know anyone who buys attachments they don’t use. Most take the time to investigate and learn what things they need to do the tasks they want accomplished.
There are a few who get misled and end up with something they decide wasn’t the best for the job, like a grader blade compared to a box blade for reoccurring driveway maintenance but we are not talking about such a limited use tool.
One of my nieghbors just dug his own trench for his solar panel install. He saved over 2000.00 by doing that with his as those here say undersized, underweight tractor with a as some here say undersized weak not capeable backhoe. Took him a little over 5 hours. My math on his exact numbers figures he earned 480.00 an hour that day and if his backhoe was priced the same as the OP’s then he now only needs to figure out how to make it save him 2200 more.
Sometimes I think that people can’t do simple math.
Now if he never does anything else with it again and sells it a few years from now how much do we estimate he lost?
Again simple math.
Let’s say he plants a few trees, has a tree come down in the yard and used the thumb to reach in and get a hold of a branch he can’t get to with the loader to get the wieght off when he pinches his chainsaw and gets it stuck. Pops a new hole in the ground for the mailbox his nieghbors goofy kid knocked down. Ripped out that old overgrown hedge line his wife hated. Dug a few French drains for water control. And then used it to help dig out new walkways to improve his landscaping at his own liesure and then dug some holes to plant a bit bigger trees or bushes along that landscape which makes his other half very happy and adds significantly more value to his home.
Add that math to the cost at time of sale.
Even this simple but actual description of one of my nieghbors current use covers the OP’s upgrade cost by a large margin.
Now look at his rental costs for the same.
Trenching 2400 paid to the installing company
Or running around looking for an availiable rental unit ( time/ fuel/ wear and tear) let’s just say comparable guess around here due to my knowledge of our local rental shop 200. Then actually having to drive out of the area to get satisfaction and it’s costs including most likely having to leave work an hour or two early to accomplish it about an other 120 to 150 bucks and remember he doesn’t even have the dam thing here yet.
Then comes the rental fee Let’s see that’s 500 with a surcharge for the out of area delivery because he can’t pick it up himself 75.
Now he was only able to get it on a weekday because all weekends for the next 6 months are already taken by other customers. So he will loose an other day of work. Add earnings let’s say 400 to try to get a balance between different type of people.
Let’s hope the weather on his rental day was good, but it wasn’t so he got sick from being out in the rain trying to get his moneys worth and got the job done but now he is out sick for two days from it. More work lost 800.
Next comes that hedge line my nephew does it for him as an under the table job actual price my great-nephew gave someone( a 14 year old boy for a real hedge along a nearby property) 350.00
How about planting those trees. Remember he doesn’t own a trailer and he got the Idea to plant them by seeing me bringing home some real nice but rather large trees that I got a holesale deal going on with. He asked and I offered to take him with me and get him some my next trip out that way which means his time is limited and he will need the holes dug and has no time to play the rental game. So it’s pay someone or don’t get them if you think your getting 5 holes dug for trees that big done on a hundred dollar bill in less tha 3 days your a bigger fool than I can imagine. So add 500.
Now look at the chainsaw stuck in the downed tree. Yep it really happend to him and I will give the price my landscaper/ tree trimmer friend gave him to get it out but included him finishing the job because at that time he was disgusted and about to give up till I told him that the backhoe with the thumb would easily be able to reduce pressure.
So the cost of that would have been one wasted chainsaw 150 ( guessing) + 475 to come cut up the rest of the tree.
French drains are next on his list. Let’s just go with the rental cost for one day again and skip the crap with our shoddy local rental place which is 575 for rental and delivery plus his time out of work again.
Next is the walkway again by now he is getting some experiance and waits till it’s availiable on a weekend. so It’s only the rental and delivery at 575.
If I stop there I think we are at about 5500.
Is that not more than the cost the OP stated.
By the way this is based on one of my nieghbors actuall experiance except that it was his goofy kid that knocked down my mailbox and he had to fix it for me and the hedge line was estimated based on the other nieghbors hedge because I don’t know what his would have cost on his hedge to use.
Anyway seems to me a backhoe might not be a bad investment for the long haul. I wonder if the value added to my place just with the patio dug out at the hillside alone wasn’t an equity improving upgrade large enough to cover the hole cost of my last tractor not just the backhoe.
