I buy and sell light, to mid weight equipment as a hobby and have long considered getting into the rental game. I would like to focus primarily on renting dozers as that seems to be a niche seldom filled in my area. I have owned nearly 100 different dozers, mostly d3's d4's and JD 450s, so I am familiar with the basics of dozers. What I am NOT experienced in is the newer machines. I rarely mess with anything newer then a 2000 model. If I buy one to rent, I will be looking at either purchasing new, or preferable a used machine with only a couple hundred hours on it. Something under warranty and still qualifying for most of the manufactures 0% interest rates(not sure if they even offer this on used machines at this time). Here are the features I am looking for in a new dozer: Sub 20k lbs EASY to operate(dont want to have to school a home owner for hours on how to run it when i rent it out) EASY to maintain Good resale Good warranty I am leaning toward a CAT D4K2 LGP Open ROPS w/screens/sweeps. From my experience CAT has always done well in terms of resale value, they seem simple to service and filters easily accessible from the videos I have watched, and seem like the most capable machine under 10 tons. Is there anything I am missing or other routes I should consider?
I'm not sure if renting out a dozer to just anyone is a good idea. They can be a very dangerous machine with an inexperienced or reckless operator. A lot of places the renter has to have contractors insurance. You'll need good insurance too and a truck to move it and also someone to service it. I don't think a rental machine will ever have the same resale value as a well maintained owner/operator or large fleet machine that receives regular servicing.
Lots of places nation wide rent to home owners. There is a risk involved, but the delivery and pickup is dont by the owner of the machine(me) for a fee, and the renter is responsible for insurance, liability waver, and complete rental and user agreement drafted by an attorney. There are ways to do is safe and secure. I own a truck and trailer and haul equipment in the 15-20k lbs range weekly. As far as resale value as a rental, I am sure it wont be the same as an owner/operator machine, but that will hopefully be more then made up for in the money charged by renting it.
Seen to many homeowners that think they can run a rental skidsteer.....no way in hell would I rent out a dozer. Ed
I would go for a enclosed ROPS cab machine with air-conditioning. Guess there could be some africanised bees, hornets or yellow jackets around. Any machine ploughing into an area of trees/ grass or dirt could disturb a large group of angry stingers. The operator is also likely to keep their cool better maybe in an a/c cab while they learn the machine. You can put wire screen over the windows or use uv stabilised polycarbonate (fairly recent development?) or thick margard etc to reduce window breakage. Definitely 'you break you replace on a contract. Maybe set up a dozer PC simulator in your office to test aptitude before you - hire out a machine. Not sure about the lgp track pads - if used on rock they can be snapped off. Depending on average conditions - a slightly wider than average track pad might do. (there are many types etc) You might consider the cat bulldozer to be a 'loss leader' to get hirees into your business to rent other gear when they come to look over the bull dozer - big kids' toys etc..
A machine dedicated specifically for rental is OK. It has some risk but a good contract will mitigate most of the risk. It will be damaged and the contract must specify that the renter will pay for any damage. You will need to photograph the machine each time it is rented though to prove who did the damage. You should also actually repair the damage as often are possible, preferably before it goes out on rent again. The other issue is charging enough rent in the first place. You will have to cover undercarriage and GED costs up front and oil and filter charges as they apply. Resale doesn't mean anything if you are trying to sell the machine with a worn out undercarriage, busted up blade linkages and worn out blade. Tracking hours is a must and most of the new stuff has at least the option of telematics so you can track hours remotely. You will need to decide who is responsible for oil changes if you do a long term rent. Short terms are always on the owner of the machine. Deere makes a good small machine and seems to be preferred around here by the big guys. The Cat is a good machine but you will have to weigh out if it is worth the 20% extra in capital costs up front. The Komatsu is also a nice machine that you may look at in order to get a better price on any other selection. I've not thought much about any Case machine but it also may be worth a look. Purchase price will be attractive.
