What HP machine to buy!

Hey guys, great forum. Looking at acquiring a track skid steer preferably CAT due to dealer support locally. I'm a full time fireman and starting to build residential homes on the side. Will be using the machine for backfill, some grading, and lot clearing. Also would like to buy a mulching head so I would be able to make some side money clearing land when I have the down time. I know I will need a machine with hi-glow hydraulics. But I am not sure what size HP machine I should be looking for? I do not wanna buy one that's overkill, but as well do not won't a machine that is not capable of a mulching attachment as well as maybe an auger. Thanks for your guys time!

Generally, buy as much horsepower as you can afford. You’ll never regret having enough power.

There will be limitations as you go up though - cost (of course), heavier machine, wider tracks, if you can trailer it.....

I have a 50 hp skidsteer; mainly for snow blowing now. Does what I want.

if you’re going to be doing mulching, you’d probably want to be in the 70-80hp range (I would, at least)

Any mulching work will take every bit of HP you have on tap. Other than purchase price there’s not much difference between smaller and larger other than maybe the trailer you need to haul it.

I’ve run a lot of different Cat machines and have repaired a bunch. I keep a fleet of them going for a friend that does construction cleanup. By far my favorite is his 299. Easy to work on and it’s a tank as far as capability. Stay away from the machines with the ASV undercarriage. They ride awesome but they’re a maintenance nightmare. Plus once you tilt the cab on a 277 and then a 299 the difference is night and day. That 277 is a jungle.

I would decide where you want to make your money. Leave out the mulching aspect of it and a 279 would be about right and would not break the budget of a guy trying to get started. Factor in the mulching and your going to need a lot bigger machine, plus the cost of the mulcher. Your adding a ton of debt to an already risky business proposition. Owning a SSL/CTL as homebuilder can make sense. It might make more sense to rent for a while or put a machine on a RPO let the home building take off and convert it to a purchase. Should the home building thing takes a dump, you let your RPO go back. I would hire out the mulching until you get on your feet. Add a machine just for mulching if the market is there later once your established, but realize there are a lot guys mulching, and while the hourly rates look attractive, at the end of the day its a tight business for most guys just like everything else. Be smart with your investment money, if your going to build houses, spend your money and valuable time working toward building that end of your business and a SSL can help with that. Realize this thing is cyclic, its going great in most places right now, that can and will change. Anyone else that made it through the last down turn can attest to how fast things can change.

If I was going to build houses I would sub out the dirt work and basements to start with. Your costs will be controlled that way and you would be much better served with a extendable all terrain fork lift that will actually help you build the home. The skid steer is of little use other than moving a bunk of material on good going at near ground level once you actually start to build. Trying to do it all yourself is going to be a rough road starting out, especially as a side job. It will take longer than most homeowners will be willing to give you. Zoom booms also have a decent travel speed and can be often drove to many jobsites.

We run a 279d for general purpose work and some mulching works fine
For dirt moving and even mulching with out an excellent operator your not going to see any higher returns on a bigger machine
I have had a 299 on our mulcher and it worked decent but not better enough to cover the extra upfront cost, weight, and fuel burn for occasional mulching

I think there would be a lot more maintenance with a mulching head too. You're a fulltime fireman, how much time do you have for all this extra work?

To clarify Junkyards mention, stay with a Cat machine model ending in 9. They refer to them as CTL. The MTLs end in 7 and have the ASV. For what it is worth, I have a AFE disc mulcher on a 289D, and if I was to want to run it often, I'd have to get a 299 or 299VHP. I've never run a drum mulcher so can't compare there. Also- look at FMLM group on FB. There are a lot of folks in your area, and the serious mulching crowd looks to be outgrowing the CTL models and going larger.