Contractor Mixes and Matches Loaders to Fit the Job

Mark Rehbein (right) and Kerry Klinkhammer say their fleet of Bobcat loaders are profitable machines.

They say “variety is the spice of life” and that is certainly the case at Glenn Rehbein Companies. The 250-employee construction company based in Blaine, Minn., takes on work ranging from moving earth at large commercial and golf course construction sites to underground mining, property management, sod farming and snow removal. But regardless of the project, a fleet of eight Bobcat® loaders —a 753 (now S130), two 773 loaders (now the S175) and a pair of S185 skid-steer loaders, plus a T200 and two T250 compact track loaders— play a major role in keeping the company productive and profitable.

“We use our Bobcat loaders in every facet of our business,” says Mark Rehbein. He and his brother, Bart, manage the company, which their late father, Glenn, started in 1956.

“Bobcat loaders are the best money-making machines in our entire fleet of more than 100 pieces of construction equipment,” Mark says.

That statement reflects the ability of the Bobcat loaders to not only tackle different types of jobs, but to outwork larger equipment in confined areas. As a result, the Bobcat loaders generate much higher per hour earnings, relative to purchase price, than the bigger, more expensive equipment. “We can charge up to $90 per hour for our compact track loaders,” Mark explains. “In many cases, they can replace a trackhoe that might earn $130 per hour but which costs $70,000 to $100,000 more to buy than a T250.”

That’s not the only reason the company has been relying on Bobcat loaders for the past two decades. “The service from our dealer (Tri State Bobcat, Inc., Lino Lakes, Minn.) is unbelievable,” Mark says. “They treat us fairly. They always take care of us. And they back up the equipment with their word.”

The Bobcat loaders have also proven to be very reliable, and—when traded in on new ones after about 3,000 hours—they reward the company with a high trade-in value, he reports.

The company’s range of Bobcat loader models allows crews to match a machine’s size and performance to the individual job, notes Kerry Klinkhammer, the company’s fleet manager. “We might have five or six machines on one job and only one on another,” he explains.

Besides using a bucket to move, load and backfill dirt, the loaders can be equipped with several different Bobcat attachments to handle various other site work. For example, an auger might be used to drill fence postholes, while a hydraulic breaker makes easy work of tearing out sidewalks.

A Bobcat sweeper is another valuable time- and labor-saving attachment. It cleans up dirt and other debris tracked onto streets by trucks entering and leaving a jobsite.

“We used to hire a contractor to do that work,” Klinkhammer notes “However, the sweeper eliminates the expense and the inconvenience of waiting for that service. With our own sweeper we can quickly clean up the street and get back to our normal work.”

For serious earth-moving work in small spaces and soft ground conditions, the crews call on the T250 compact track loaders. “These machines can move a lot more dirt a lot faster than our skid-steer loaders,” Klinkhammer says. “They don’t get stuck and they are easy on the surface.”

Thanks to their rugged and versatile Bobcat loaders, the crews of Glenn Rehbein Companies are well equipped to work efficiently and productively no matter what the job or site conditions.