Open Association of Landscape Industries
Own lorries - Hire skips / Own machines or hire-in ?
Hard landscaping companies seem to generally fall in to two camps with regard to how they run their plant.
Those that own a 7.5t tipper or grab lorry together with a tow behind mini digger and others, ( like ourselves ) who run vans, hire-in diggers and use skips.
From my own perspective I find the flexability of hiring a .75t , 1t, 1.5t or 3t digger depending on the particular job, requiring no yard for storage and having no maintenance to be a good thing and similarly although I think a lorry would be beneficial occasionally I'm not sure if overall it's beneficial.
Because I'm always keen to learn and improve our business I thought I would open a discussion to guage other contractors thoughts on their way of working.
Just a few starter points:
Does owning your own tipper work out cheaper in the long run compared to skips ?
Does owning your own machine mean that you still need to hire occasionally ?
If you tip your own waste does it all go to landfill rather than a transfer station?
Those that own a 7.5t tipper or grab lorry together with a tow behind mini digger and others, ( like ourselves ) who run vans, hire-in diggers and use skips.
From my own perspective I find the flexability of hiring a .75t , 1t, 1.5t or 3t digger depending on the particular job, requiring no yard for storage and having no maintenance to be a good thing and similarly although I think a lorry would be beneficial occasionally I'm not sure if overall it's beneficial.
Because I'm always keen to learn and improve our business I thought I would open a discussion to guage other contractors thoughts on their way of working.
Just a few starter points:
Does owning your own tipper work out cheaper in the long run compared to skips ?
Does owning your own machine mean that you still need to hire occasionally ?
If you tip your own waste does it all go to landfill rather than a transfer station?
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bigyin on -
I'd only pick up up on a couple of points.
1. I'd use a chainsaw rather than an axe :-)
2. I'll bet a lot of members would be well chuffed if they could count on 2000 hours per year.
3. I'm not sure that the client would be eager to cough up £1,728 if he works out that he's paying for 1.5 days labour and that he knows that a digger can be hired for about £100 for the time taken ? (I've ignored the waste disposal etc.)
Although you've covered the point about the % of the annual hours that the machine is being used, it's this very uncertainty that would make me lose some sleep at night.
But then, what do I know :-) -
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Hi Roger
A chainsaw would soon become blunt/damaged from soil and stone.
I think the price (bear in mind it's hypothetical) would be justifiable, it's the manual method that would make it less profitable.
2000 hours might or might not be a reasonable target but you have to set a target.
On your last point, everyone would have to make their assessment based on their individual circumstances. Hiring in is acceptable if machinery use is ad hoc or sporadic.
I reckon our hire-in charges year on year were well in excess of 50% of the capital cost of a 1.5 ton machine. -
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Permalink Reply by Bigyin on
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Why not call it Doug ?
Gary C said:Phil,
I think you've made some really good points in this and your other posts on this subject.
One thing I'm definitely going to look into is what hire cost we spend per year on the .75t machines alone and what the purchase option may cost on a good second hand machine + trailer
I agree with your point of the machine being potentially very usefull for those occasions when you've got 4t of gravel to move for instance, ( like we have tomorrow morning ! )
My only disagreement with your post is that you say "If I were in the same boat now I would probably purchase a new or good condition micro excavator and call it my super-labourer " - Would it be ok if I called mine Brian to avoid my a mutiny amongst the workforce ? :-) -
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Permalink Reply by Bigyin on
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Phil, If you're careful about clearing the soil away from the roots (a hose helps), you minimise the chances of dinking your chain and you can destroy the stump much quicker than with an axe (I've tried both ways and beleive me !!). All you certificate holders out there, don't bother, I know what you're going to say.
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Yes, good point Roger.
You can also use compressed air through a lance and it's less messy/muddy. -
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Good one :-0))
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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Phil Voice on -
Bear in mind that a lorry can be moved around whereas a skip remains static (although we did pay the skip company to, move skips on occasions).
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