Spending Money to Make Money

Rocky Smith

Paving contractor Rocky Smith (left) is cutting expenses by spending money.
Here’s how: Over a year ago he purchased a pair of Bobcat® 873 highflow skid-steer loaders, a 24-in. planer and a 72-in. sweeper. That allowed him to reduce his payroll from 15 to seven employees.

“I wish I would have bought this equipment ten years ago,” says the owner of Smith Paving, Inc., Birmingham, Ala.

A utility company hires Smith to repair streets that have been torn up when broken underground gas lines are fixed. Previously this work was done with hand labor, jackhammers and shovels.

Today Smith does the job easier and faster with his Bobcat equipment. The three-step operation includes digging out the temporary patch with a tooth bucket; milling the permanent 4- x 4-ft. asphalt patch to the desired level with the planer; and then cleaning up the site with the sweeper attachment.

For Smith this means:

Saving time

The Bobcat equipment, purchased from Loader Services and Equipment, cuts the total time to complete a pavement repair job by about two-thirds.

Happier employees

Each crew may handle seven to ten pavement repairs a day. “Think about digging out asphalt with a jackhammer and shovel on a 100-degree day,” says Smith. “With a Bobcat loader we can do the job in about 3 minutes.”

In the past Smith’s company never had the time to take on more work. The Bobcat equipment has allowed him to grow into other markets, including parking lot repairs.