How NOT to start a Construction company

I started out wrong when I first started my company I bought what I thought was this universal one siize fits-all the Swiss Army blade of equipment and I've realized now Looking Backward it really wasn't the right thing to do I struggled in the beginning because I didn't get the right piece of equipment but I didn't know better looking back now I would have done things differently in today's video I'm going to share with you what I did wrong and what I would change but it's not just going to be about my opinion I'm also going to grab Alex's opinion and Timmy's opinion and we are not comparing and contrasting notes we're not sharing our opinions what they think is what they think what I think is what I think and what we're going to do is hopefully help you guys figure it out if you're just getting boots on the ground starting out and you got next to nothing what should be the very next piece of equipment you buy and why so let's dive into today's video and find out what the answer to that is all right before we dive all the way into today's video guys I want to tell you quickly about an amazing giveaway that we're doing over at the dirt mononke shop.com we are giving away not one two but three grand prizes with Milwaukee Tools we're giving away an entire set of Milwaukee packout Tools not just one or two here but enough to launch a small business we've also got the landscapers pack which is unreal how much stuff they've included and we also have the contractors pack in this and it's completely free to enter you guys go over to the dirt mononke shop.com you're going to see the giveaway down there register to win and look at the rules because there's multiple ways to enter but while you're there if you do happen to buy anything we're going to give you one entry for every dollar you spend now I started the dirt monkey shop simply because as you guys probably know by my videos I absolutely love finding some of the coolest stuff interviewing the inventors and seeing the Innovation coming into our industry I've got video after video where I go from show to show to show discovering these new products but the problem was they were hard to actually buy so what I'm doing with the dirt monkey shop is I'm getting together with all of these small inventors and showcasing and highlighting their products and making it easy for you guys to find over there so make sure you go over and check it out and show some of the inventors that are highlighting their products over there a little bit of love while you're there now let's dive into today's video and check with what is the first piece of equipment that Tim would start out with if he had nothing to go off from in the very beginning if you were starting out with nothing Tim what would be the very first piece of equipment you would buy first piece of equipment would be a truck what truck uh like an F250 F350 something that's going to be able to handle some weight okay something you can put a snowplow on someday something you can buy a trailer and haul your stuff with just do your do your research um if you don't have a lot of money and you're going to buy something used you know make sure what the mileage is on it that that that how you're gonna you want something that's gonna last you a while this is your start right yeah um you don't want to buy somebody else's problems don't want to buy someone else's problems no right agreed all right guys down at the yard we got the equipment here Alex going if you were just getting started and had next to nothing to start with what would you buy for your very first piece of equipment how would you start a new company I'd probably buy a truck first okay a pickup truck but that's a very broad thing what would you so if you were bootstrapping it what would you buy first for a pickup truck uh something you know use older higher mileage for like 10 grand or something that's Fairly reliable four-wheel drive okay 3/4 ton pickup truck probably okay you know something and then uh you start doing stuff by hand with that get some hand shovels and rakes and the basic hand tools that you would need and I wouldn't go out and buy anything bigger super unnecessary right away you know nice and simple Madness all right now it's my turn yep all right so if I was here you can hold the camera all right so if I was going to get started out it's absolutely a pickup truck has to be first and foremost I'll turn this way the pickup truck that I would get would be a Ford but it would have the 7.3 L diesel to me that engine is the most bulletproof Ford engine of it's the most bulletproof engine of any make model brand anything out there so if you can get a used F350 with a 7.3 you're in that sweet spot that engine should last you forever the body will fall apart around it what's the second thing you would pick up well I mean once you get that truck now depending on what you're doing now you can rent equipment you can rent a trailer I mean I'd probably get a trailer a skid steer trailer or uh even even a dump trailer a dump trailer would be helpful if you can get you can haul your uh um equipment in it and you can also use it as back and forth to your job sites with your materials and you're um you know hauling stuff out hauling stuff in that's a versatile trailer yeah but at first you're not going to have money for any of that you're going to want to just probably rent rent some equipment rent rent um attachments rent things that uh P your jobs and and you start getting something in the bank you know yeah there's absolutely nothing wrong with renting and in fact there's a lot of tax advantages to renting as well and that also helps a person dial in exactly what piece of equipment they need that is best suited for their job sites without worrying about did I buy the right thing did I buy the wrong thing am I now locked into this one thing right yeah you hate to buy put a put a bunch of money into something that just sits there at your shop