S300 Makes Work Fast, Easy and Comfortable
Bill Harper
General contractor Bill Harper’s decision to buy an S300 skid-steer loader was an easy one. “A nobrainer,” says the long-time Bobcat® equipment owner. “It’s perfect for picking up and carrying heavy loads and loading trucks. We do a lot of that. Our S300 is the most efficient machine I’ve found for this type of work.”
His company, West Rindge Builders, Ltd., Rindge, N.H., does mostly commercial and institutional construction jobs such as school and municipal building projects.
The S300 saves time unloading pallets of concrete blocks from tractortrailer rigs, loading dirt and construction debris into tri-axle dump trucks and backfilling foundations and retaining walls. “The machine’s long wheelbase produces an even, flat cut for rough and finish grading,” Harper says. “We use the S300 for anything and everything.”
That includes carrying, placing and grading crushed rock in preparing bases for concrete slabs. “Our S300 does that work faster than a tractor-loader-backhoe or bucketing the material in with a large excavator,” Harper says.
Teaming up with a 20-ton excavator, the S300 saves time hauling away and stockpiling spoil. “The S300 keeps right up with the big excavator,” Harper says. “It’s a lot more efficient than a bulldozer.”
The S300’s vertical lift path and long reach also played a role in Harper’s buying decision. “Loading into large dump trucks is no longer a bother,” he says. “The wide choice of attachments was another big thing. No other brand touches the number and quality of attachments available for Bobcat loaders.”
Bobcat attachments for his S300 include four buckets (construction/industrial, light material, low profile and tooth), a landscape rake, pallet forks, a sweeper and a Tilt-Tatch.
“I love the Tilt-Tatch for grading,” he says. “Just by flipping a thumb switch I can adjust the angle of a bucket to produce a positive pitch away from a building or to fine-tune things when I’m spreading loam so the guys barely have to rake before seeding.”
In addition to the enclosed cab with heating and air conditioning, Harper has equipped his hardworking S300 with options such as shift-on-the fly two-speed travel, hydraulic bucket positioning to minimize spillage when loading trucks, the Bobcat Advanced Control System to instantly select hand or foot control of lift and tilt functions and the Power Bob-Tach™ attachment mounting system to change attachments without leaving the cab.