Who's buying new plant?

[Dave_L]

Our 30+yr old Bobcat is too valuable to me to lose in the event of a breakdown so I'm about the press the button on this beauty.



Bobcat T650 with Hi-Flow hydraulics, auxiliary hydraulic circuit, SJC joystick control, air conditioned pressurised cab

Powerful enough to run a 600mm+ planer too....now to save for that

[dig dug dan]

Ooooo! Smart bit of kit! Hope it stays clean!
How many hours has your current one done?

[Dave_L]

I think it's 10,000hrs+ and one of my blokes must have driven it for 75% of those!

[dig dug dan]

Wow!
I used to have a bobcat. Great until a hydraulic pipe went that was almost impossible to get at. 5 hour job to replace it as so many other things to remove to get at it.
sold it and got an avant in the end, it could lift more weight than the bobcat, and had more attachments.
that said, these new bobcats are much improved

[Dave_L]

Happy Christmas to me........new 24" planer attachment arriving in early January

[dig dug dan]

Blimey dave, thats some serious kit! What sqm per hour can that planer do? Is it just for repairing potholes and worn areas, or can you strip footpaths?

[Dave_L]

No it's not just for pothole repairs, I need to to plane off 400m2 a day or so, depends how hard the surfacing is etc.

I don't tend to get involved with footpath resurfacing, it's more driveways, car parks, industrial areas etc

It would achieve this type of work, but in this case I had to hire-in a planer to do it in the time allowed.

[Dave_L]

It means I can carry out work like this in-house rather than hired-in plant and labour.

[dig dug dan]

Presumably the planer leaves the stuff on the ground that you then have to clear up with a sweeper?

[Dave_L]

Yes, my new one will just leave it on the deck but I tend to use the grading bucket on my excavator to load away the biggest part of the planings just leaving the loose dusty stuff to sweep up with our bucket brush that goes on the front of the Bobcat.

[Dave_L]

Sadly the Bobcat featured in the top of this thread got burnt out in a devastating fire at my premises in February 2019, it only has 200 hours on the clock. Insurance replaced it but it was a very sad day for us.

So who is buying plant at the moment? Not me, nothing much is available!

[Dave_L]

Fire started from a Li-Ion battery for a Makita power drill that was on the bench, not on charge and had been there for 20 or so days previous. £40 battery resulted in a £450,000 insurance claim.

https://youtu.be/jF4ueqRS54c

[lutonlagerlout]

not big on plant ,just the usual saws ,breakers ,drills etc
I was planning to upgrade my van but the availability and price of new and second hand vans is eye watering
its tough for me to justify a pick up any more as although still building and paving, it is more efficient to have stuff delivered for free,obviously different parts of the country this may not be the case

nearly bought an 11 year old crew cab tipper with 130k on the clock but was gazumped at the last minute
guy had accepted 7k +VAT then someone offered him £8.5k +VAT

what is your next move Dan?

LLL

[Dave_L]

Prices of plant and vehicles are just ridiculous at the moment, I can well imagine someone offering above the asking price for the right vehicle, well, it's happening with property!

By the close of this year I need to replace one of my 4 ton excavators but that's all about I'm thinking of doing, certainly not going to tie myself up into a term of finance when there may be uncertain times ahead.

[dig dug dan]

I'm holding fire in fear that the schools will close again. If they do, I have to stay at home, then no income.
I am looking at expanding the crusher fleet. New manufacturer is producing one, but its not quite up to hire specification yet.