Hey guys and girls been lurking around for quite sometime and made the plunge to join so I may as well start posting. My question. Back a few years ago my dad owned his own dozer and backhoe, but as fate would have it he sold.. but anyway fast forward to today. I'm now thinking of going into business and buying a dozer, Excavator, and dump truck. I've been looking around at my finical options and I thought I would check and see what route you guys recommend. a few examples bank loan, dealer finance, or even grants (don't even know if the exist) - but if they do let me know. thanks in advance, and I look forward to talking with everyone!!! :usa
seems when i post a question on a forum, i find almost the same question ask by someone else just minutes after i post, but i'll still listen to what you have to say and take any suggestions you guys offer....
Well I started off with a Dynahoe 190 backhoe. If where you plan on working is within 10-20 miles of your shop I'd buy a backhoe. If you buy an excavator you need to buy a trailer and a dump truck. Or pay someone $225 each time they move it for you. When it comes to what brand for a backhoe. If you can afford John Deere go with John Deere, if you can't buy a Case. They take a beating and keep on going. I've got one with 9600 hours on it. We pushed it to the limits all the time with putting in drainage tanks and what not. Try renting for the first few jobs to get an idea on what machine you mostly get work for.
Friends of ours started their own biz about 10 years ago. Had a nice bobcat skidloader, and a john deere backhoe, two dumptrucks and that was it. They did landscaping, small driveways, water and sewer work for the city and septic systems. In time they bought a small paver to pave driveways. They got into digging house basements and installing more septic systems. Now they have two dumptrucks, 2 skidloaders, a CAT backhoe and a Kobelco excavator along with a tractor trailer. Just enough equipment for the dad, son and one other full time guy along with another guy that helps out partime. Our own business, which grandpa started out in 1947, was much the same way. Had a lime crusher and a dozer, they loaded the rock by hand. Over the years purchased a few cable shovels, as well as more dozers and slowly got into the earthmoving end of the business. After 43 years got out of lime crushing and by that time were up to 2 dozers, a scraper and excavator, plus many machines were rented as needed for projects. Good luck to you, just make sure all your ducks are in a row before you go out. Trbo
When i first started out,i started out on a RTO(rent to own) now days it is called i thing(rental purchase agreement).I was renting and making payments every month,but at the end of a year i had the option to purchase the machine(dozer) or let it go back. The good thing of this is if things don't go as good as thought you can let the machine go back and still have good credit.Which with the economy the way it is ,i think this would be a good idea still today. Anyway by the time the year was up i had enough paid in on my machine for the down payment and i bought the dozer.The lease rent was up at the end of the year period so i had to buy the dozer or let it go back.That was how it was set up at that time. The machine was brand new and all i had to do was come up with the first months rent.Which back then 33 years ago it was 2500 dollars a month for a D6C(price of machine was $72,0000.That was a lot of money a month back then ,but nothing compared today. The good thing about it being new there wasn't any down time for repairs.The machine was very dependable.Put 12,000 hour on it and never did anything except replace the undercarriage when they got wore out. I keep getting busier and finally got enough extra money to buy an old truck and lowboy to move it.Had someone else move it to start with ,but that was a joke as usual,but hated to buy truck and lowboy before owning a dozer.The old truck wasn't much ,but got it moved. Worked as many hours a day i could stand and 7 days a week for a lot of years.So if you don't think you can be dedicated to work 7 days a week(when weather permits) to start with, you might want to forget getting into the bus ,that's the way i see it! Something to check into and think about.:beatsme By the way,now i own several machines and still making payments .Like i said that was 33 years ago.Good luck:usa
Citi Capitol has an equipment finance division, I borrowed $100K from them @ 6% fixed on our used 623 ,48 months only 3 to go I was already established though. They were good to deal with
While I'm an advocate for new equipment, it might be something to avoid starting out. The financing options on new equipment are typically better, but don't get in too deep to start out with. My dad bought new from day one, he paid cash for our first skid steer, we then added a mini excavator less than two years later. A year after that, we bought a new 312, which was a good decision and we made enough money with it in the 6 months that we had it, selling it and taking a little bit of a loss didn't kill us. The reason we ended up selling that machine, along with a 277B that we had also bought (I fought my dad on that purchase from day one, never should have bought it) is that my old man decided he just couldn't run the excavation division with me being away at college. So he sold off the 277 and the 312 and still runs his landscaping/hardscaping business. Did we fold the whole company because of machine sales? Nope, not even close. But, we learned a whole lot and had some good times in some new iron, that was almost worth the money lost right there. If I had to do it all over again, and I will here in a few years, I'd more than likely buy used. My old man could swing it, he could have retired 10 years ago but just likes to work, he had a solid business going and could afford the new stuff. But, if you're on a budget, like I will be when I open up my doors in 10 years or so, keeping the cost down right when you start out is crucial. You won't be working a whole lot to start out with and if you do, great, save that money for tough times. 50% of new businesses fail within 2 years, 80% of that 50% never make it past 5 years. Keep that in mind while shopping for toys, your day will come to get the new stuff. Other than that, get your name out there, learn what you can as fast as you can, and mostly just enjoy yourself. Ain't nothin' like playin in the dirt.
Thanks for all the advice you guys have gave me... i think i'm going to look ever thing over and just take a lot of time before i purchase anything, although i may try the rent/lease to get a good scope of the market.
Ok I am just starting out also. The way I am doing it, is last year I got a loan for a backhoe. Right now I am keeping my eyes open for pretty much the cheapest decent dump truck I can get, or also Im looking at building one to save a little money. Everything I am buying is going to be loans, and there is grants available, but they dont come around all the time, you have to be on the ball and know how to find them, which i do not know how to find haha. So in the end I hope to have a used dump with a used trailer by this summer, to go with my used hoe. I hope to make abit of money back out of the equipment to pay as much as i can off, and when i have it all paid off I will sell the dump and put the money towards a newer nicer one. The trailer that I want to buy I will just paint up and make sure its mechanically good and keep using it. After I get a newer dump I would like to look at getting a newer backhoe. Then who knows, if I do ok I will expand a little bit, but time will tell for that.