I need some professional advise from the more experienced members. I'm currently in the market to upgrade tractors. Right now I have a John Deere 750 (20hp) that I use to brush hog 6 acres and grade a gravel driveway. I've been thinking of upgrading to a comparable size tractor or SCUT so that I can get a FEL and hydrostatic tranny. I've been preparing to spend $13K maximum and I've been researching the obvious choices.
Then I had a thought today that might totally change my direction, and that's where I need advise from the members. Instead of spending $13K to buy a SCUT outright, what if I jumped up to a small compact tractor with a cab? Still keep the FEL and hyrdo tranny though. I would be putting approximately $13K as a down payment and then I would be financing the rest. The reason I would consider a very small cab tractor is that I could every easily get the approval to do snow removal and salt spreading for our subdivision. I could offset the additional cost of the more expensive tractor by putting the tractor to work for me. I would be able to pay off the tractor faster with the funds received from the subdivision snow removal. I live in Missouri and we don't get a ton of snow, but we do get one or two good snows per year. The last few years, we've gotten several big snows. The current landscape guy that does the subdivision doesn't do a very good job. He charges $400 per trip through the subdivision to blade the roads and $600 per trip to salt the roads. We have approximately 2 miles of blacktop roads in our subdivision. I have a full time job, but it is very flexible and I have plenty of time off that I could use to maintain the roads. I could also supplement by driving around neighborhoods and charging homeowners for driveway snow removal. I'm confident I could go house to house and earn a lot. I could charge a lot less than the main companies because it would not be a job for me. Any money I earned would just go toward paying off the loan of the tractor. Once the tractor was paid off, I would have no obligation to continue doing the snow removal for the subdivision if I found out that it was more hassle than I wanted.
So there's my big scheme. Can you tell me if this is a pipe dream or if I should stick to just upgrading my little tractor like I was originally planning on. Keep in mind, when I say a cab tractor, I mean the smallest one model I can get so that I can still use it to brush hog my little 6 acres and grade my driveway. I can't use anything very big for my property.
About your project;
Are you sure he charges $400.00 dollars per push for plowing
and $600.00 for salting?????
It sounds seriously like he is pulling your chain and stealing your beer.
the only way you will know how much he is charging is asking the HOA board to see the contract.
"HIS" prices for that size subdivision would entail 200-500 homes on the private road way.
Salting and most spin cast spreaders do not mix!!!!!!! a pendulum spreader will save you time and money
and you will have zero waste.
Your also dealing with what is called a "snow event" and what the "snow depth trigger" for work is which may be 2 inches or less.
You have to forget any deicing liquids period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you are still serious the only way to handle it is with salting sand which is a mixture of salt and concrete sand which costs much less than road salt.
You will be spending hundreds of dollars on bagged Halite per pallet of 50 pound bags with 40 bags per pallet and unless you store it in a dry place with a dehumidifier you can count on breaking every bag with a sledge hammer the next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UNLESS you have an unbreakable contract for at least five years walk away.
SO you had better just work on your own disaster area.
