Smaller Equipment Equals Bigger Profits

Chet Lynch (right) and partner Nicholas Burke have realized increased profits since switching to Bobcat products.

When is $200,000 better than $2 million? Not very often. But when you are talking about an investment in equipment, less is better than more.

Site construction contractor Chet Lynch used to operate his business with big equipment—excavators, dozers, motor graders. His equipment inventory totaled about $2 million.

Today he relies on four Bobcat® track machines—T200 and T300 loaders and 331 and 435 excavators—purchased from Bobcat of Savannah.

The big difference: Net profit is up 20 to 25 percent.

Lynch and partner Nicholas Burke operate Horizon Contracting, Swainsboro, Ga. They specialize in total site preparation work—grading, paving and utility installation—for commercial projects such as schools, banks, convenience stores and drug stores.

“We were looking for an alternative to our big equipment when Bobcat Company came out with its first compact track loader,” says Lynch. “We decided to try it for grading and discovered it worked very well. We have been using Bobcat compact track loaders for grading ever since.”

The powerful T300 compact track loader delivers top performance.

Instead of hauling two or three pieces of big equipment to a jobsite, Horizon Contracting crews now take a track loader and a couple of attachments and get the job done just as well, or even better.

“A Bobcat track loader with attachments does the work of a grader, dozer, front-end loader and trencher,” says Lynch. “And we have it all in one unit.”

What they don’t have anymore: Big equipment, big trucks and trailers, the need for employees with commercial driver’s licenses, and big payments.

“The addition of the two excavators enables us to do all the utility work ourselves,” says Lynch. “The 331 is perfect for operating in confined areas and our new 435 Zero House Swing excavator is a fast-moving machine that is great for digging and loading trucks all from a single position. The 435 can’t be beat for placing objects such as large sections of concrete sewer.”

Do they ever want to go back to bigger machines? “Not at all,” says Burke. “In the last two years we have rented a large excavator and dozer for just two weeks. We only used them when initial clearing and grading would take too long with our track loaders.”

Adds Lynch: “The track loaders do take more time when we have a lot of dirt to move. But with all our other work, the Bobcat equipment is ten times faster than the bigger machines we used to own. The smaller loaders and excavators make our bottom line look a whole lot better.”