Dingos and such

[Saw Dust Smoken]

Most individuals or company probably started without insurance or being certified. Just be aware of what is required in your area. Knowledge is power.
Most people started out just like you. Although most wont admit to that now!

 

[rarefish383]

Most individuals or company probably started without insurance or being certified. Just be aware of what is required in your area. Knowledge is power.
Most people started out just like you. Although most wont admit to that now!

Right, wrong, or indifferent, you're probably right. It is a lot harder to get your license now than in my Dads day. Back then all you had to do is pay your fee and take the test. When I took my test, MD had just switched to the ISA test, and it's a lot harder than the old test. Anyway, I don't want to beat a dead horse over this. Maybe in the furture we can have a thread that will be more helpfull to the new, younger guys, Joe.

 

[JCONN]

I have looking at minis for awhile. I also do landscaping and think it would help me out greatly. I have a buddy that owns a kubota bx24 tractor with a bucket and backhoe its a 20 hp diesel. have moved some good sized rounds with it but only reaches into the dump trailer. The problem is that their is limited attachments and very pricey, the tractor was also like $20,000 way to much. I use log dollies to load big pieces a lot of the time. When we do really big willows, cottonwoods or multiple td's and need to load all the trucks we use a cat tracked skid steer. I do work with a hardscape company around here its their machine. I let them borrow my dump once in a while and when needed I call them they bring the machine over load everything and then leave with it. Works great no extra truck and trailer cant justify buying one if theirs enough trucks you can move a crap load of wood in an hour. I would try to work something like this out, hook up with a small landscaper give him any landscape jobs and maybe they will give you tree work, even if the charge you 100 bucks to show its a third of the rental price and you get an operator so you can do other things.

 

[treemandan]

Or just 1 S&M????

Oh that's bad. You shouldn't be doing that. Its SoM.

 

[treemandan]

Wat do you guys suppose the smallest tractor that has 4 wheel drive is? Something like a Kubota or a Deer or the like (?)

I have seen compacts that could lift what my Dingo could and whatnot for as low a 3500. The one thing I don't like is the getting on and off all the time but something like that is cheaper and will work for many things.

 

[arbor pro]

I have seen compacts that could lift what my Dingo could and whatnot for as low a 3500. The one thing I don't like is the getting on and off all the time but something like that is cheaper and will work for many things.

I'll sell my aerial lift and my chipper before I sell my mini skid. I paid $7500 for a mini with 500 hours on it. The mini skid costs me about $150/month in payments to the bank. Ad maintenance and operation costs and it's probably about $250/month to own and operate. That's the cost of renting one for just a single weekend. At $65/hr labor per man billed out, that's just 4 extra hours of labor billed out per month to make it cash flow. My mini saves me WAY more than 4 hours of labor in a single week - let alone an entire month.

No brainer owning one unless you have nothing better to do with your time than to cut stuff up small and cart or drag it out of back yards. If that's the case, I hope your back holds out. That's how I used to do it and, after 20 years of tree work, my back is now shot.

 

[codog]

Mini

Arborpro,
I think about this business all day, even when I'm working my 'real job'. Been in it for 4 years. I have almost exactly what you have except the Gennie 50 which I was so close to buying 2 years ago. I 100% agree with you about the mini. I wouldn't live w/o it. Can you tell me why you are selling the Gennie?
I'm part time in this, trying to stay simple. Are you going with another Gennie or ????

 

[sawinredneck]

Plas, I bought a mini, I don't know how I lived without it! I focus on takedowns and fence rows, but it's my right arm anymore! I bought mine used, needed work with a BMG and bucket for $4k. I don't have a chipper, I have a green waste site I can dump at. Fill the 16' trailer as full as I can, drive the mini on the back, go to the site and it takes five min to unload.
A chipper would be nice, but I don't have anything to blow it into, I don't have anywhere to dump it and I need to keep costs down.
The mini turns me into a three man crew and it doesn't lay down on me like my help has been known to do on hot days. It runs until it's out of gas. Buy then I'm ready for a drink anyway.
Compact tractors have their place and are nice, but buy the time you buy one, you can't afford anything else! They take up too much room on the trailer to haul anything else and are too big to move around in a back yard most times.
Unless you can come across a killer deal on a DR like Treeco did, look hard at a mini, you will never look at life the same way!
I've now built a brush hog and a set of pallet forks for mine, the forks cost me $150, the brush hog was $300.

 

[arbor pro]

Arborpro,
I think about this business all day, even when I'm working my 'real job'. Been in it for 4 years. I have almost exactly what you have except the Gennie 50 which I was so close to buying 2 years ago. I 100% agree with you about the mini. I wouldn't live w/o it. Can you tell me why you are selling the Gennie?
I'm part time in this, trying to stay simple. Are you going with another Gennie or ????

It's been extremely wet here with floods every spring and it's inevitable that it's going to flood again this spring. As light as my genie tz50 is, it's a bit bigger and heavier than what these soggy yards will handle. I'm going to use a 60' truck-mounted boom for the front yard stuff and look for a smaller towable lift for back yard stuff and do more climbing.

Send me a pm about the genie if you're still considering one. It's listed in the trading post if you haven't checked it out yet. I have been renting it out to a few local electricians and painters. In 2008 and 2009, the rent income I made off the lift paid my bank payments for me. It cash flows well. I can give you more info in the pm or you can call me at 605-228-9350.

scott

 

[WSTREE]

Ball cart

 

[arbor pro]

It's been extremely wet here with floods every spring and it's inevitable that it's going to flood again this spring. As light as my genie tz50 is, it's a bit bigger and heavier than what these soggy yards will handle. I'm going to use a 60' truck-mounted boom for the front yard stuff and look for a smaller towable lift for back yard stuff and do more climbing.

Send me a pm about the genie if you're still considering one. It's listed in the trading post if you haven't checked it out yet. I have been renting it out to a few local electricians and painters. In 2008 and 2009, the rent income I made off the lift paid my bank payments for me. It cash flows well. I can give you more info in the pm or you can call me at 605-228-9350.

scott

Update for those interested. I'm trying to get my tz50 lift sold within the next month so I can get a new TZ37 ordered before spring. I also now have two bucket trucks to pay for so I'm considering reasonable offers on the genie. Call me if interested. Scott 605-228-9350