Skid-Steer Supplement Extra: For Rent

One-man operation or big-time business, skid-steer loader attachments can position companies on equal bidding planes for complicated contracts that require diverse equipment.

“A lot of the smaller contractors will rent and use attachments as a competitive method to keep up with bigger contractors,” pointed out Mike McPherson, vice president sales, Glenmac, Jamestown, N.D. “Attachments enhance a business because you eliminate the need to buy more machines.”

Certain attachments are machine staples – the basic bucket, for example. Augers and pallet forks also top contractors’ first attachment purchases, added Pam Gruebnau, director of marketing, FFC Attachments, Lee, Ill. And, for contractors who never know where their next job will lead them, renting not-so-popular attachments is an attractive option. “If you do a variety of jobs and you never know what your next job will be, you can rent attachments you need especially for a certain job,” she suggested. “You might only use an auger once a year, so there’s no point in buying it.”

Of course, if a company consistently lands tree installation projects, this tool might be a worthy investment. But the flexibility to add to an equipment arsenal without the commitment of writing a large check allows landscape operations to still offer full-service benefits to their customers without taking a large bite out of their budgets.

“A contractor might get comfortable with the management company of a large office campus, for example, and the client will ask him to take a buckle out of the driveway,” Grubneau described. “The contractor can rent an attachment and take out the buckle. It saves his relationship with that manager if he can do anything that the client asks of him.

“Big accounts will ask contractors to do all kinds of things,” she continued. “They can be as flexible as clients require them to be.”

The author is Managing Editor – Special Projects for Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@gie.net.