Rental equip

maggies dad

maggies dad

TreeHouser
Joined
Apr 13, 2011
Messages
201
The other day I bid this big take down job and all goes well and they say do it. So due to the amount of wood and brush I call a local rental company and order a bobcat with a grapple bucket. At this point I am thinking that this is going to be a great money makin day. Well I get one of my guys to agree to meet the driver and show him where the bobcat goes, and tell him that they will be there at 3:00. At 1:00 I get a call and they say they are going to deliver the cat at 2:00. So I call my guy and he says that there isnt any way that he can be there , so last ditch I call my dad and he says no problem he has it covered. At 2:00 ( my dad is waiting) I get a call and they say it will be after 4:00. Now I am bent, So at 4:45 they roll up and get the bobcat there. So I figure alright all is well---- One of my guys starts it up and goes to move some brush and the hydolic lines blows and sprays him, the bobcat, and the yard with oil. I call the company and tell them I need another one or this one fixed now. They calmly reply that they dont have any truck that run on Saturday, and that all there machanics are busy. They said that the mechanic can come out tomorrow , but that he wont be able to fix the hose on Sunday.:evil:This story has no point other then I am buying my own mini ASAP, and I really wanted to spend tomorrow with the wife and kids, but I get to go move brush cause it is going to rain for the next 3 days. P.S. I have no ideal where this post is supposed to go.
Yall have a good one and thanks for letting me vent.
 
And the best part of owning? YOU know where it's been and what's been done.
 
Yeah, rental equipment is a double edge sword!
Best one, I was working for Whitestar, a Bobcat dealer, this rental company had been using an old beat up Bobcat and milked it through for all they could. Finally, they bought a brand new one, we got a call it was on site and wouldn't start. Mechanic shows up and opens the back door. There is a water line all the way around above the engine. Opens up the air filter, it's full of water. "HMMM" he thinks. He looks and sees drag marks behind it, so he follows them. They go along the side of the garage, behind the garage, through a gate and back across cement. Then he notices the marks on the pool liner where they had drug it out of the pool!
The rental company cried and screamed trying to get it fixed under warranty, Bobcat denied that.
What I really want to know, is what the hell they used to get the thing out of the pool and drag it around the garage with!
 
I've had some miserable experiences renting equipment and avoid it. You can usually hire a sub who owns a similar (or better) piece of equipment to come do that part of the work for the same or less money than renting the equipment from a rental yard. I can hire a guy with a Bobcat or even an articulating loader with grapple to come out for 2-3 hours for $200. And the biggest advantage is that he's a much better operator than me and he runs the machine so I don't have to.
 
I got stranded in a rented lift once. A battery terminal wire had corroded through, but they came and fixed it in less than an hour.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10
Alright, I got some sleep, saw the kids and the wife for a bit last night, and feel better. A bobcat in a pool, that is pretty funny, and flushcut, did you get any work done while you were stranded??? I would have taken a nap.hehehe. Well the wind is blowing about 30mph and it is raining off and on but Iam fixing to go get this done. Yall have a great day, and if anyone has a mini that just takes up to much room, you can store it at my house! Later..
 
I lived way far from a gas station and once rented a forklift. They brought it out and after they left, I noticed that the tank was empty.
 
My favorite rental experience was when they dropped off a tracked Bob Cat for me on the weekend while I was not home and did not leave the start code. Did I mention it was for the weekend and they were closed the rest of the weekend after they dropped it off??
I figured it out in less than an hour though playing with numbers.
 
Most of the time it works out OK. The exception to that is renting stumpgrinders. In my experience unless you tell them you won't rent it unless they put sharp teeth on, the teeth will be dull.
 
flushcut said:
Did you ever find out how it got in the pool?
Click to expand...

They were moving stone around the pool area and not paying attention, got to close to the pool, once the back wheels started, it was all down hill from there! I bet somebody had to change their underwear after that ride!
 
Skwerl said:
I've had some miserable experiences renting equipment and avoid it. You can usually hire a sub who owns a similar (or better) piece of equipment to come do that part of the work for the same or less money than renting the equipment from a rental yard. I can hire a guy with a Bobcat or even an articulating loader with grapple to come out for 2-3 hours for $200. And the biggest advantage is that he's a much better operator than me and he runs the machine so I don't have to.
Click to expand...

