how to make a living starting small

[thetabop]

hey all, im kinda new here, and i have a strong interest in earth moving equipment and especially in bulldozers, and i am trying to figure out how i can make a good living out of this.

Im not interested in doing something such as becoming a professional dozer driver, im more interested in buying a dozer and making money from it and buying more machines with that money and getting a good business going.

but i dont know how to do it exactly, do i employ people and contract work? do i just rent the machines out? or something else?

little bit of info about me - Im 26, I live in Australia, and i probably have the borrowing potential to buy a 2nd hand D8n, or something like that.

any help would be much apreciated.

 

[JBGASH]

To make a long story short, my advice is simple: to make a living with a Dozer. It most definitely can be done, and where there is a will to do, there are a dozen ways to accomplish any difficult task at hand. Go for it....

 

[CM1995]

Couple of questions first -

What experience do you have operating?
Have you owned a business before?
Do you have a business plan? This doesn't have to be an academic paper that's fine tuned but you have to have a direction in mind to go.
What/who is your target customer base?
What kind of insurance is standard for your area?
Is the local market over served or under served by the type of business you are planning?

 

[LT-x7]

In my opinion the available work for just a dozer by itself is limited. A lot of jobs are going to require more than just a dozer to complete which puts you either renting equipment or hiring sub contractors to complete the jobs. There is a market for just dozer work, it is just a small market. These days with work as hard to come by as it is, I think it is best to best to be as versatile as possible. Maybe that isn't as big a deal in other parts of the world.
Most people around here own a backhoe or skid steer if its a one machine operation. I understand where your coming from, I enjoy dozing more than anything else. But at the same time, making money is at the top of my business priority list!

 

[thetabop]

i have several hundred hours experience operating a small dozer, i work in a my family business.
i haven't owned a business before
my business plan is to eventually own quite a few machines and either rent them out, or do contract work, or whatever is wanted at the time.
customer base, at first i would think renting out to other construction companies etc., and doing contract work for farmers etc. and eventually move in to quarries, mines and large construction projects.
not sure about insurance.
also not that sure about the local market, there is a quarry near to where i live, there is a huge mine that is suppose to be starting in the next couple of years like 6 km from where i live, and there are always always road works going on here. in the local town where i live there is a company "Millers Contractors" and they have 50 or so machines of different sizes and uses. apart from them being there i dont really know about the market and how saturated it is.

and i hear what you're saying LT-x7

 

[td25c]

i have several hundred hours experience operating a small dozer, i work in a my family business.
i haven't owned a business before
my business plan is to eventually own quite a few machines and either rent them out, or do contract work, or whatever is wanted at the time.
customer base, at first i would think renting out to other construction companies etc., and doing contract work for farmers etc. and eventually move in to quarries, mines and large construction projects.
not sure about insurance.
also not that sure about the local market, there is a quarry near to where i live, there is a huge mine that is suppose to be starting in the next couple of years like 6 km from where i live, and there are always always road works going on here. in the local town where i live there is a company "Millers Contractors" and they have 50 or so machines of different sizes and uses. apart from them being there i dont really know about the market and how saturated it is.

and i hear what you're saying LT-x7

I understand your thought's thetabop . Don't know how the economy is your area ? In my opinion this aint a good time to take on extra debt or borrow money betting on a job for the equipment. My advice would be drop an application off at the quarry or the mine close to you and work for them awhile to get some experience on the task . Make a little money & buy a dozer when possible & work on the side and see how that go's after a few years. Best of luck with it .

 

[monster76]

IMHO fist machine you buy has to go with work available in the area. For example if you live in a suburb with a major city a hair away there is probably going to be more of a market for excavation from other contractors who do thing like plumbing and electric work. If you live out in the stix allot of farmers and other people need some land cleared or roads built or maintained and most of the time those dirt roads they dont need the precision of a grader just some what flat a dozer would be a good choice. My fist machine was a backhoe then I got my skid steer . Hopefully if business continues to go in the direction it's going for me I would like to add a min ex to the fleet

 

[Acivil]

My advice would be to learn about the requirements of organizing your new business and go to work on that, and the other systems of your business before you start building a fleet of equipment. If your area is anything like the us, you can start a business, and put a couple of hundred dollars toward marketing with a budget of less than 2,000.00. Find an equipment rental company in your area, and serve your customers with rental iron for the first few months or a year, then make a purchase once you understand who your customers are, and what they need. Bear in mind, you will pay more for rental equipment so your margins will be thinner until you switch from a rental payment to a bank finance payment, but its better than buying a D8N only to find out what your market and customers really needs is a backhoe loader and an extruded curb machine or something.

 

[thetabop]

that's good advice, my father has a JD 450j bulldozer, so for starters i'm gonna start doing work with that, that way I can avoid expensive equipment hire.

