I am suffering through the longest weekend ever. As some of you already know my wife and I have been working on getting our own machine. A Kaiser walking excavator...well here is an update on that. We have been working with two different lenders. One gave us the go ahead last week (papers signed) the other wanted more info. Its a machine they have never heard of so they want to know it is worth the money the vendor is asking. I found enough to satisfy that question....then the vendor called me and the machine we have been gunning for sold to CP Rail :spaz DAMNIT!!! But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I talked to my friend with Kaiser Canada and he found me a better machine in the same price range. Only draw back is its in Switzerland working and we cant get it here until October. But...oh well we have waited this long and the upside is that its coming from Kaiser so we know what we are getting. The second question was if the machine is not working how will we make the payments. So I went on Canadas job bank and printed off all the operators positions that have been posted in the past month for operators in Alberta, about 350. I can call any one of those and be working tomorrow...no mater what happens I can make the payments no prob. We get our final answer Tuesday.... I have some time to kill now...anyone have a seat for me? lol I am dying to move some dirt, you can have me for a good time but not a long time. :drinkup
Good luck Brian. Hope everything works out for you!
Be ready for some sleepless nights, hardships, and mistakes. Trust me, all will happen when you work for yourself. I've been in business one way or another for the last 8 years from lawn maintenance, landscaping, excavation, and I still do photography on the side. Some businesses had a little less riding on me than others, but last year I was responsible for keeping $220K worth of equipment busy. It was a fair amount of pressure on me, especially since I was only 19 at the time, but that's the just the way it was. My dad told me the day we took delivery of our new 312 that even though he was making the payments if I didn't perform to cover the costs it was going to be my @$$. I took ahold of the business venture as if it was my own, maintained all the equipment, took care of all the estimates/bids, contacting vendors and subs, etc.. Everything worked out, we weren't scrapping for payments, but I did have some nights where I couldn't sleep due to challenges and obstacles that even my dad, the sole owner of the business, could not help me with even if he wanted to. I'm sure everything will work out fine, let us know how things go.
Thanks Grader4me I am more then ready for the sleepless nights, hardships and mistakes CascadeScaper. I have been through more then my fare share of those in my life so far and I'm sure there are more to come....bring em on I say! I am well pepared and up for the challenge. I will for sure keep you guys updated.
Right on dude, best way to handle problems is to do just that...handle them! Best of luck to you, sounds like you have a good plan.
WE GOT IT :bouncegri We have been working on putting this together since January and it finally came together :woohoo
Congratulations! :drinkup
congrats brian on the new addition! jordan
Thanks guys :drinkup Well here she is Spyder Hoe Solutions' first Spyder hoe. These are the pictures Kaiser sent me. She is in Switzerland right now and I wont actually take delivery for about a month....gunna be a long month lol It's a 1996 Kaiser X4M Turbostar with 6500 hours.
Mine is in the 10 ton class http://www.kaiser.li/content.php?SiteId=20&lang=eng
What is the purpose this machine is designed for? I've seen pictures of them but have never actually seen one working on a job.
great machine brian!
Thanks equipment fan pushcat they will do anything a track hoe will do just as fast. They spec out far beter then any track hoe in same weight class. Its only 10 tons but the new ones are putting out 157hp with a 20 foot digging depth and over 12k lifting capacity at 10 feet. More specificly though they are designed to work on steep slopes, in water (up to six feet deep) really wet/swampy conditions, and confined spaces. They are far more then just an excavating machine to. They have 5 auxiliary hydrolic lines and a mile long list of attachments. The link I put up has lots of stuff in it. If you go to the home page and then to downloads there is a pdf with the specs...I think its last years specs though because it shows only 132hp. The 2007's have 157.
Nice rig Brian! Sure looks clean for 6500hrs. :drinkup
how much does a machine like that cost?
Congrats on the machine Brian!:drinkup :drinkup I have seen these machines before only in a print media - never seen one in person, much less in action. They look like a very useful tool. I was looking at the link you posted and the brush cutter attachment is very interesting. Any thougth's on getting one? That machine would be an awsome ROW clearing machine with a mulcher. You could get into places that other machines would tremble just looking at. Good luck!:thumbsup
Thanks for all the positive post guys :notworthy :beerchug New they are around 1/4 mill US skata I met a guy this spring that does a lot of mulching in the BC Rockies with his Cory. He says it works incredibly well and there is no place he cant get to. There is a couple of attachments I would like to get but to start with all I will have is the digging and clean up buckets. I plan on marketing the capabilities of the machine to everyone rather then targeting one or two groups. I figure that way no one will over look my adds not realizing the potential of what I have to offer them. Then buy the attachments I get the most demand for. After I have marketed it that way for a while if I'm not as busy as I want to be (which I never will be. when one machine cant keep up it will be time to buy the next) then I will start to target the customers I want that haven't bit yet....that's the plan anyways. We shall see how it goes :beatsme