Big iron.. fuel consumption over more material per hr

I'm just a grader man, but sometimes I wonder the big questions. We have a variety of different weight machines. Excavators is what I'm thinking about, but the application could apply to everything. We have a 4 ton mini, up to a 50 ton Hitachi. A demolition company here has been bidding some earthworks jobs around. They were digging a basement for a bungalow with a 450 John Deere. Fewer buckets yes, but would a smaller machine not be more cost effective? Just moving the 450 to the sitewould be a pain. We tried plowing snow with the 980. Bigger bucket and power yes, but at 460 liters of fuel per storm compared to 145 liters in a faster L90F, keep the 980 in the yard.

If you are paying a payment on a machine it can be cheaper to operate a job once in a while for cost just to absorb the fixed cost of a payment

That said that sounds like driving a mack truck to school just for transportation to dig a basement with a 450 what was it 10 scoops to complete the job if I had that kinda iron and was looking at work that size for it I would be really concerned about having a business this time next year it's never going to be cost effective to move on and off the job with a machine that size

My bet is they are trying to get there foot in the door and bought a job or 2 to do it

AzIron said:

If you are paying a payment on a machine it can be cheaper to operate a job once in a while for cost just to absorb the fixed cost of a payment

That said that sounds like driving a mack truck to school just for transportation to dig a basement with a 450 what was it 10 scoops to complete the job if I had that kinda iron and was looking at work that size for it I would be really concerned about having a business this time next year it's never going to be cost effective to move on and off the job with a machine that size

My bet is they are trying to get there foot in the door and bought a job or 2 to do it

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digging a basement with a 450 ? whats it for a tiny house?

It would help if you would define the size of a bungalow. Bill Gate's bungalow might house a small town.

Well I live in a 24 by 44, probably close to that

Im sure there is the perfect size machine for every job ,but you have to make do with what you got if you can . Running a way over sized machine costs alot more than extra fuel . You have bigger ,more expensive depreciation, tires/undercarrage,servicing costs ,parts and transportation costs

AzIron said:

If you are paying a payment on a machine it can be cheaper to operate a job once in a while for cost just to absorb the fixed cost of a payment

That said that sounds like driving a mack truck to school just for transportation to dig a basement with a 450 what was it 10 scoops to complete the job if I had that kinda iron and was looking at work that size for it I would be really concerned about having a business this time next year it's never going to be cost effective to move on and off the job with a machine that size

My bet is they are trying to get there foot in the door and bought a job or 2 to do it

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... or trying to keep a senior good hand from sitting home. I worked for an enormously successful company that would "buy" a job or two if they had to, in an effort to keep all their talent together.

John C. said:

It would help if you would define the size of a bungalow. Bill Gate's bungalow might house a small town.

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LOL! I did a little work at Bill's Medina "bungalow."

I dug part of my basement with a 450 john deere, it happened to be a track loader though....