Yes, I see pros and cons to the OROPS vs CAB.. I am leaning toward simplicity and ease of maintenance. Here in east tx, most dozers in this size range are used for forestry/fire lanes/general land re claiming instead of dirt work. Being used as such, with the branches sicks and rubble, AC systems tend to require massive amounts of upkeep to keep going. I noticed the K series machines have heat and vent on the OROPS model which is a plus... Jury is still out on that, but I will take your thoughts into consideration. A non LGP crawler is just about worthless here. There are no rocks in east tx, just sugar sand and clay, a long rainy season, and lots of bottom land. Hopefully this would serve as cheap insurance keeping most folks from burying up so easy. If it was like Arkansas where it is solid and rocky, I would never consider an LGP.
All good considerations. A walk around check sheet with marked damage areas, signed by the renter would be a must. Exaclty like they do when you rent a car. I am trying to decide on the exact machine I would get before breaking it down into renting rates vs. maintenance/depreciation costs. Komatsu's new crawler desire looks like its pretty much just a dirt machine. Very un-protected design for exhaust and cab, and their rear coolant archetecture makes them so damned ugly, I am afraid of getting into such and nitch machine in the event I need to sell it. Same with the case on resale. They are hard to give away around here. Deere is really the only other competitor I am taking seriously at this point. Does you know offhand how they compare in price for similarly spec'd machines?(cat vs deere)
Asking prices between Deere and Cat are pretty similar. Negotiated sale prices are usually at least 10% in Deere's favor depending on what kind of leverage you have. When I mentioned the other makes it was in reference of using them to negotiate with.
That's what I'm talking about. Have seen people rent a skid steer figuring they're saving money over hiring the job out. They make a mess and it takes them twice as long, then they have to someone come in to clean it up.
I would not have a problem with what they did as long as they paid my bill. There are a couple of rental outfits out here that rent CTLs, mini exes and MTLs. They charge the customers for damage and never fix the machines. Stick that money in their pockets and expect the dealers to give top dollar on the trades every three years.
I own a 155 Komatsu that was a rental , rented out by Porter Hire with a sister dozer working in iron sands . Porters have a good reputation and their gear sells because of it . D41 Komatsu have a good machine, 1 ton or so heavier than what you are wanting , next one down in the range , D31 / 37 fits your weight and are very capable with winch or hooks . Both these machines are dry hired out in the market much the same as the one you are looking at . '31 I have driven was fixed track frame , very unforgiving and prone to overbalance . Guess you would still get paid if its hooked over a bank any way .
It looks like everything was covered.. 1 thing I would like to mention is theft.. The machines I've serviced in the last few years from rental co.'s, are equipped w/ GPS & remote shutdown capabilities.. They KNOW where the machine is & if its not brought back or an extension isn't drawn up, THE DAY ITS DUE BACK.. the machine is shut-down.. & they never have to leave the office. {other than to retrieve the machine} Just something to think about.
If I was going to start renting dozers, Ide go with the older stuff. With what Ive experienced with computers and sensors, I would stay as far away from that as possible. The simpler the machine the better.
All good stuff guys. Thanks for the input.
Around here they charge 700$ per day to rent a 10 ton tractor. I have a D39EX and run it for 100$ per hour , charge travel time one way. Basically by the time you add at least 150 drop off and 150 pickup plus the 700 I can be hired to do it and the owner doesn't have to worry about it. That being said some land owners / homeowners get they're nuggies when the rent a dozer , cost doesn't matter. I don't know what would work better buying a new one to rent or a as new used one. All of the newer machines operate the same to me.
Some seasoned operators can be just as hard or harder on a machine than Joe off the street. It is really in a person's best interest to rent the operator with the machine. The grader is my thing, but I can run pretty much anything. Just because I can run other stuff, does not make me an operator of said stuff. Most guys I work with, can't do much with a grader, and vise versa, they can run circles around me in their own equipment. I can do a lot of stuff with an excavator, but when I hooked up my sewer to the city, I got someone from work that did that sort of thing all the time. He was in, dug the trench, exposed the city's line, laid 87 feet of pipe, and some water line beside it just in case , backfilled it with stone and filled the trench back up and leveled before noon. All I had to do was rake out a few rocks, an throw down some seed. I could have done it myself, but what I would have saved in wages, I would have spent on machine rental because I would have taken all day.