I've tried to explain that to people for years Brian, even with the mini, I charge $45 an hour two hour min. More than a fair price. "Well I can go rent one for $250 for the whole weekend, why should I pay you that much?"
Most jobs you need a mini for take less than two hour with an experienced operator, that $250 doesn't include pick up and delivery, and you will spend two hours tearing up shit trying to figure out how to run the damn thing!
 
maggies dad said:
Alright, I got some sleep, saw the kids and the wife for a bit last night, and feel better. A bobcat in a pool, that is pretty funny, and flushcut, did you get any work done while you were stranded??? I would have taken a nap.hehehe. Well the wind is blowing about 30mph and it is raining off and on but Iam fixing to go get this done. Yall have a great day, and if anyone has a mini that just takes up to much room, you can store it at my house! Later..
Click to expand...
I got what I could from that position then I sat down in the basket and waited.
sawinredneck said:
They were moving stone around the pool area and not paying attention, got to close to the pool, once the back wheels started, it was all down hill from there! I bet somebody had to change their underwear after that ride!
Click to expand...

Sploosh! LOL
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17
So I go to finish the job, and it is raining off and on and the wind is a steady 30 with gust up close to 40. I am up in a boom about 40ft and swaying like a drunk sailor when my groundie yells up "hey you got that done yet". Well I finish rigging the limb and swing the boom around get down take off my harness and tell him for the rest of the day he is the boom man. He gets this funny look on his face and then looks up at the tree, and slowly puts on the harness. Well he goes up and every thing is moving and swaying, and you see him widen his stance. Then he stops and starts staring at the ground. I yell up "hey you got that rigged yet", and he smiles but didnt say anything. He did a good job for his first time up in a lift with the wind blowing. He has been with me for about 4 yrs and is the best groundy I have ever had. But when we finished up he was muttering something about the dadgum wind and how the devil is anyone supposed to work with everything moving. I just smiled.
 
:lol:I offer to trade spots from time to time with folks rarely a taker.

I had the pleasure of rental chippers starting out and only once it was pleasurable belaying a bandit 150 down a hillside min of 35 deg. slope with a four wheeler in front for steering. Towed it up with winch from the skidder.
Overall a few flat tires, dull blades (most every time)damed excavator feeders:|: and rescheduling didn't take long to gain some sense.
 
ive rented a few things from time to time. i always double check the fuel and make sure it starts before i leave the rental shop. ive never had to have something delivered.

i tried to rent a lift one sat am, they said it was reserved for the weekend. im like, i only need it for 30 min but they wouldnt give...since it was reserved, they had to have it incase the renter showed up or if it had probs because of me. I did the job w/o it and got lucky all went ok. on my way home in the afternoon, they were closed and the lift was still there. I had to laugh as they lost money twice on that one.
 
maggies dad said:
So I go to finish the job, and it is raining off and on and the wind is a steady 30 with gust up close to 40. I am up in a boom about 40ft and swaying like a drunk sailor when my groundie yells up "hey you got that done yet". Well I finish rigging the limb and swing the boom around get down take off my harness and tell him for the rest of the day he is the boom man. He gets this funny look on his face and then looks up at the tree, and slowly puts on the harness. Well he goes up and every thing is moving and swaying, and you see him widen his stance. Then he stops and starts staring at the ground. I yell up "hey you got that rigged yet", and he smiles but didnt say anything. He did a good job for his first time up in a lift with the wind blowing. He has been with me for about 4 yrs and is the best groundy I have ever had. But when we finished up he was muttering something about the dadgum wind and how the devil is anyone supposed to work with everything moving. I just smiled.
Click to expand...
My groundie doesn't have the balls to get in the basket above fifteen feet much less if the wind is blowing. When I read that post it hit home.:thumbup:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #23
I dont know. Maybe it was just his legs shaking so bad that it transfered to the basket, hehehe
 
I think some of it is psychological when the wind blows kind of like being sea sick. The bucket is swaying with your movement and the tree is swaying. The worst I ever had was when I was helping a electrician rewire a 105' light pole in sustained winds of 30mph. The top of the pole was swaying four feet in every direction. When I would look down the pole it looked like it was doing the hula.
 
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