Hi all, This is my first post my name is Zach and I run a small landscaping and snow removal business in Syracuse, NY. I am looking at getting my first skid steer and am thinking about leasing a bobcat s550 t4 from our local bobcat dealer for 677/month 3 years all maintenance included. I will primarily be using the machine to plow parking lots, load mulch into trailers, load snow into dump truck, load salt into bed, stack snow, and help with patios. I was just looking for some help as to if this would be a good machine for my purposes. Thank you! Zach
Do you have a spreadsheet program (Excel) or have a friend that can make you a "model" of your business? It should show 12 months of revenue and expense. But don't just throw big pie in the sky numbers in there. Since the spreadsheet is doing all the work, have it add up all your little best guesses. Make a separate catagory for every income item. Hopefully your snowplowing revenue will drop in July ;-) Again, calculate by something that makes sense to you. Driveways per week, landscape jobs per month, etc. That you can see if it makes sense that it can be done. Expenses will be all over the map. Some can be same every month. Some can be percent of revenue, percent of wages, or anything else you can relate it to. Again, bit size pieces and the spreadsheet will do all the math. You can get fancy and have it automatically kick in extra people for different revenue or job count levels in the income part. Build it so it automatically adjusts to various business levels. Back to your original question on the $667 per month. If you build a decent model, just try putting in different things. Make a version with lease. (Then play with the income and see what happens if you have a year without snow and if it bankrupts you, it's not a good plan. Don't forget trailer or other costs. Try another with rental. It's going to be more expensive, but their is now expense if your project does not use it. Do one with a purchase too. It should be easy to estimate the resale value of your machine in 3 years by looking at others. It's a pain to build these, but it's easier to go bust on paper than crater for real! You will be paying the leasing company over $20,000 over the 3 years so read the fine print. If I'm guessing right, there are more good things for the company writing the lease in there than good things for you. The big print giveth, and the small print taketh away... Whatever you decide, if work through the numbers you'll sleep like a baby after you sign on the dotted line. Good luck!
I guess I was looking for information on how the machine performs and how it will work for the jobs I mentioned. I appreciate the other information though!
That's what I hope to read too and good stuff will show up soon! This forum is great. You probably have your ducks in a row but I see the financial stuff having a bigger downside for small business than getting the right machine (I was an accountant in a past life, but this one is more fun). I'm just bummed out because I'm sitting here in front of the computer instead of on the mountain using the old Skat Trak I just picked up to dig out a foundation, driveway, walks, and landscaping! I was disappointed with the dirt work I paid for on the last house and ended up renting a T-190 for a week to get it the way I wanted. My thought on the S550 is that I would not want to be locked into a wheeled machine for 3 years. That tracked machine was sweet on inclines. Also, when it rains the wheel unit is worthless. (I'll be putting steel tracks on mine, but I'd be worried about tearing up a customers yard if I was in your business).
Hey, I've operated all different kinds of skid steers over the last 10 years. What I'd say is make sure the S550 can reach over your dump truck. I've used combo buckets before when in a radial lift machine. The combo bucket works like a clam shell and you can place larger stones, etc., but you can also pull up to the side of a truck and open the clam shell to get the snow or dirt or whatever in the truck. If the salesman demos the machine, ask him to bring a combo bucket too, it's handy to have for a radial machine and picking and placing. Also, if you are on grass or people's lawns, yeah, tracks are the way to go to save the turf, but if you are mostly on pavement or dirt, skid steers are just fine. I always preffered skids for snow. If it's always wet and rainy where you live, tracks will keep going, tired machines will get stuck. Depends on what you're doing and the weather, but if it were me and it were mostly snow and pavement or dry dirt, I'd stick with the radial lift with combo bucket skid steer. cheaper option.
Seems to be some guys are having Tier 4 final issues with Bobcat. That size machine may only have a DOC but I am not for certain. I would talk with your salesman and the service department and inquire about issues and fixes for these problems.
just to confirm...the new Tire4 S550 only has a DOC, none of that troublesome DPF as in the preivious generation with the Kubota engine.
FYI the new Doosan without DPF IS the one that has been troublesome, not the Kubota. Didn't know they used a DPF on the smaller machines with Kubota anyways.