Flexible Bobcat Systems Convert Headaches to Profits
The Bobcat system
When Nash Collee started his business seven years ago, he took a different approach than most contractors.
“I did the kind of jobs no one else wanted,” he says. He credits that strategy, plus his Bobcat® compact equipment—which now includes three skid-steer loaders, a compact track loader and four excavators—for the steady growth of his business.
Based in Kelowna, B.C., Collee Excavating thrives on jobs where access is limited. It’s the kind of work that causes headaches for contractors with larger equipment. Collee digs front yard trenches to hook up houses to city sewers, builds rock retaining walls and water features in backyards, constructs landscapes and excavates footings, driveways and septic systems. The equipment enables his crews to be more productive by working faster and easier in confined areas, while minimizing disruption of the worksite.
His wide-ranging lineup of Bobcat equipment includes 453, 773 and S250 skid-steer loaders, a T190 compact track loader and 320, 325, 334 and 341 excavators. Often the loaders and excavators are used together as a Bobcat System. The combination is based on equipment size and requirements of the job.
“For example, my 320 and 453 allow me to get through gates and into yards without taking down fences,” says Collee. “They work great together in tight spots on jobs such as filling old septic tanks or bedding pipes with sand. They save a lot of wheelbarrow work.”
The larger, more powerful loaders and excavators team up on jobs that call for more lifting capacity and digging performance. The 773, equipped with Bobcat Super Float tires, is often used with the 325 or 334 excavator for sewer installations, backfilling, leveling yards and loading trucks. Buckets with hydraulic clamps make it easy to use the excavators for handling rocks when building retaining walls.
On septic system projects, the 334 and 341 dig out rock and dirt and load the material into a Bobcat dumping hopper. The S250 or T190 haul the loaded hopper to the street where they dump it and load the spoil onto trucks. Then they return, hauling drain rock in the hopper.
“Instead of making a lot of trips carrying material in and out with a loader and bucket, the dumping hopper cuts the carrying time in half,” Collee says. “I get to the next job faster.”
The rubber tracks of his Bobcat equipment also pay off. “My 325 allows me to work on driveways without marking or damaging the surface,” Collee says. “The T190 and combination bucket are ideal for cleaning up debris blown ashore on nearby Okanagan Lake and for digging out beach grass. The T190 doesn’t get stuck on the sandy beaches.”
Equipped with a Bobcat dozer blade, this versatile track loader also makes easy work of jobs such as grading roadside ditches and working on slopes. “I never have to turn down work with my T190,” says Collee.
“With my variety of Bobcat equipment, I can do just about any job that requires working in challenging, limited access situations,” he concludes. “I get work that others don’t.”