Week 10 Winners
Chad Diviney
Innovative Property Management, LLC
Drifting, Penn
Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Black Bear Landscape Contracting & Excavating was established in 2007 and had a very solid first year, thanks in large part to my Bobcat® S250 and attachments. The Bobcat S250 proved invaluable right from the start, giving me the power and stability to load and unload large, bulky trees, many 15 to 20 feet in height and 800 to 1,000 pounds in weight. It was also very useful in planting situations when coupled with a Bobcat auger attachment and bits. The machine impressed me right from the start, but it did not even begin to show its full potential until August 2007, when I tackled a large segmented retaining wall for a homeowner as part of a large home addition. The wall, which measured greater than 90 feet in length and topped out at over 9 feet in height, put the S250 to the ultimate test. It moved over 150 tons of combined aggregate and decorative stone, more than 50,000 pounds of concrete block, and over 250 yards of clay and topsoil. While the machine had the brute strength and guts to handle the heavy stuff, it also had the finesse to grade two acres of what is now seeded lawn with the Bobcat landscape rake. The S250 is the third skid-steer loader that I have owned and operated, but my first Bobcat machine. I could not be happier with the Bobcat S250. Its power, flexibility and reliability proved vital to the success of our most important year — our first. Thanks, Bobcat! We look forward to a long-lasting and productive relationship!”
Marvyn Pickering
Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan
Bobcat Unleashed Me
“Bobcat® equipment has helped me build my business. The first Bobcat machine I owned was a used 643 skid-steer loader, which I purchased in 1993 from an employer who was a fertilizer dealer. It had been purchased new in 1985 from Bobcat of Saskatoon (formerly FGI Supply), and I still remember ‘Bobcat Brad’ delivering the machine, unloading it and showing us how to operate it. My first jobs were mainly snow removal with no cab enclosure and a 54-inch material bucket. I did these jobs on evenings, weekends and lunch hours, as I still was a wage worker at the fertilizer plant. Come fertilizer season, I rented the machine to the plant and loaded all their fertilizer. This was guaranteed work for my machine and continued until 2002.
“With some new home construction, I started getting jobs to do landscaping, and other dirt work. My 643 was providing me with a nice sideline. With a need to become mobile, I purchased a tandem flatdeck trailer and started hauling the 643 to jobs outside of town. I started drilling pilings with an auger I rented from a buddy and began to get more calls. My sideline business was becoming more popular. It required early mornings and late nights, but running the 643 and finding out what I could do with it seemed to make that easier. It ran great and was small enough to get me jobs where no one else could fit. I added a cab enclosure and heater to the 643, and started pursuing larger snow removal contracts.
“In 2005, after 23 years as a wage worker, the employer I worked for centralized their operation, and I was unemployed — but I owned a Bobcat machine! I turned my full attention to landscaping and snow removal for the upcoming snow season. I purchased my own auger and bits to save in having to rent. My wife and I also had the opportunity to purchase a car wash in 2005, and what a fit the two have been. With winter coming up, I added an 84-inch snow bucket and secured a few large snow removal contracts for the 2005 – 2006 season.
“ … All aspects of my Bobcat experience have been exceptional, from the loaders themselves to the service provided by the sales and parts staffs in Saskatoon and Regina. Because I own a Bobcat machine, there is no job I will not consider. I have used my loaders for placing sand on a frozen lake to create a sandy bottom beach when the ice melts, cleaning livestock barns for a local agricultural fair, and everything in between. Bobcat has unleashed my potential to ‘Be My Own Boss!’ Would I consider buying another Bobcat machine? You bet.”
John Miller
Montgomery City, Mo.
Bobcat Unleashed Me
“I own 110 acres and needed a reliable, working 4x4 utility vehicle. I tried several brands, but they didn't seem to have the power I needed or the handling I was looking for. On a whim, I stopped at the Bobcat of Columbia location and test-drove the Bobcat® 2200 utility vehicle. I found that it worked perfectly for my needs … There are always fences to be mended, trees to be cut, trails to be cleared, snow to be plowed, rock to be moved, driveways to be leveled and ruts to be filled. I purchased both a blade and a bucket attachment. Both do a very nice job, saving me countless hours of doing work by hand, the old-fashioned way. Last spring, I planted just over 550 saplings in an old, worn-out field. The 2200 earned its pay that day, running back and forth to the barn for more water, saplings and other supplies. But my 2200 is also for play. I found that I can get to my favorite hunting spot with ease. Last turkey season, I harvested a nice 18-pound gobbler. I have several wildlife feeders on my property. My 2200 hauls 200 pounds of feed per feeder, anywhere I need it to. Sure beats walking to and from the back area! This coming week, I have red clover and tall fescue to plant, more fences to mend and driveways to repair. The 2200 will come in mighty handy for these tasks. The ground is a bit muddy, but I know my 2200 is built for the challenge.”
