Investing in a compact excavator can significantly expand a land-
scape business owner's fleet and offer value far beyond its con-
ventional role of digging. Pairing an excavator with the right at-
tachment for each job can improve versatility, create more project
control, delay the purchase of a dedicated piece of equipment,
and open up new revenue sources.
According to Tom Connor, Bobcat Company compact
excavator product specialist, when paired with the right
attachments and a coupler system that allows for quick
and easy exchanges, business owners in the landscape in-
dustry can decrease time on their jobsites while increasing
their profit. The following are eight applications in which
excavators and their attachments work well.
1. Clearing — In wooded or overgrown areas tar-
geted for development, compact excavators can improve
properties with their ability to level dead or fallen trees
and remove underbrush. Their rubber tracks help to
provide access through thick vegetation and soft terrain.
Versatile attachments like midsize buckets with teeth,
three-tined grapples and rotating grapples can grab, pull
and drag saplings and rooted undergrowth, as well as sort and load
material. Flail mowers can efficiently clear tree branches and sap-
lings up to 4 inches in size, and are ideal for removing unwanted
vegetation from hillsides, roadways, ditches, trails and riverbanks.
Clearing vegetation before it is too early to dig in spring is an op-
portunity to generate some additional income.
2. Park maintenance — All of the landscaping jobs
performed for residential or commercial properties are
typically needed in municipal and federal park main-
tenance, as well. Buckets and grapples assist with clean-
ing and clearing land and building campsites. Clamps
move broken concrete, brush, logs, tree stumps, boul-
ders and other odd-shaped objects — even old play-
ground equipment. Grading blades make great tools
for rough or finish grading, backfilling and leveling.
Expanding opportunities
LANDSCAPE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
18 January/February 2016 Landscape and Irrigation www.landscapeirrigation.com
8 Applications you can perform well with a compact excavator
■ BY ALLISON MCNEAL
ALL
PHOTOS
PROVIDED
BY
BOBCAT
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