Duly noted. Appreciate the feedback. I figure I have negotiating power, wasn't going to pay his asking price that's for sure.
Looking for something around the property for landscaping and brush cleanup. Need to remove about 1,500 cement pavers too.
I've just started my search. Don't know much about Mahindra. Don't know much about Kubota either but their name precedes them.
A lot of people will tell you that a backhoe is a very expensive piece of kit that's rarely used - and they're generally right, particularly if you don't have multiple projects in mind that need one.
I did buy one with my tractor, because I relatively often (... 5-6 times a year?) have a decent size hole that needs digging and in our ground it takes forever by hand (which I did, before I had the tractor), plus the rental yard is an hour and a half round trip from here both to get a rental and to return it (or longer depending on how long it takes at the rental yard itself), and I found I almost never rented a backhoe when I needed one before because I'm not renting a piece of equipment with a 4 hour minimum and only going to use it for half an hour at most.
In my case, I was willing to spend the extra money for it - but I recognize that even six years later I'm probably barely at a break-even point vs renting, though time-wise I'm ahead because it takes me less time to put the backhoe on the tractor (if it wasn't already) than it takes to drive to the rental, let alone return with it, fuel it, etc.
If you don't anticipate a decent amount of digging and you're relatively close to a rental yard, strongly consider not getting a backhoe - they can easily add 25-30% to the cost of a tractor and if you're operating on any sort of budget that's huge.
About Mahindra - personally I'd rather get any current market tractor, whatever the brand, rather than a 30 year old questionable Kubota. Not to start off another 1000 replies, but IMO just about any current tractor maker is roughly equivalent in quality (
dons nomex) - definitely look around on this site and you'll find plenty of threads about this brand vs that brand, which one should I buy, etc.
For the pavers, consider renting a mini skid to get them off the ground if it's going to take good visibility or dexterity. You can dump them into your tractor bucket to haul elsewhere, assuming there's a spot you're going to be dumping them.
