CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT: Multi-Tasker

George Stiscak Jr. couldn’t be a successful landscape contractor without one.

“I just couldn’t do the jobs I do as a landscape contractor without my skid-steer loaders,” says the owner of Horses Landscaping, based in Valparaiso, Ind., who utilizes three of the tracked, multi-tasking motorized machines. “From grading for a lawn to moving a variety of material to digging holes, whatever job you can contemplate needing done when working in the landscape industry, you can do with a skid-steer loader.
 
“They’re nice and maneuverable in most conditions on the job site – even snow and ice,” Stiscak says. “This allows you to use them year round, which is nice because these machines are not cheap. The benefits really are endless.”

Seeing a skid-steer loader cruising about a job site is a common site today as more and more contractors realize and utilize the benefits these machines bring in increasing efficiency and productivity. With a seemingly unlimited array of attachments, landscape contractors can do in a single day with one machine what would take an entire crew a week to accomplish by hand.
 
“Skid-steer loaders allow landscape contractors to complete a task more quickly than they could with manual labor,” says Kent Pellegrini, sales support consultant, skid-steer and multi-terrain loaders, for Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar.
 
Versatility, maneuverability and adaptability are the hallmarks of a skid-steer’s potential on the job site and the main reasons why landscape contractors so readily label this machine as an essential tool and worthwhile investment, says Dan Rafferty, product marketing manager at JCB, based in Savannah, Ga.
 
“The skid-steer really is the perfect machine for the landscape contractor,” Rafferty says. “Whatever a landscape contractor needs done on a job site – from leveling and grading to bulk land clearing – the skid-steer is the prime mover for those tasks.”

THE EUREKA MOMENT. Generally, contractors add a skid-steer to their landscape operations in order to troubleshoot a particularly labor-intensive task. Or, another scenario is they’ve grown their business to the point where the investment into this type of heavy-duty machine – on average between $18,000 to $55,000, depending on the machine’s size and power potential – will allow them to increase their scope of applications and services offered to clients.
 
It’s a eureka moment for the landscape contractor, the point when he realizes that in order to increase business or beef-up his competitiveness he needs the advantages a skid-steer brings to the job site, Pellegrini says.
 
“It’s not unusual for a landscape contractor to rent a skid-steer and various attachments prior to making a purchase,” Pellegrini says. “But many will then purchase a machine and the work tools they use the most, but then continue to rent other attachments for particular jobs.”
 
And there’s a lot for landscape contractors to like about the current generation of skid-steers available on the market. Relatively recent improvements and innovations include variable hydraulic controls, which allow the operators to modulate the amount of hydraulic power – measured in gallons per minute – reaching an attachment, says Brad Lemke, director of product development at Grand Rapids, Minn.-based ASV.
 
“This allows the landscape operator to use the attachment slower and with more finesse,” Lemke says. “For example, this is nice when you’re using a four-in-one bucket to grab something. Modulating the amount of hydraulic power allows you to grab it and pick it up rather than just smash into it at full power.”
 
In addition, many skid-steers on the market feature ergonomically comfortable cabs, with arm bar support, heat and air conditioning, removable side windows and suspension seating.
 
“The trend is definitely headed towards less cramped space in the cage and finger-tip style controls,” Lemke says. “The cabs are getting nicer with an almost automobile-like feel to them.”
 
With increased attention to more logical and ease-of-use elements, manufacturers have simplified controls and increased maneuverability by adding pilot-style joystick controls for one-handed operation.
 
“You really don’t need to constantly use two hands anymore,” Stiscak says. “You can scratch your nose as you drive a skid-steer across gravel.”
 
Likewise, more skid-steers are available with hydraulic quick attach mechanisms to allow the operator to change tools without leaving the cab.
 
“You can change the attachment without getting out of the machine,” Lemke says. “You simple hit a button and can hook and unhook the attachment. This increases efficiency as well as safety.”
  
Coupled with other safety and creature comforts, skid-steers improve the way landscape contractors get tasks done on the job site.
 
“We have air conditioning now in our skid-steer cabs,” Stiscak says. “Don’t tell anyone, but it has made life real easy.”
 
And while skid-steers improve job site efficiency and productivity, it’s a common misconception that these machines allow a contractor to cut his workforce by two, three or more laborers. Such a notion is a quick, short-term solution that doesn’t take into account the long-term advantages and potential growth opportunities the skid-steer provides the average landscape contractor, Rafferty says.
 
