Skid steer vs mini excavator

Joined
Oct 15, 2006
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Location
Southern Ontario
I’ve been tossing around the idea of adding a piece of equipment to my arsenal to dip a toe into the excavation/land clearing business. Between a small skid steer and a mini excavator which do you think would get me more jobs and make me more money? I‘m leaning towards buying a small skid steer and renting an excavator for digging jobs if the need arises. Seems like most of the jobs I can imagine getting can be done with a skid steer. If all goes well I’ll end up buying both down the road.

Thoughts?
 
I vote skid steer myself. So many attachments that can go on the front of one. I'd like to have one in addition to my tractor.. I've used one with tracks and I was impressed with it.
 
Are you needing to dig trenches or push dirt? The mini ex at my work has a plow looking thing on it too. Can push dirt with it.
I’m not sure what jobs I’ll be taking on. As many as I can with the machine I choose I guess. There are a lot of jobs that it seems like both machines will do but I think the skid will do most of them faster. I found some excavator attachments for the front of the skid steer which might be something to consider if I find myself renting an excavator a lot.
 
I am in the business you speak of. If you can only buy one, get the skid steer hands down. Rent the excavator when you need it. The skid steer will get easily 10x the use. I do have a 1025r John Deere with a backhoe that I use on small digging jobs but a mini-ex will dig circles around it.
 
You stated land clearing, so I'd honestly see if you could get a backhoe that would allow you to use a bucket and dig. There is a lot of rock and stump digging involved with land clearing, at least where I live. If it only came down to those two I'd get the skid steer because of more attachments.
 
For land clearing, I say you’ll definitely want a skid steer and they do make backhoe attachments for them. They also have hydraulic driven rotary cutters.

May not be a bad idea to either demo or rent both to see what they will and won’t do for you.
 
Thanks folks. Seems like the skid is the best way to start. Now I Gotta start thinking about dump trailers and a larger work truck.
 
Update. I‘m taking a heavy equipment course and learning lots about operating large machines. I’ve come to the realization that both the skid steer and a decent sized mini ex would be more weight (and accompanying red tape) than I want to deal with in my first year trying it out. Now I’m leaning more toward a compact tractor in the 40hp range. 3 point attachments seem to be about 1/3 the cost of skid attachments and the whole package should be significantly lighter and easier to haul around. I did a couple gravel driveways with my little Ford tractor and I can see having a lot of driveway jobs.
 
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