Good morning! I’ve recently been exploring the idea of starting a little side business doing excavator work. I have been using a friends bobcat 335, fell in love with it, and have spent many happy hours getting work done around my property. I would not mind at all if I got paid to sit on a machine. I have a good full time job that can support this as a hobby if the business venture doesn’t work out, so I’m not super concerned about not being able to make the payment. The machine paying for itself is ideal, but if I have bad months it’s not going to bankrupt me. I’m hoping for some objective advice on what route to go. I plan on buying new in the spring. I don’t have a brand preference. Machine will be financed, so financing options available will factor into my decision. Looking to keep payment under $1k a month. excavator and trailer weight combined I’d like to keep total weight under 14k max, under 12k would be even better. 6 point grading blade is a must I’m fairly mechanical, if one brand is notoriously easier to maintain/work on myself, I’d love to hear about it. Best warranties? Any other advice is much appreciated.
attachments available is also going to be a small factor in my decision making. For now I will only be offering services like brush clearing, basic grading, ditch digging, junk removal/demo…. Nothing extreme as I don’t want to get in over my head.
Dealer support is my number 2 factor when picking another to add to the fleet. In my under ten ton machines, I ended up with Yanmar. They come with a factory installed, multi grab, bucket coupler, and my Vio55-6a had the optional 6 way blade. Prior small hoes were all Takeuchi. With that said, Yanmar parts and support aren't as vast as, say, Cat, Deere, or even Bobcat. But, I'm versed enough to get around that.
If a six-way blade is a must, your options are very limited. I think the Kubota KX040-4 is the only one small enough to haul on a 14K trailer with a six-way blade. There may be others, but I haven't seen any. Also, just FYI that six-way blade is a very expensive option. That said, the Kubota KX040-4 is an excellent machine, I've spent hundreds of hours running them. My father owns one and I own a U48-5. I believe the KX040 is the single most popular mini excavator in the world. After Kubota next on my list is Takeuchi, followed by the other Japanese brands. If you can live without the six-way blade, the Kubota KX033 and U35 are both very good along with the Takeuchi TB235 and TB240.
Thanks for the input guys!! Dealership choice will play a factor- but luckily I have quite a few to chose from. I’m on the Kitsap peninsula of WA, I have just about every name brand dealership within an hour drive…. Really it’s going to come down to opinions on reliability. It’s great I’ll have a warranty but even better would be to not buy a machine that is notoriously unreliable, I don’t want to have to use the warranty lol. The KX040 is actually one that I have my eye on. I didn’t realize they were that popular. I suppose a 4 way blade could work, and likely open my options up a bit. I do plan on hitting a few dealerships in the coming weeks to figure out what they can offer me. Looks like most of the big brands offer 0% financing programs, I like the sound of that.
The Yanmar SV40 has the integrated hydraulic coupler and an optional 6way blade. Yanmar Compact Equipment | Mini excavator SV40 Yanmar SV40 redefines the mini excavator category by pushing the limits of performance. SV40, reliable compact excavator. Find your Yanmar dealer. yanmarce.com And, I've had near zero issues with our vio80 and vio55, save for fan belts at 2k hours.