Will, these guys have made some valid points. I've had a tractor-based side business for some years now, and loader operations are second nature to me. So renting a huge loader was cheaper than hiring out what I wanted done...even if I add in the costly windshield to the equation.
Fuel cost can be overwhelming, depending on the size of the equipment and how hard you're pushing it. I went through 125-140 gallons of diesel in the 40 hours I rented the loader.
Also, as pointed out in the quote from my recent post, accidents do happen, and I haven't found a rental outfit that had insurance that covered glass, hoses, and the like. I paid 14% of the rental cost just for catastrophic insurance, i.e. the thing burns to the ground. In this case, the "thing" was a K-loader valued at $209,000.
True, I wanted to do the work, I wanted to operate the equipment, and it was fun for the first 20 hours or so. The last 20 hours was work...and I know why guys charge what they do. Comfortable to a point, air conditioned and air-ride equiped, it still wears on an old body. Take this and the other advice freely given in respones here and make an educated decision. Good luck.
Mark