or you know yeah yeah you want to use that thing every day leasing is also a great way to do it as well as leasing to own eventually so there's a number of different ways that you can go ahead and skin that cat per se to get your toe in the water to to to get the business started without worrying about payments because it's not just the payments during the busy months it's the payments during the off months that tend to get a guy and you guys when you get started you have to also understand calculating your overhead and if you've got a piece of equipment that you now own your overhead goes up a lot more than if you're renting it and I probably get a dump trailer next a dump trailer yep like a like a 12T dump trailer would probably be you know after I did it with the truck for a couple months why do you say 12 foot just it's going to be cheaper option is 12T big enough to get a a piece of equipment inside of it it might I might have meant 14t then 14 is like minimum to get a skid steer in there all right yep do we got a 14 footer here uh not here we have a 16-footer here but the 14 footer is up at Tim's so the what do we got we got a sh track the sh track up 16t D is a 16t dump would you be so concerned with what make and model of a dump trailer you're getting the cheapest one the cheapest one with this style dump right here okay so you would absolutely go for that style hoist yeah and I would honestly go for Shir track cheap and reliable you would buy a Shir track yes I would okay I think that they're cost effective and a dump trailer is a dump trailer all it's got to do is dump your crap out of there so you're not hand shoveling it out of there you know be able to haul a skid steer 7,000lb axles for sure okay so two 7,000lb axles not one but two 7,000lb axles not 6,000lb axles and the reason why we're saying this is because 12,000 lb gross vehicle we I mean we've never bought a 6,000 lb aent in our life I don't even know if you can get them I'm guessing you can Lawn Care trailer maybe but you're never putting a a skid steer on there where is our lawn care trailer it's at my house so it's not taking up room down okay so we wouldn't buy a lawn care trailer unless of course you're doing lawn care but then you still have to figure out how you're going to do spring and fall cleanups and Hike everything away with the lawn care trailer which they make uh tarps you can wrap it you can get started we used to use tarps allo it yeah yeah Leaf burrito it yep y the next thing I would get I don't know if I would get a dump trailer or an equipment trailer it would depend on the application of what I'm doing in the business and the reason I say that is we didn't have a dump trailer for the first 25 years of starting out inside of our business we just didn't have one we actually bought that big multiple dump trucks the reason I went with a dump truck over a dump a pickup truck and a dump trailer is with a dump truck that gave me the ability to go out and broker that out and I could hop inside of that dump truck and back in the day I was making $45 an hour so that truck when I wasn't doing my own jobs I was doing jobs for other people which allowed me to get my toe in the door to be able to pay for that truck okay you're not going to be able to get that I mean $45 back then was about the same as what 125 today 115 it gets broker in 115 is what the broker rate is so $115 an hour for a triaxle or a tandem axle dump truck at least in our neck of the woods where a pickup truck and a dump trailer aren't going to do that exact same thing uh what would you buy for your very first piece of equipment my very first piece of equipment would probably be a skit deer I would have to say if I really had to get down to it I have to say track machine you would buy a track machine as your first piece of equipment I would be trying to get on dirt jobs and uh you know demo stuff like that uh the only thing I don't like the track skider for is really snowplowing tires are superior over track skid steers in the winter but I guess it depends on who you ask but in the summer I would prefer a a track skid steer you know a track skid loader for sure okay okay uh a size a make a model are you not that specific I would probably go for a Bobcat probably something like your S250 you know 8,500 9,000 lb still has good lifting capacity still a allout machine you know and if it was a track machine it would just be the track version of that size Skit Steer okay you know good good lifting force on it and just uh you know pick them up for cheaper so this is a 250 right here yep but you would go with this with tracks with tracks but the same weight machine maybe 85 that's a large body machine just so you guys know and you know that's a large body what what's the next thing that you would do Timmy from there I guess is what I'm asking it all depends on what you're doing but uh you know I I I like having a mini ex that that that opens a lot of doors for you for retaining walls and digging footings and um you can get thumbs on it you can build Boulder walls with it but um you know I think those two pieces of a skid steer and a minia really are a pretty good uh couple pieces of equipment to get you okay just get you some money coming in that's a great place to start especially if you're going to get a minia ex get one with a hydraulic thumb the ability to open and close it you don't need a tilt Rotator you don't need this fancy equipment that you see online you don't need that to get started with you can upgrade your equipment later on but it's not necessarily necessary to open up the door to jobs in the very beginning would you agree with that Tim yeah I agree the mistake I made when I first got started was I bought a back hole because I thought that was going to be the the Jack of all trades piece of equipment that would allow me to dig it would allow me to grade it would allow it had a bucket on front and it had a stinger on the back or a big backhoe attachment on the back it's