We did a display at the Schagticoke Fairgrounds in Schagticoke, N.Y. (10 miles north of Troy,N.Y.) Labor Day week. Had about 30 pieces of iron there, from tractors to mini-ex's to manure spreaders to hay conditioners, and Big Tex trailers. Here's a few I swung by to pick up and bring back to our yard, about 10 miles away. First, a new 300 series Challenger 4X4 full cab tractor.(Very nice piece.) Second, a new 257B skidsteer, and a new 304C CR mini-ex. squeezed on the same load.(That's a zero tail swing series, the CR's...) Third, the 304C CR. Notice the side-swing feature, made it too easy to load this on like this... Forth, all 3 pieces again. Last, same deal. I must admit, a guy can get spoiled very easily dealing with all this brand new stuff every day...:usa
nice job picking those machines on:notworthy . i always like moving more than one machine one trailer , well a tag-long that is
WOW! Thats awesome are they your machines, do you have any more, if you dont mind me asking, what do you do?
We are a Cat Rental Store. We've got around 32 pieces in inventory, from mini's to big stuff. Also sell and service Massey Ferguson,and Challenger agricultural equipment and all the implements and attachments you can imagine. Hay mowers/conditioners, mini spreader wagons, (perfect for horse owners,) brushhogs, sweepers, all set up for either tractor mounting or skidsteers. Kind of a fun job, with all the toys surrounding me. We "sell the best & service the rest". Those poor pieces in the pictures will never look as good as they do now, unfortunately. Homeowners are a good share of our rental business, and they are good at bending things. In reality though, a lot of contractors that are familiar with equipment seem to return things broken as well. I've replace quite a few exhaust stacks on our D3G LGP's, straightened out side panels on the excavators so the doors will close again, etc. That's life in the rental world, unfortunately. You can't get emotionally attached to the equipment like I tended to in the beginning, or you'll cry every time one comes back in for something.:Banghead A brand spanking new D3 dozer with a twisted smoke stack somehow plays with my emotions...:crying We also have a heavy hauling division which I am a part of as well. I get to move these pieces all over the place.:drinkup
do you ever get farmed out as an operator with a rental??
Good question, nedly. I brought that subject up actually a couple of times, but it never really sank into the upper's skulls. Especially now we have a brand new '07 F-450 1 ton, and we have a package deal for the truck, trailer and 247 skidsteer, at $365.00/day. You can't just rent the truck to any schmuck that walks in, since a lot of them either don't have a license, have two many DWI's, or have NO brains...My idea was to hire that whole setup for the day with me to run everything, they'd get a lot more productivity out of me being savvy with the stuff than themselves, and still save money compared to hiring a comtractor/landscaper, etc. So far, the lightbulb hasn't glowed. A while back I brought our 5N XL to a new modular home site. The homeowner was there to write me a check, appearing that the mod crew convinced him to rent this dozer to assure they could pull the two halves up the steep hill to the foundation for the crane guys. Based on my observation of this fellow, (and I'm not criticizing or making fun of him, understand,) but the pocket protector, the horn rim glasses and the high water pants created an impression I wouldn't soon forget. After I got the dozer on the ground, he comes over and asks "sir, how do I start this up?", and I smelled disaster. I said, "why don't you show me what you need, bud, and maybe I could help you out." Ends up I had to hog out about 30 more feet of slope behind the foundation to get the crane to fit between it and the sloped bank, so they could extend the outriggers and have room to swing. I spent an hour cutting into the bank and grading a level pad for the crane. Everybody was happy, and I think in a roundabout way, I saved the homeowner's life, having him stay away from that machine. All I could picture was the 5 on it's side, and him under it, and the fire trucks and meatwagons there, all in the name of ignorance. When I got back to the shop, I got a little smart remark from one of the younger, strong-headed managers about it. He said the guy I did the work for called and just wanted to know how to start it, and the next time I deliver a machine I should go over it with them. I said "Mark, the guy was an accountant or something, he shouldn't have been near the thing, so I saved us all a lot of grief by making a judgement call." (Afterwards I was thanked for the decision by the one whom it really mattered coming from.) I think it would be a good option to advertise rentals with or without operators. It would definitely create more business I think, because some homeowners aren't confident, and that is totally understandable, and safer too.
There is a rental store up the road a bit, the guy that drives truck for them is also an incredible operator. They will send him out with the machine if need be. I hauled some stone to a job a couple of Saturdays ago, and he was there diggin' away, working for a homeowner who wouldnt have know enough to engage the boom lock to make 'er go. It seems to work well all the way around for them.
We were discussing this exact issue over a coupla coldies last Friday after work. It seems around here there is an almost insatiable appetitte for mini-excavators and I think it would be a good business....however, I think the way to go would be hiring to tradesman and contractors only....not Joe public.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on that note, mate. The only problem with that thought is, in our region anyway, is that approximately 75% of the rental revenue is derived from Joe Public. Especially now with this year being a little "off" for us in the rental sector, if we refused Joe the right to rent, we'd really be down in percentages then. It appears that with contractors,(and I can relate, as I've been in this situation myself many times before actually switching to being employed by a rental outfit,) most guys really cringe at the fact that they have to rent something. When you own several machines already, but come across a situation where you need to rent a hammer, bigger dozer, excavator, etc. for a day, week or so, and already have MEGApayments on your own equipment, there's a psychological struggle that surfaces in most people. On the other hand, knowing what I know now, and if my crystal ball was digital with GPS, bluetoothed and stock market predictable to the nearest month before a major collapse, and I had 11 1/2 months worth of pre-booked work scheduled with 50% down on every job (I don't ask for much, do I?...) I wouldn't hesitate to become an excavation contractor once again, this time with 100% rental equipment in my arsenal. No maintenence except greasing and normal care, and a 100% tax writeoff. The payments are adjusted the longer the rental agreement, so you can just about have a normal payment schedule with nice, new shiny machines without all the burden of breakdowns, etc. Just fib to everyone when they ask,"Is that yours?"