Hello All, A little bit about my business. I do small/light civil construction and commercial ti (sometimes). Projects such as apartment stormwater systems, parks, school playgrounds, restroom buildings and side sewer. I also have a separate company that does septic and septic pumping. As such, my equipment is really a necessary evil to the business (to give you an idea, I bought a new Cat 305 a year and a half ago and it has about 600hrs on it now). I plan on growing this year and next into larger projects which will require larger equipment. Right now I have the 305 a 6 yard hooklift truck and a 10 yard dump. I will need at least a loader and a pup trailer for the next project. My thought is to jump into a small-mid wheel loader such as a 918-930 or IT28. I am also looking at similar size machines from Deere, Case and Komatsu. These machines are very expensive new, so I am hesitant to buy a newer machine when I will probably put 300/hrs a year on it. Is 5000 hrs too much? 10000? The other option is that I could buy a new or low hour skid steer/backhoe and save my money for 15 ton zts excavator which I will need at some point in the future (I would then need to rent a 15ton machine for the upcoming job to load out trucks and dig out some areas). BTW many of my projects have very tight time limits, so just making due with smaller equipment won't always be an option. Thoughts?
Right now equipment is expensive. The worst thing in the world to do is buy something because you have to have it tomorrow. Keep your eyes open for a bargain and use the rental market as you have to and keep the cash flow coming in. The hour range in the markets is usually dependent on demand. Right now things are boiling and prices on anything that runs are high. The market for 918 through 930 isn't that large to begin with and in my experience those machines are run till they won't. I think you are right on in looking at brands other than Cat but keep in mind they may be less expensive to buy which means they will also return less if you plan on trading them off or selling them outright. Parts and service are another big part of that plan. It's nice to hear of a business expanding and good luck to you. Keep us in the loop as to what you do.
hours is relative to maintenance. machines with 5000 hours can be like new if they were run by good operators and maintained. the machines to stay away from are machines owned by the big rental houses (united rental, Sunbelt) you will find 2 or 3 good machines out of every 10 that they owned. i have had better experience with komatsu in recent years with loaders than anything else and they are a pretty stout machine. in our area right now if you do the math on buying versus renting at least with backhoes and small excavators i profit more money renting. for what it cost to buy new and used with all of the maintenance and everything i come out ahead renting by more than i would have thought. the thing you get in owning is convenience if the machine is on the job and not being used that day its cost is not as high as if its rented and not being used but either way it cost you money and if its sitting at your yard for 2 months between jobs it cost a lot of money. for machines i would need less than 300 hrs a year i would rent and save the cash for things that get more hrs use in a year. just my opinion
If a machine has had cental lube from new it is amazing how good condition the pins/joints can be. I bought a Volvo excavator with 8000 hours on it with factory central lube and the pins were as tight as new. It also is a good indicator for how the rest of the machine will have been serviced. Anyone paying thousands extra on purchase for central lube will probably be serious about maintaining their equipment. Graham
That's the thing with our jobs, We have to dig/prep, then build a section, then do more machine work. So I might need a machine every other day for 2 months and only put 75 hours on it.
Hours are also relative to design. If something is designed to fail (planned in obsolescence), it's junk to begin with and it's days are numbered. I would rather buy a well designed older machine that needs work than a new machine that needs DEF. It has already been proven that some machines can go 20,000 hours and more. All it takes is the willingness of the manufacturers engineering department and the care of the owner and operator. I don't think any of the machines being manufactured today will go 20,000 hours.
Jhark I see your point and I get it If your not afraid to work on things you can get into older like pre 2005 equipment without any real electronics like we have today and do really good if you are an ok mechanic I highly doubt any new equipment will have anywhere near the life span of older stuff has and not because of of the mechanical parts not holding up but the electronics and emissions I went through 2 cat 420 f and 1 420 f2 last fall everyone of them cracked an exauhst manifold all of them were under 1000 hours to fortunately they were rentals. The emissions and electrical will fail and be to expensive to repair Unfortunately. I think that is becoming the main idea of the manufacturer planned obsolescence they want you to buy new iron
If it helps your decision at all... we bought a 1998 cat it24f with 9,500 hours for 25k back in 2012. Still have it, 11,000 hours now. Have had some relatively minor problems over the few short years we have had but as of right now at this moment, the machine will crank, work and let me get paid! Have to check my notebook but I would estimate I have 1.5-2k in minor repair parts since buying machine. Things like batteries, altenator, lights, belts, hoses switches. I also have about 6 hours of welding on the 2 yard bucket that came with machine.