Grading Business Has Spectacular Growth
Mike Monahan
News travels fast in every local construction community. In areas where business is booming, developers and builders are constantly on the lookout for suppliers that can help them keep up with demand.
Three years ago Mike Monahan began his one-person site development business in Southwest Florida. By delivering reliable grading services he found plenty of work. What happened during 2004, however, was absolutely astounding.
“A year ago I was working with just one employee, and a pair of Bobcat® compact track loaders—a T190 and T300,” says Monahan. “Without any advertising, or even being listed in the phone book, the business grew sixfold. I’ve added 10 employees and several pieces of equipment.”
Along with the additional employees he now has another T300, a T250, an S185 and a 430 excavator, all purchased from Bobcat of Fort Myers.
“The track loaders are excellent grading machines, especially in our sandy soils,” he says.“I wouldn’t want to be without them. The S185 is a top-notch, all-around skid-steer loader that is a big help moving supplies and
materials. We use the 430 excavator in areas where the loaders won’t fit. By attaching a grading bucket on the excavator we can set our grades where houses are extremely close together. The Zero House Swing feature is fantastic. It sure cuts down on unwanted damage.”
Making grade
When Monahan began his company he used a grapple bucket for moving trash, brush and light land clearing, and a regular bucket for grading. Today, on all the small residential pads, he still does most of his grading using a bucket. On the larger commercial and residential projects Monahan has discovered the value of the laser-guided Bobcat box blade attachment.
“At first I thought I could do a better job with a bucket,” he recalls. “The bucket allows me to both push and pick up dirt, while with the box blade all you can do is push dirt. But I decided to try this attachment on a project where I had to set the pads for 75 homes on one street. After three pads I decided to buy the box blade, which turned out to be one of the best choices I ever made.”
Monahan usually sets three pads a day using a bucket. With the laserguided box blade his production jumped to 10-12 pads a day. “On the larger pads our labor costs are cut in half. Using the box blade is a one-man operation that delivers accurate grade every time and we don’t have to constantly check grade as we go along.
“It also substantially reduces the labor costs for the contractors that work after us on a job. Better production and fewer errors make the box blade well worth the money.”
Another reason he likes the box blade—with the laser control option—is that, “I can take a less experienced operator and, if the equipment is set up properly, he will deliver a good job, usually within 1⁄4-in. of grade.”
Monahan Services, Inc., headquartered in Fort Myers, Fla., works for 18 builders. Some build five or six houses a year, others hundreds. The company has six crews, with each group working at three or four jobsites a day. At any given time Monahan has about 200 homes in the works.
Most builders contract for the Monahan site development package—scrape or clear the lot, haul in fill, grade and compact the fill, final grade and install drainage.
Reliability important
“If we accept the work we will gear up with the equipment and employees to maintain the builder’s schedule,” says Monahan. “My reputation among builders is, ‘He will do exactly what he says he will do.’ Typically there are a number of other contractors that rely on us to complete our job on time. For example, if someone misses a concrete pour, you may have to wait a week for the concrete truck to return and there goes the schedule.”
Monahan says his fleet of Bobcat equipment helps keep jobs on schedule. “You can count on Bobcat products to be reliable, dependable and
high quality. They have been a major factor in our growth and success.”
Look Behind the Fence
Mike Monahan makes it a practice to visit his dealer—Bobcat of Fort Myers—once a week as a way of looking for ways to streamline his operation. “Bobcat regularly introduces new products, so I look around and if I see something in the yard that may work, I give it a try,” he says. “I’m always seeking improved efficiency. I never buy any equipment until I try it on an actual job. In considering whether to make a purchase, I evaluate the big picture—what will it save us in man-hours, will it make our existing equipment more efficient?”