Dempsy Winans
Mansfield ISD
Mansfield, Texas
Bobcat Unleashed Me
“About five years ago, I was able to convince our maintenance director that we needed a Bobcat machine. We purchased a used Bobcat® 753 skid-steer loader from United Rentals in Fort Worth, Texas, and immediately put it to work. We grew to depend on the extremely versatile machine. We used it to install engineered wood fiber for fall protection and safety surfacing on playgrounds using the standard bucket that came with the machine. The 753 drilled postholes for fence and gate installation using an auger attachment we purchased, it drilled large-diameter holes for setting flag poles, it spread crushed rock for temporary roadways, it loaded and offloaded trucks with our forklift attachment — the list goes on and on.
“Our machine has held up under extreme conditions and never blinked. We use it in 110-degree-plus and sub-freezing temperatures. We use it in dusty conditions, wet conditions and everything in between, and it has never failed us. We also have tractors, a full-sized front end loader and backhoe, a 12-yard dump truck, all sizes of pickup trucks and lots of other equipment, but nothing we own can do the work of a Bobcat loader. Its compactness, power, ability to maneuver in tight places and extremely broad range of task-handling capabilities simply blows everything else out of the water. No other piece of equipment we own can come close to being as valuable a tool as our Bobcat 753. We are now hoping to upgrade to a newer model with more available features. We wouldn't dream of trying to run our operation without a Bobcat machine! They are an absolute necessity for us and we would be lost without one in our fleet of vehicles.”
Douglas Myhra
Concordia College
Moorhead, Minn.
Bobcat Unleashed Me
“As the grounds foreman of a college campus, I oversee a department with a wide variety of tasks. Over an average year in Minnesota, snow removal, turf management, tree care and everything in between are not out of scope. Thousands of people see our campus each year, so we have to be on top of our game.
“This is how Bobcat unleashed us: On a cold and snowy day in 1985, a co-worker was sweeping sidewalks with a 1956 641 Ford tractor. There was no heated cab, no lights, and very little maneuverability. Progress was painfully slow, and the job the tractor was doing was questionable at best. I thought to myself, ‘There must be a better way!’ After extensive market research and securing the funding for new equipment, I decided on a Bobcat® skid-steer loader as the solution — it had a heated cab, lights and the ability to clean all the sidewalks in a timely and efficient matter.
“Fast-forward to 1987: Again, I was watching one of my co-workers clean parking lots full of snow with a 1951 Jeep, armed with only a small blade, limited power and poor visibility. The job was taking forever. I thought, ‘There must be a better way!’ We didn't have to research the market this time. A call to Bobcat brought us the 2400 articulated loader. By purchasing a large bucket and commercial-size snow blower for this new machine, we could clear the parking lots before the start of the business day. Watching our 1962 Massey struggle with the large lots, we all knew there must be a better way! We called Bobcat again in 1992, to replace our 1962 Massey with a 2410 loader. Our large lots were cleaned in half the time. Management was happy and our operators were much more productive, not to mention warm! Morale was great.
“Over the years we learned that Bobcat machines could do more than just move snow. After purchasing various attachments, loading, unloading and transferring materials became a breeze. The multi-functionality was a real back-saver! After 20 years of use, these Bobcat machines are still used every day for a wide variety of tasks. During the spring of 2007, I was hauling my tools to the jobsite in a wheelbarrow. You could probably guess what comes next; I thought, ‘There must be a better way!’ Along came our Toolcat™ 5600 utility work machine. With this machine, I could do three things at once. I put a pallet of plants on the forks in front, a load of dirt in the box, and all my tools right behind the cab. This enabled me to complete the project in one trip with one machine. You can do the math, but we have saved thousands of man hours over the years with our Bobcat machines and have greatly improved our morale and productivity. Have we been unleashed? Definitely. When I hear myself say, ‘There must be a better way,’ I call Bobcat.”