a ter backo is be outlawed they're just terrible pieces of equipment they're they are they're garbage I I mean I just can't stand back hes at this point for productivity they're not the answer I thought it was the answer I couldn't grade anything with a back hole because you just you don't have the capability of doing it you're too out of balance when you're going over rough terrain and you got a giant Stinger on the back excavator attachment and you're trying to grade with the front and the back's bouncing and it's throwing the front off it doesn't freaking work it just does not work I would buy a mediumsized skid loader after I've got my pickup truck and my trailer I would buy in a medium size is I want to be very specific this black one here that's a large body skid loader and a large body skid loader doesn't allow you to get into every job out there there's going to be smaller tighter sights where that machine is too big so I would buy an S I would buy maybe a bobcat like a 185 size something that is medium I don't want a small skid loader because I want productivity I don't need a massive skid loader because I want versatility I want to be able to get in and out of as many possible projects as possible now you know yes what would your next piece of equipment be after the skid loader uh depends on what jobs I was getting into if I was getting on excavation trench stuff like water and sewer hookups I'd probably get like a midsize excavator like the day but if I was doing retaining walls and just digging small trenches I'd get a minia depends on what I was kind of so the deoo is what we call a midsize skid low or midsize excavator weighs about 18,000 lbs caution warning Will Robinson warning it can be too big to tow behind a pickup truck this this excavator have we tow it behind a pickup truck yet no but we you could with the right setup with the right setup that means that heavy duty rice trailer which has extra heavy duty axles on just the wdth comes down so you'd have to have a deck over trailer for to be hauling this and if you're going to put that on there I would never put that much weight behind a bumper pull it have to be a fifth wheel yeah goose and behind a 450 or a you know see I wouldn't I wouldn't think about getting that one in the beginning I would get one of these right here probably the the 331 or the 325 that's why I said depends on what I'm doing if I'm doing a bunch of utility work those aren't cutting it but this can dig me a retaining wall trench and dig me a sewer and water line you know if that's the route that I started ending up going down you know okay okay there's some there's a method behind the madness but that is the exact way I would do it it would be a a a diesel pickup truck with the 7.3 L engine it would be any equipment trailer I wouldn't necessarily worry about a dump trailer but what Alex said about the dump trailers if you're going to get a dump trailer get the one with the front telescoping hoist you don't want a scissor hoist you want that front telescoping hoist then get a medium siiz skid l as far as tires or tracks I would probably lean toward tracks for the overall but I would get snow tracks okay snow tracks are going to allow you to plow and be efficient plowing and they're going to allow you to do dirtwork and be efficient with dirt work first attachment would be a set of forks and then my next piece of equipment would be a mini excavator all of these things could be towed behind a pickup truck so uh Tim came up with a great uh concept if you can't afford to buy he said he'd be renting yeah I'd be renting as well too yeah I wouldn't be afraid to rent I never rented nothing in the beginning because the initial price was so high I made the the mistake of buying everything that I had and renting absolutely nothing right I would definitely take advantage of renting it especially if you're only using it every once in a while but if you're eventually going to evolve into using it every day then it's time to take the investment and purchase something used you know if you're new and starting out used is your best friend you know you're going to be able to get something for a fraction of the price so yep yeah so that's what we would do um you've got my formula Alex's formula and Tim's formula plus the mistakes we made the mistake I made was starting out with a rubber tired back coat it was the very first piece of equipment I bought and it was it was terrible it was a terrible thing I couldn't I I couldn't get forks for it cuz they didn't the brand I had didn't have Forks available so every time I had a pallet of I was building retaining walls with it right so what I was doing is chaining the pallets into the front bucket FL flipping them back throwing the rest of the Block in by hand and getting pallets around that way it's they there anybody that tells you to to get a back call just don't don't do it I yeah I wouldn't even it wouldn't cross my mind don't do it but now you have our formulas for success how I started mine what Alex would do with his and what Timmy would do with his now it's your turn what would you do if you were starting out if you've already got some experience let me know and if you're in the proc in the process of getting started out head over to the dirt monkey shop because we've got tons of phenomenal suggestions over there Alex is continuing to write blogs uh posts over there there's a lot of educational resources free contracts free downloads we're trying to turn the dirt monkey shop into that one spot where you guys can go not just to buy equipment but to get resources to help you get started and we're going to concentrate on building more videos like this that hopefully help you guys out so if this video helps you out what other video would help you out what's the next topic that you would like to see us address because we'll absolutely hit it straight on the dirt monkey way that's it for this one God bless go get him you guys we'll see you on another one