Nick Drew Operator Services

[Robban_C]

The dipper is quite long, isn´t it?

[SRB]

The dipper is quite long, isn´t it?

Hello there Roban, a long dipper is pretty standard for the UK market, very rarely see any medium or short sticks on 8 to 20 ton machines. Not sure exactly why this is, i'm sure somebody here will though!

As fot the hydraulics on the boom, cat excavators (going back to 200 series) never used to cross pipes on the boom, always looked square and neat, nowdays with quick couplers, hammer, shear and rotate lines it rapidly becomes a Rats nest!

SB

[Robban_C]

The dipper is quite long, isn´t it?

Hello there Roban, a long dipper is pretty standard for the UK market, very rarely see any medium or short sticks on 8 to 20 ton machines. ...

I remember Nick told me about that a while ago and I think it is better having a long dipper.
I have the short one on my own machine and I always run out of reach.
But I guess that you want extra reach even if you have a long dipper. It is just a matter of changing the references, isn´t it?

[Neil D]

Nick
hope everything goes well with you-I reckon that Cat is the way to go (personally speaking they are too hard on diesel for me) as you do not want to tie yourself down with big repayments.

Neil

[newjcb123uk]

Hi-ya Nick - You can't beat a bit of "get up and go" when it's about starting your own business. Try for the stars and if you get to the moon then you haven't done bad is my philosophy

I run a lot of Cat equipment and it is very hard to get a 12 tonner with such low hours - I bought a new 312C a couple of months ago and have to say it's the dogs danglies As reguards operator comfort and speed you can't get any better, and they really have addressed any niggling issues raised by the older B version.

I'ts all very well and nice owing a brand spanker but in reality no one is going to thank you or give you a penny more for it. At the end of the day its going to get dirty anyway - at least you hope.

Believe it or not a few years ago I had an off shoot business nicely called HYMAC HIRE - It was 3 self drive Hymacs 121B and Cs that were average condition for self drive hire - I was getting £300 a week - the same as the guy up the road hiring out new Kobelcos - the difference was he was worring about the bank manager and I was worring about the reliability of the hired machines. I also hired a FH130-1 and it was better but had to go and check her for oil and water each morn - just in case. The machines on hire were always advertised for sale so the dough was never tied up.

I knocked it on the head because the hasstle of breakdowns and having to run to the customer if the bucket wobbled or something stupid like that occured. Plus I had so much else on the go.

However what I'm saying to you is that although you're probably a great operator the tool you use doesn't have to cost the earth (a good shooter doesn't rely on his gun!) and the best thing you can have is the quality of life without worrying about the bank manager each night. Establish yourself to customers first in a machine that you may have only paid £15k for. (cost you 200 a month)

A good cat or hitachi that looks the part and has had a respray. -dont laugh and read on- You could run a machine like that for 12 months and still sell it for the same dough. At the end of the 12 months you will know for certain weather or not you can/should invest in something fresher. If it all went T@Ts up then you haven't lost very much and the machine can be sold in a jiffy to a keen farmer. If you went down this route it would be adviseable to borrow an extra say £5k for unexpected repairs or to cover hire if your own machine had to go on the sick for a week. The extra borrowing would cost peanuts but it would give you peace of mind if something did go sick on you.

Remember Joe Bamford started off in a lockup and sold a trailer - you've seen what happened after that - Yes a little luck helps but keeping the costs low in your first year is like giving a new plant a little dose of "miracle grow" as you put it in the ground - Once your roots are established then you can think about getting bigger.

Totally best of muck whatever you choose Nick and I hope maybe you cold give the likes of Mr HE Services the need to look over his shoulder - Cheers Chris.

[Nick Drew]

Hi Chris,

Its great to see you here at CMN thanks a lot for joining us

And thanks for the indepth advise!!!!

I used to run one of those Hitachi's during my last time in business

Nick

[newjcb123uk]

Ah cheers Nick for the welcome - howd you fair with the CAT - did it work out??

[Nick Drew]

Ah cheers Nick for the welcome - howd you fair with the CAT - did it work out??

Well Chris,

I went to see the 312CL which turned out to be a 2003 model and only had 1,797 hrs on the clock !! Amazing really but I noticed that it had no check valves on it and sadly many sites these days will not entertain a machine without them.

Also my local Cat rep did not seem very interested in doing anything to clinch the deal?? I said that maybe some check valves could of been added but he suggested that it would not be economically viable

After my fantastic visit to Finning headquarters in Cannock the day before I have to say I found the experience at my local depot very third division

I am going to talk to Cannock people about retal or rent to buy schemes but am only going to do something if the economy looks like picking up!! At the moment I think things are looking a bit shakey!!

Nick

[tone_rmz250]

i think thats wise at the moment, also we have had a lot of bad weather recently which has put a real downer on groundworks! speaking to a couple of people in the know, new build houses just are not selling at the mo, which means theres been a stop on a lot of sites of starting anymore houses, so obveously theres alot less machines being used! i dont think it will last for long but its not going to hurt to wait a while is it?

[Robban_C]

... it had no check valves on it and sadly many sites these days will not entertain a machine without them. ...

Check valves? Is that what we in Sweden call "hydraulic hose rupture valves"?
The valves on the boom cylinder (and sometimes on the dipper cylinder) that prevents the cylinder from falling if a hose breaks?

I am sorry to hear that your Cat dealer is not interested in helping you. Is there another Cat dealer in "the next village" that might be more interested? If you start a discussion with him I bet that the word gets around that your cat dealer was not interesting.

But it is good that you wait for a while if the economy in the business is "shaking".
The best thing that can happen for you is probably that the business "dives" even a bit more until some of the competition starts going bankrupt. And as soon as the business starts going up again you buy a machine and start taking the jobs that the bankrupt competition cannot take. Would not that be nice?