Considering side work with a grapple

[heck thomas]

All great advice. Thanks for the responses.
I'm thinking my niche market is going to be small jobs, you cut it, I'll pile it for you to burn. I can build a brush pile in an hour that would take days to do by hand.
Most operators in my area won't even look at anything that takes less than a full day or two. Just not worth loading equipment.
But y'all are absolutely right, bigger equipment gets it done faster, and I'm not interested in clearing five acre fields. This machine will push out three or four inch trees, as long as they're still standing so you can push on the trunk five or six feet up, but it's useless for most stumps. Plus that's really time consuming, so bad for my equipment as well as the customer.
Thanks again.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sorry, didn't mean to get off topic. But it is what you might have to compete against. I bought a grapple because I had tons of brush left over from a Pine thinning operation. In the end, between material being too long for getting out between remaining trees, stumps (many hidden by brush) and difficult terrain, the job was somewhat of a failure. Sometimes things just don't go the way we imagine.

 

[/pine]

If you have insurance...leave your business card with all the local general contractors, landscape contractors, tree services etc., etc...not all are big companies with a fleet of equipment...

 

[heck thomas]

I bought mine because I had three acres of pasture grown up in swamp maples and poplar trees two or three inches thick. Plus a ton of dead trees my horses killed. So far, clearing the brush has been a roaring success.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I think that a guys success in such endeavors often gets down to character and disposition more than other technical factors.

 

[crashz]

I started doing my side business this year and found that, like IT just said, it depends on your character more than anything. I try to be honest and give my best estimate on what I can do and how long it will take. I then charge by the hour. In most cases, my scope changes during work, as the customer says "Hey while you're here...". I haven't had one complaint. I have, however, referred at least half of my potential clients to contractor that could do a better, safer, or cheaper job. And at some points this summer I had to give a few clients the choice to move on because I was booked so far out in the season.

The point is, you can use this as a tool to market if you want. But there is a down side. You will break stuff. One of my first mowing jobs took out a PTO shaft. The whole day's pay went to that repair. I'm as careful as I can possibly be and still get the work done, but I have probably a few days of work to get the mower and tractor back to 100% this winter.

If you do go this route, I would have a spare front tire and rim with you on the jobs. I can see the cut saplings possibly taking out a tire or two.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have a guy in my area that charges $50 per hour for anything he has an attachment for. He has two different tractors and multiple attachments. I used his services for grapple only work for a day and was more than happy to have him break my large piles I had into smaller more dirt free piles. He said he would also cut stuff up with the chainsaw if needed but I didn't need that. Many will probably say he works too cheap but I expect he stays busy.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I had a 12 ton zoom boom. On the way to my first paying job, I blew a hose. Ended up using a 3ph crane jib on a 40hp tractor to pull out a lightning hit submersible pump instead of the thirty or whatever foot the zoom boom would have afforded.

 

[ddbackhoe]

If you have insurance...leave your business card with all the local general contractors, landscape contractors, tree services etc., etc...not all are big companies with a fleet of equipment...

No insurance can be another fiasco waiting to happen. What happens when you drive over and/or damage something on the customers property? Pull out an improperly installed cable or pipe? What could happen if someone turns you over to the local authority (county, state, whatever) for operating without a license? Pretty pessimistic, but most people can't be trusted to go by a handshake deal anymore. Everyone watches Judge Judy or similar and wants to sue for everything **** thing.

We recently sold a flip and the buyer accused us of improperly repairing the septic, claimed he saw the action via google satellite. He wanted the whole septic system torn out and replaced to his satisfaction or he would sue. My stance was he had two choices since a permit was pulled and cleared by the health dept. Buyer could close the original deal and later sue the health dept. or lose his deposit and walk away. He opted to just close the deal.

 

[heck thomas]

I have a guy in my area that charges $50 per hour for anything he has an attachment for. He has two different tractors and multiple attachments. I used his services for grapple only work for a day and was more than happy to have him break my large piles I had into smaller more dirt free piles. He said he would also cut stuff up with the chainsaw if needed but I didn't need that. Many will probably say he works too cheap but I expect he stays busy.

It's amazing what these things can do with a brush pile, ain't it?