 |
|
The Boxer Brute subcompact excavator
|
By Mark Clement
So you're facing a fence project that has 30 post holes to be dug. Get your shovel, digging bar -- and chiropractor -- ready!
Or there's a patio or pool deck requiring loads of earth be moved somewhere else. Then there's the ever-challenging retaining wall or bulkhead. Oh, and did I forget that all of the projects are through the fence gate and in the back of the house -- as far as possible from where the thousands of pounds of lumber was delivered?
You already know the shuffle: A mighty amount of back-bustin' labor awaits.
It's a challenge we'll never fully escape but increasingly I've found a way to minimize it on my sites -- and increase production. Enter Boxer Equipment's 427 subcompact loader. What a winner this machine is, whether you rent it or buy it.
Power and Versatility
The key feature of the subcompact loader is versatility. In minutes it can be configured as a loader, an auger, a materials handler, a leveler or trencher, and those just represent a few of the nearly fifty attachments available to the Boxer 427.
Its hero-functions on my sites are augering footing holes and loading materials. I worked the machine on a large fence project, re-building a landscape, load-and-carry, staging materials and plowing snow. It excelled. And created new business opportunities--very welcome in this down market.
Augering. Augering alone practically makes the Boxer worth its weight in dirt. Digging a 40 inch footing shafts for decks, pergolas, and fence posts takes me and/or a worker no less than 15 minutes in easy soil. Add rocks, clay, or roots and it's more. And that number is only the morning. At 4 pm, I'm tired. The Boxer 427 dug them -- dead straight in various soil conditions -- in about five minutes. And it dug them all day. And the next and the next.
On a single fence project, the Boxer saved at least one full digging day for me and a laborer.
Load and Carry. This means moving dirt and debris from place to place. I loaded bucket upon bucket from the delivered dirt, drove, and dumped it exactly where needed. Again, another labor-day conserved (both the work and the budget line item) by the machine. I also loaded debris into a dump trailer, which was orders-of-magnitude easier and faster than doing it with a wheelbarrow.
Staging Materials. Boxer's ability to move and stage materials for me is awesome. Swap out the bucket for the leveler/carry-all and voila -- a forklift. So instead of carrying the hundreds and hundreds of fence parts around the site I used the machine. What's more, once the fence was framed, instead of laying individual piles along the fence and picking them as needed, I left them on the machine and moved it as I needed pieces. So simple. Less labor. More work.
Leveling the Land and Stand-Up Job. I was circumspect about the leveling capacity of the leveler-carry all attachment until I used it. Man was I wrong!
See, a sub compact loader weighs about 1850 pounds and while it operates on tracks (which delivers about 5 psi to the ground) there was no avoiding tearing up grass and leaving tank tracks on my sites (one site's conditions, by the way, went from snow and frozen earth to 60 degrees and mud in three days). It didn't take a detective to tell there was a machine on site.
But on both the fence and the landscape job I all but erased the machine's presence using the leveler. It's basically a steel grate and I placed it right on the ground -- without forcing it into the ground -- then backed up over every inch of the site. It wiped away every track and left the ground rife for re-seeding.
What's more, on the landscape renovation, while I rough-leveled the bulk piles with the bucket I tuned the landscape dead-flat with the leveler about a hundred times faster than with rakes and shovels. Another labor/line-item day saved.
Finally, I know that if I had this machine every day it would become a staging plank for me and materials by affixing a sheet of 3/4-inch plywood (I'm not saying this is a company-sanctioned activity) to the leveler using tie wire or building a cleat. I'd use it for everything from porch and deck building to replacement windows. I would be a huge feature.
Snow Job. The snow arrived the day before my fence materials. Normally I'd shovel the driveway to keep materials dry, at least an hour's work. The Boxer cleared the driveway (and the massive snow bank created by the town plows in the street) in ten minutes. Had I used a blade instead of the bucket it would have been faster.
New Revenue
After using the Boxer 427, I know owning one would require a different matrix for measuring its power. It can create new revenue streams.
My electrician said he'd never rent another trenching machine if I had the Boxer and a trencher. He'd hire me. I can do more landscape construction/site-prep and deck building with fewer guys. Indeed I can do much of it alone with the machine as a bionic third hand -- saving me untold payroll and headaches while enabling me to manage projects better.
But I don't want to be cavalier here. The machine I'm talking about is a 20-25K investment. And while it's light enough to tow with a standard utility trailer a few times a week with even a mid-sized truck I'd look ahead at my next truck being a 250/2500. If your business model calls for equipment the Boxer is a quiet, smartly designed, efficient machine that's well supported by the company. My Boxer rental place -- Baldwin Equipment -- knew the machine and had great site operation advice. Boxer even has rolling, regional service-techs if there's a surprise maintenance issue.
Boxer's 27 hp Kohler gas-powered motor is quietest and smoothest I've used in the category and the operational controls, while they take some practice are intuitive and easy. I also like that you can flip a toggle switch and decrease hydraulic pressure to the tracks enabling you to gently snug the machine up to an obstruction.
If renting is the play, Boxer is available nationwide in pro rental shops like Baldwin and will also be available in select Home Depot rental stores, deploying throughout 2009-2010.
The Boxer 427 goes on my new mental list of tools that make you money.
www.BoxerEquipment.com
Mark Clement is a remodeler, live-action tradeshow demonstrator and author of The Carpenter's Notebook, A Novel. Check out his web site at: www.FormalFarmHouse.com.
| 
)
