I've mentioned my neighbor Dale the Builder. Just by way of a reminder, I do a lot of maintenance and repair on his equipment.

About a year ago, he asked me if I'd be willing to run an excavator for him if he bought one. I allowed as how that would be possible, especially if I could put a few hours on it for my own purposes occasionally. He was agreeable.

Well, he just picked up a brand new mid-sized Kubota with a thumb, a ditching bucket, a tree grinder and a rock finger, along with a new trailer to haul it on. He has a year or so old Chevy ton-dump to haul it with too.

I hope that offer to run it is still open!

This year in particular has been ridiculous in the building materials business. I’m in logistics for a major building material wholesaler in our area (New England) and we’ve been moving summertime amounts of product all winter long.

Between the booming economy and the utter lack of winter in most of southern New England, it’s been astonishing.

If we’re moving this much material, I can only imagine how well the builders are doing.

The lowering interest rates are definitely helping too

We’re I live I’m not seeing a ton of new single family housing but with baby boomers getting to that age there are assisted living developments going in seemingly everywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
We’re I live I’m not seeing a ton of new single family housing but with baby boomers getting to that age there are assisted living developments going in seemingly everywhere.

Well, we're out in the puckerbrush here, 25 miles to anything resembling medical care so I doubt much of his work is Boomer Housing.

He's a full-service building contractor tho. He'll take on anything. I've seen him jack up entire barns and pour footings and floors under them. Beaucoup remodeling and addition work. He also does new single family dwellings all over Downeast Maine. He usually has several jobs going at once and he personally spends all his time shuttling between jobs to keep things on track with his crew(s).

Johnson county Iowa needs roofers , framers and dry wallers, desperately.

according to a lumber delivery guy I know,
he says he gets job offers pretty close to every week.

they told him that four guys get hired every month , and when the first drug test comes around, three of them get canned .

the guys that can stay clean get a pretty good raise after 90 days

When I lived in the hills, there was a guy with his loader/backhoe on a tow truck-type flatbed. He could grade driveway, building site, footers, and trench for utilities. Looked like the perfect set-up.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
We’re I live I’m not seeing a ton of new single family housing but with baby boomers getting to that age there are assisted living developments going in seemingly everywhere.

I never see new home construction in my area/county, haven't in at least 6-7 years.

Chatted with him a little this morning.

Turns out, he's planning for "retirement" from the building/GC biz and planning to do site prep on his own.

He's getting tired of chasing all over hell's half-acre all the time, trying to find good workers, keep them on task and ensuring they're building a quality product.

Any idea what the excavator cost. I need one.

Builders in Austin, TX are printing their own money, albeit at rate at which new houses are being built.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Any idea what the excavator cost. I need one.

There is a huge range in size and price of excavators. A good used unit it much less expensive than a brand new one. Here on the ranch we went with a relatively little one (a Cat 312B at ~30,000 pounds) as it is big enough to do a fair bit, but small and handy enough to get around in spots where a 320 would be pinched for space. The size you need or want and whether you are stuck on new or okay with good clean low hour used machine can greatly affect the price.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Any idea what the excavator cost. I need one.

Anywhere from $25K for a decent small used one right on up to youdon'twannaknow.

I priced a new Kubota, just big enough to have a cab and change from $50K wouldn't have been worth stopping by McDonald's with.

Yeah, new home construction is doing very well, especially in these parts. The lower interest rates have created even newer buyers for them.

Maybe he will still let you borrow it. I know I could use one of those for a week or so around here.

New home construction is booming in the Orlando area. None of the builders can keep up between people moving here from NY/NJ (yuck), Venezuela, Brazil and China. Home costs are very high too. The communities with the best schools are selling homes at full asking price, sometimes even over asking within 48-72 hours. It’s insane here.

New home construction is non-stop. All the trades are absolutely slammed. Now we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for trades, guys who would otherwise sit.

I was at an economic summit on Thursday and Friday of last week, and the economist (Mark Vitner) had a slide that said in the last 5 years, 52% of all new homes built were in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. When you add in the western States of Arizona, California, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada, that goes to 82%.
I thought that was pretty surprising, but he said it follows the migration pattern we have seen over the past decade from the North East and midwest.

A good friend of mine is a custom home builder and he built my house 6 years ago. I paid $109 per sq ft back then and he is now charging $145 per sq ft. He just built his own 5500 sq ft home so I don't think hes hurting any.

Thanks guys. That cat would be nice but I do not need one quite that big. So PHPaul $50k you cannot buy a mid sizish Kubota new?

The Kubota dealer in this neck of the woods sucks. I would not walk in their store.

Maybe a Bobcat?

I need something I can push trees over, remove stumps, Pile brush, build a road. Some logging type jobs. Do moderate excavation projects, etc. How big do I need? Thanks.
Used would be fine, but finding something decent would be challenging I am betting.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Used would be fine, but finding something decent would be challenging I am betting.

I dunno, if the panic goes on much longer, the used equipment dealers may have a fair bit to get rid of. A lot of construction outfits buy equipment when times are good and they have trouble keeping up with what they have. If the economy (or their fortunes and ability to keep the equipment busy) takes a sudden downturn, a lot of that stuff ends up for sale.

Rental yards don’t like having equipment sitting around in their yards either, and may start to “thin the ranks” if construction slows down.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
So PHPaul $50k you cannot buy a mid sizish Kubota new?

Their "compact" excavators run from 1 ton to 8 tons.

A base model 4 ton with a air conditioned cab and a hydraulic thumb lists at $68,400.