Trying to expand in this credit market

[cbturf]

OK here I go again. I found this machine and she is my new sweetheart. It has about 1500 hours on it but it runs like brand new. I am negotiating a HUGE contract and if that comes through I will not just want it I will need it. This girl is a real monster but she has very good visibility though. Power is good and the head has been re-built back to brand new. It is not as nice as the Barko up in the cab but it is over $100k less than a new Barko. (The cab on the Barko is like a modern aircraft cockpit) The Tigercat mulching machines are supposed to be a very tough well built machine and I already know my way aroung the Fecon head so it should be a good fit.

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

Yep, THATS A BIG TRACTOR!!!!

Good Luck w/ her..Ive seen the Tiger Cat name locally here on a service truck...I think thats all they do is big stuff....

Credit market?

 

[john_bud]

Wow! Either you're like 2 ft tall or you're gonna need a larger fuel budget!!

jb

 

[Eagleview]

That's a lovely tractor , just how much fuel would that burn per hour ? How much would you need to get to make it pay with cartage and other cost's etc ?

 

[cbturf]

Credit Market...What meant was it is very hard to get money right now. Even though I have so much work that I can not keep up banks are really scared to loan any money right now. To get a loan these days you have to convince the bank that you don't really need it. I am not 2 feet tall this baby has some big tires, 30.5s so almost 6 feet tall. This machine has a maximum fuel burn of 15 GPH compared to the FTX-140 of 7 GPH so fuel budget will double but the efficiency rate will make up the fuel difference. I have not commited to this machine yet but I really like it so I am headed to church t see if THE MAN can help me get more work. I do not pray for more equipment but I am always praying for work. I think HE knows what I am up to but it has worked so far.

 

[EddieWalker]

cbturf,

I really admire your determination and drive. It seems that there are those who are complaining about not having enough work and blaming the rest of the world for this, and then there are the guys like you who are out there getting more work and doing what you can to make sure that you can do everything possible to do that work properly.

You sir, are an inspiration.

Eddie

 

[LoneCowboy]

Go for it. The time to expand is when everyone else is getting smaller, the time to get smaller is when everyone else is expanding. You will certainly be able to offer a much lower price than anyone else with small equipment and still make more money.

couple questions.

1. How much does something like that cost?

2. how are you going to move it?

 

[cbturf]

That machine is $200k-ish we have not settled on a hard price yet but I hopw to get her for less than 200. A brand new one is well over $300k. I have had to completely re-think my equipment lineup in the past few months because of the type of contracts I am getting.

A few months back I was looking at the Prentice and the Kodiak. Righ now I have over 600 acres of material that has either had the invasive trees either just cut down and left, piled up or I am grinding tops left over from logging the area. The Kodiak with all of its power has no reach and I need reach now. If a large juniper tree is cut on a hillside the butt end turn upside down and points straight up and the Kodiak would not be able to get them ground up quickly without a struggle.

The Prentice has been sidelined because I can get a very low hours much bigger machine for less money. A brand new Prentice is $225k and that Tigercat is a bigger tougher machine for less money. No brainer.

When the Kodiak is ready it will be an awesome little machine but it will not get a log that is 5 feet of of the ground. They are making about a dozen chenges to the machine based on what I wanted and now I am considering different machines. Oh well they will have a better product because of the changes. Time to go to church guys I will see you after the Titans game.

It moves on a big truck...I will contact that.

 

[cbturf]

I forgot to mention that I have gotten a good bit help along the way. Fecon went far beyond the warranty requirements to get my machine back up when it was broken down back in the spring. My equipment dealer Nissley Equipment bent over backwards (maybe even forwards a few times) to keep us going. I am in a pretty good spot right now but I had a lot of help. My motto is that I will never quit anything and if you keep swinging at the fastball eventually you will make contact.

 

[ultrarunner]

In tight credit markets sellers often have some type of in-house financing, not by choice, but out of necessity.

A contractor I know was able to get the expensive equipment he needed by first renting to own with all the payments going towards purchase if he bought within 6 to 9 months.

So how much Slime will you need for each tire?