I figure after 6 months or a year i'll have a good idea of what I want and what other people need etc. and ill likely buy my own machine and go from there.

 

[steve.k]

This is a very interesting topic!i first started working for various companies gathering all sorts of experience which has helped immensely over the years. I started with a d8h on my own but work was limited(mostly land clearing)and costs to keep 8h running limited earnings. Teamed up with partner to get access to more equipment and bigger jobs. With partner we built up to 35 various machines. Then sold and I'm nearing 20 machines again.if I were to do it again I would start with smaller good used machine and get in good with a contractor so that when it's slow I can operate for them and maintain payments. I have a few owner operators that work for me that do exactly this. When they don't have work on their own they run our equip and various other contractors. It is quite feasible and you have to be flexible and it can be done. Good luck!

 

[CM1995]

that's good advice, my father has a JD 450j bulldozer, so for starters i'm gonna start doing work with that, that way I can avoid expensive equipment hire.

There's your answer. Now if your Pop will let you "borrow" it is a different story.

Seriously, that is the route I would go. Test the waters and see what the market is in your area without saddling yourself with debt or spending all your capital upfront.

 

[thetabop]

yeah thats my plan

 

[Lindsey97]

if you can, borrow the 450j. see if you can build a customer base. while doing this over the course of a year or so, log what other contractors have service/machine wise and see if you can develop a niche that no one else has. find a customer base than no else seems to care about and take care of those customers. purchase equipment than no one else has and exploit it to your full potential. look at what the rental houses have and see what they are overlooking.

for example, where I am from, everyone and their dog has a backhoe. so I don't own one because I cant justify it. In the past I hired others with backhoes to finish a job I couldn't do such as a septic system, or utilites tie in, and when I was younger and less experienced the backhoe owners would sometimes take my customers after completing the job that I hired them to do. that is a nasty feeling.

I recently purchased a Takeuchi mini ex just for the purpose of not having to deal with other contractors and the issues that arise from such arrangements.

I started my company in march 2002 with no experience other than being a farmhand. I purchased a used D4c and immediately had to start dumping money into it. 60 days later I broke my leg and was laid off at my job as a warehouse employee for walmart. it was very rough going at first, with no way to haul my equipment. My father helped me out and loaned me his 1979 chevy flat bed 1 ton pickup, and purchased me a 30 ft. gooseneck trailer on a credit card with zero interest. I was very thankful and proud to have the trailer and pickup. which leads me to my next point:

be sure you have a means of transporting your own equipment. I cannot stress how important that is. your competitors will not haul your equipment when you need it the most. it does not benefit them to do so. you cannot afford to rent a machine and then pay a delivery and pickup charge. it simply wont benefit your bottom line.

last but not least, being mechanically inclined will not hurt a bit. there will be times that you will have to spin a wrench or two, probably more than not. also have enough operating capital to finish a job.

when I landed my first dozer job, it was cleaning out a patch of stumps for a 20 acre show pen for cattle. I started this job on crutches, with no income for 90+ days, and when I fueled my dozer up I would back my 4wd lifted dodge up to the rear of the dozer and fill it with multiple 5 gallon jugs. was not fun on crutches. but I finished the job, and worked for the man clearing his land for many years afterwards. we became friends and I enjoyed working for him.

So, if you're gonna play this game you have to have a good attitude, and some good luck never hurt. looking back on it all I don't know how I made it, but i wouldn't change a thing and feel quite fortunate and blessed to be involved at the level I am now.

 

[thetabop]

hey Lindsey, thanks for your post, it is very informative.

I am able to use the 450j freely, i don't have a means of transport yet beyond the local trucking companies, i don't even have a truck license, however i am only just starting and getting a mode of transport is on my shorter list.

It is my intention to work on my fathers farm, while doing what jobs i can get, over the next year while I get a feel for the game and what is needed of me and what machines are needed.

So far i have done all the mechanical work and services of the 450j so I should be fine for handling basically anything that the manual covers.

 

[thetabop]

how do you all advertise? through plant hire places that subcontract owner operators?

 

[CM1995]

how do you all advertise? through plant hire places that subcontract owner operators?

The largest component of my marketing scheme has been contacting GC's and getting on their bid lists. This takes a while to build a roster of GC's, bid the work and get a job but it will pay off. Also a website is a must.

 

[thetabop]

whats GC stand for?

 

[CM1995]

whats GC stand for?

General Contractor. They are the main contractor who holds the contract with the owner. I am a subcontractor or sub who works for the general.

 

[mw85]

I all way's fear the repairs. The bigger the machine the larger the repair bill. Even the 450 could brake you with one failure.

 

[thetabop]

ah cool, thanks CM1955.

im not too scared of the repairs, i have some borrowing capacity to pay for repairs if needed, i also have some wealthy friends that might be interested in doing a partnership. so i can get a boost in machine acquisition rate, and repairs if need be