How much work do you need to justify buying a dozer?

[bdog1234]

I have some jobs coming up where I need to clear approximately 100 miles of right of way. It is mostly mesquite brush and in the past when I have hired dozing contractors to do it they get 3-4 miles a day with a D5 sized machine. I figure roughly 25-35 days of work. I have ran a dozer maybe one week and really don't know a whole lot about them. We have skid steers and backhoes but no dozers.

I am contemplating doing this dozing myself. First thought was just rent one but then I got to looking and a lot of fairly decent machines can be found in the 40-50k range. I think renting one is probably 4-500 a day so for what I would pay in rent would nearly pay for half of the machine.

I have jobs like this maybe 2-3 times a year. Maybe I could find other uses for it as well not sure. Should I even consider a purchase or just rent one or contract it out?

 

[mowingman]

Here in north Texas, we can rent nice D6TXL Cat dozers or anywhere from $9000/mth up to $11,000/mth. I guess you would just have to decide if you have enough work to justify a big cash purchase, or if renting as needed is the way to go. Remember, when renting, the repair cost to you is $000. If you buy one, especially a well used one, the annual repair and upkeep can add a bunch of dollars to your annual budget, even if you do not put many hours on it.

 

[old-iron-habit]

I would consider checking out a rental where some or all of the rental price would go toward purchase. Then hire an experienced operator. He will pay for himself in productivity. You will learn from him and will known after the first job if the machine is the one you want.

 

[bdog1234]

Here in north Texas, we can rent nice D6TXL Cat dozers or anywhere from $9000/mth up to $11,000/mth. I guess you would just have to decide if you have enough work to justify a big cash purchase, or if renting as needed is the way to go. Remember, when renting, the repair cost to you is $000. If you buy one, especially a well used one, the annual repair and upkeep can add a bunch of dollars to your annual budget, even if you do not put many hours on it.

Good advice. These jobs actually are in north Texas. I don't think I need a machine that big though. Usually a lot of small gates to squeeze through. I may double check rental prices. Is the monthly rate for 160 hrs? We normally run 7 days a week 10-12hrs a day. If 160 hrs I could eat up those hours in two weeks making a month cost 18-22k.

 

[mowingman]

Yes, rental is based on 160 hrs/mth. however, that is taken from the hour meter. My experience has been that even though you may be onsite 10 or 12 hours/day, you will not put that many hours on the machine. The actual operating time is usually about 80% of the time on site. you will have downtime for routine daily service, fueling, lunch, etc.
While Holt Cat will not budge off that 160 hour limit, there are other rental companies that will give you a little break on hours, or, let you run more hours for slightly higher monthly rate.
I just finished clearing about 100 acres earlier this month. While a D5 might be enough, there were some old mesquite stumps/roots that challenged even the D6T.
If I had a tight budget, I probably would have gone with the 5. But, on this job, money was not an issue, so I opted for the 6. More power is usually better.
Send me a message if you need a source for good Cat rental machines at a fair price. I have a contact who works for an equipment rental company in Ft. Worth. They rent late model Cat equipment a lot cheaper than Holt.

 

[JBGASH]

I would find a good used 40-50K machine instead of renting, with the amount of work you have it would be a very easy decision to own verses rent for me.

 

[CM1995]

Also look at an RPO (rental purchase option). With an RPO a percentage of the rent goes toward the purchase price anywhere from 70-90% of the rental. Basically an ROP gives you your down payment that you've already earned through working it.

I rented a D5K (100 hours on the meter) back in June and it was $1500 a week.

 

[Oxbow]

The over hours charge that you will pay is the cheapest per hour if you run over the 160 hours. In our area Cat rents D6T size and up through a different division than the Cat Rental Store, and you are allowed 176 hours in 4 weeks. What can catch you on figuring your hourly rental cost is when you get into the fifth week, or any period that doesn't add up to a multiple of 4 weeks. Often, if we are running excess hours, our dealer will charge us for the excess hours rather than additional time, which saves a bunch.

I used to go under the assumption that 1000 hours per year was the benchmark for a purchase versus rental, but I think that the situations vary so much that that is not a good benchmark any longer.

Availability of the desired rental equipment can also skew the calculations; i.e. a person opts to rent, schedules the job, and then no equipment is available.

 

[Fastdirt]

I would find a good used 40-50K machine instead of renting, with the amount of work you have it would be a very easy decision to own verses rent for me.

I agree.

If you have the work. I would look for a great price on a Cat dozer because it's money you can get back if need be. You can sell a Cat dozer and get most of your money back if not all of it. You have nothing to sell if you rent. Like spending money on a vacation vs. buying a boat. You can sell the boat but not the other way around.

I rented a machine for one year and it cost me $40,000. There is actually 13 "months" in a rental year. That one snuck up on me.

 

[JBGASH]

On the rental side of things, I rented an almost new Bomag compactor in March of this year like the one CM just bought, for a sewer job we are doing. Now we are finishing up and to my surprise United Rentals would not let me apply the rent to the purchase of it. All along I had planned to buy it at the end of the job and when I was told by my salesman that they "no longer do that- apply the rent or a percentage of it to any purchase and they are a rental company first and a sales company second". To say the least I was not happy with the fact of the $12,000 of rent that is gone with nothing to show for it. I have bought many pieces of equipment in this manor, just wanted to share this with everyone in hopes that someone else doesn't get the same surprise.