“Cutting your workforce is a short-sighted approach to the benefits adding a skid-steer can bring to a landscape operation,” Rafferty says. “A more comprehensive approach is that the skid-steer now frees up two or three workers to attend to other tasks. And with an even greater outlook, instead of getting rid of those workers, those workers are freed up so you can add or rent one or two additional skid-steers and go out and double your business.”
 
However, for all of their positive attributes, skid-steers aren’t entirely perfect. Size – too much or lack there of – can be an issue for a contractor. Certain landscape duties still require a larger machine, such as large stone projects that may require the power-lifting attributes of a wheel loader or telehandler. Or maneuvering through a small residential job site or needing to access a fenced-in backyard may require the troubleshooting services of a mini-skid steer or compact utility loader.

CONNECTING WITH ATTACHMENTS. Name a chore on the job site and most likely there’s a skid-steer attachment that can efficiently and effectively complete the task.
 
“It’s the attachments that have played the biggest part at building the skid-steer’s reputation as a versatile landscape tool,” Rafferty says. “Today, it seems there is an attachment out there on the market as specialized as the job you need done.”
 
As most contractors would imagine, the bucket, specifically the four-in-one bucket, but may also include dedicated dirt and snow buckets, remains the most popular attachment for the landscape market, according to manufacturers.
 
“When it comes down to it, it’s the multi-purpose functions of these buckets that make them so popular with landscape contractors,” Lemke says.
 
After bucket attachments, landscape contractors rely heavily on pallet fork and grapple fork attachments to move and carry bulky materials and heavy loads at the job site and around their staging yards. Next, contractors can’t seem to do without some sort of a grading attachment, specifically a power box rake for preparing seedbeds or an excavating rake for leveling and grading turf. “A grading attachment, such as a power rake, is essential for the landscape contractor,” Lemke says. “Once a contractor has that attachment for their skid-steer, they can’t seem to get along without it.”
 
Auger and trencher attachments are also considered essential to increase digging efficiency. “You can dig a 45-foot trench in an hour,” Rafferty says. “How long would it take a crew of guys to dig that same trench? A day? Maybe longer?”
 
And there are also lesser used, but no less helpful, attachments available to landscape contractors. For example, plow blades and snow blowers can be utilized for snow removal duties; sod rollers for lawn installation and backhoes for excavation work.
 
Lastly, tool rental is a smart course of action for a landscape contractor uncertain about whether the purchase of a particular attachment will, over the long term, be cost effective.
 
“Renting attachments can be helpful to keep your operating costs down if you cannot justify the continuous use of the attachment,” Pellegrini says.

MAKING THE SMART INVESTMENT. While the right skid-steer attachments may make all the difference for the landscape contractor, it’s import to select a host machine capable of handling the variety of tasks you expect to perform.
 
Skid-steers represent a sizeable, yet smart, investment, and one of the biggest mistakes a landscape contractor can make is an uneducated purchase.
 
“With skid-steers, bigger is not always better,” Rafferty says. “Don’t be sold solely on horsepower and hydraulic power.”
 
For example, the bigger, more powerful units come equipped with a high rate of hydraulic flow to the attachment, upwards to 30 to 34 gpm, compared to 20 to 22 gpm in a regular-sized machine, he says.
 
“Easily, 80 to 90 percent of what contractors do doesn’t warrant that high rate of hydraulic flow,” he says. “And machines with that extra power can burn out some attachments.”
 
Contractors need to keep in mind the scope of the service offerings in order to evaluate the correct size of the skid-steer that’s right for them, their workers and their operations.
 
“If what you do is less than 1,500 pounds than you don’t need a 3,000 pound skid-steer,” Rafferty says. “Know yourself and what you’re getting into.”
 
However, landscape contractors need to keep in mind that they may be operating in a different load range on a daily basis, Pellegrini says.
 
“Choosing a machine that just meets your lifting range can limit your applications,” Pellegrini says. “Know where your operating load range is when purchasing a skid-steer, then select a machine that meets your demands. Shorting yourself within a load range will lead to increased labor cost or additional workers needed on the job site.”
 
“You need to compile a short list of what you need this machine to do for you,” Rafferty says. “If you get a skid-steer that can do what you need it to do with less horsepower, than that saves you money on your upfront costs and it will also save you money in fuel costs over time.”
 
And there are other issues, Lemke says. “The landscape contractor buys the big machine and then doesn’t realize until later that their truck and trailer is no longer big enough to transport it to the job site,” he says. “Consider purchasing a skid-steer just under the size and weight of the machine you can handle because once you throw an attachment on it you’ll probably be at your weight limit.”
 
Serviceability of the machine is another area of consideration. Contractors should look at whether service points are easy to access. Likewise, does the unit’s boom have to be in the up or down position to service it.