Attn: Perth, WA residents, advice needed!

[Chris5500]

After reading kneelo's thread about buying a Daewoo excavator, and reading about how used equipment is particularly expensive in Perth, I thought of the possibility of overhauling excavators and selling them on at Perth for profit.

Equipment in australia is quite expensive and even more so in western australia I guess because we are very remote. From what i've seen advertised around the place I would guess that that this machine would be worth $50-60k here if it was in good condition.

There hasn't been much around recently but the other machines I have looked at was a late 80's komatsu 220 grey import for around $20k which I didn't get a real chance to look at before it sold, and a 97 komatsu 220-6 in ok condition they are chasing about $60k for which is above my budget.

Excluding Auckland in New Zealand, Perth is the most remote major city (with a population greater than one million) in the World. That being said would certainly justify the overpriced equipment.

I work in the open cut mining industry and I'm a plant mechanic by trade (Certificate IV) with a full automotive (Certificate II) air conditioning licence. I have all the tools and equipment you could possibly need to overhaul a small to medium sized excavator and I also have access to the tools and equipment that would be needed for a much larger excavator overhaul.

Can anyone living in Perth (or elsewhere) shed some light on the current used equipment market in Perth and whether or not you think what I want to do will be feasible?

I'm thinking that a 20 tonne excavator would probably be the most sought after. I could be wrong. Maybe the market is for smaller ones for private landscaping and swimming pool excavation companies. What do you think would be the most sought after?

I'm just asuming that an excavator will yield the highest profit, if you think otherwise then let me know. All comments, suggestions, opinions etc etc are welcome.

I'm looking to make a pretty penny

 

[CatMatt]

I know of a few smaller earthmoving companys with there own paint shops ect. Buy old heap a ****s,give em a bit of a overhaul and a "liquid Recondition" and send em on there way. I reckon they would make a bit of a profit. I have worked on the junk machines b4 and they do come up nice with a bit of paint. could easily make 10k profit?? to what they bought it for.

 

[JimInOz]

Chris,
having the right knowledge & workshop is one key to making a buck.You also need access to parts at good prices.....often that means importing parts,which requires a lot of time/effort/frustration.Being a small operator means you don't get a great deal for low volume parts purchase.
If you check out eBay at present,there are a lot of both cheap & nice machines that are not even getting a bid,so the demand is slow.Also check out Earthmovers & Excavators & look at the amount of guys selling gear...lots of competition from large operators with big cheque books & good economies of scale & nice transport deals.
Used twenty ton excavators on the East side are a dime-a-dozen.
Maybe choose a niche market....small excavators & bobcats are always in demand.I reckon there's a demand for small loaders too.
I suppose it depends on your market.You need to know who you want to sell to.
Good luck in your venture...
Jim

 

[AusDave]

Import

Hi Chris.

Why don't you think about importing excavators etc from the USA to Perth/WA? Prices in the US can be pretty low as their economy struggles and you can get some low hour machines. But best of all if you get organised with the right freight forwarding company, the cost of shipping all the way from the US can be relatively inexpensive compared to moving machinery from the east coast of Aust.

Points to consider: get AQUIS approval at the USA end so there are no quarantine problems on arrival. Or if you can find an AQUIS approved cleaner in the Perth region they may be able to handle contaminated equipment on arrival.
You need to be very clear with cleanliness as AQUIS can suggest solutions such as re-export to country of origin at your cost or destruction if the equipment does not comply.
Quarantine requirements can mean some degree of disassembly to get every bit of dirt out of the machine, including dirt under the paint on a sloppy 2 gallon overhaul.

There is a lot of used equipment imported to the east coast of Oz from Asia, USA and Europe but there may be no-one catering for WA. With your skills and knowledge you could assess the quality of potential import machinery better than most thus giving you an advantage if you keep your integrity high.

Good luck, Dave (Australia)

 

[Squizzy246B]

Aaahh...that old chestnut

Chris,
The idea is not without merit and its had some spectacular success and failure. If it was that easy everyone would be doing it. Trucks are the normal thing that people look at but the WA stamp duty at the time of Re-registration just about kills that idea.

Freight from West to East is cheap as chips but vicky-verka is dear as poison. I just can't see the profit margin to make it all worth while when you take into account refurbishment costs, not to mention trips east to make sure you are not purchasing garbage. Machines larger than 20 tonnes might have the margin to make it seem reasonable but then the freight costs are going to quadruple for wide loads.

I'd see it as a sideline of opportunity (right place, right time, right machine) rather than a viable business full-time. And at the end of the day new prices are practically the same and the flood of cheap new machines from China makes it a difficult market.

My thoughts are that a quid can be made buying at the auctions and refurbing. Some seriously good machinery has gone under the hammer for next to nix in the past 8 months.

 

[kneelo]

As you know I have been looking for a 20-30t at the cheaper end of the market (up to about 35k) and there has been bugger all around since before christmas. Late last year mining and construction projects here started picking up again after a bit of a lull so I guess guys have held onto and kept working their older gear.

I'm not sure if repairing equipment for resale is a winner but I would think import gear would be the go (no doubt still with a few unexpected repairs). There does seen to be a lot of cheap gear available in the states at the moment but I'm sure freight is a killer... I have been tempted to find out more about this option but I just can't see it being worth the effort for a one off.

Incidently I was looking at a 20t sumitomo last week and the seller said that some guys from the phillipines had been looking at it as a machine to break up and export there... maybe this is where all the machines here have gone! I hope they take this particular one.. another worn out, overpriced ex demo machine.

What part of Aus are you in Chris?