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Crown Partners

Getting a Grip on Your Business – With the Right Attachment

By Rick Howland

Depending on who you talk to or your source of news and opinion, this recession will last from two to perhaps 10 years. However, experts on all sides of the issue agree that all is not doom and gloom. The economy will continue to recover, albeit at what pace no one knows.

That said, pundits from the White House to the local chambers of commerce agree that as times change, businesses need to change along with them. Tree companies need to adjust to new markets and new purchasing models, and find new ways to make a buck, either with new areas of business or by simply adding capabilities to existing ones. Put another way, capitalism – the ability to find, get and keep business – will be the watchword for this next phase of the American economy. So, we need to think of this crisis as a mix of danger and opportunity.

What we want to talk about here is grapples, attachments and opportunity.
We always seem to be writing about trends: Trends in equipment, trends in buyer purchases or trends in new and innovative ways to adapt equipment for profitability. Grapples and attachments may incorporate all those trends.

Two trends in grapples and attachments seem to be occurring simultaneously.
First, the grapple and attachment are economical ways to make an existing tool carrier, such as an excavator, loader or skid steer, more versatile. Simultaneously, a wise business person will be looking at how that tool – grapple, fork, etc. – can do more and better work, bring in more and better jobs (sometimes larger ones, but also more numerous smaller ones, too.) The right attachment is a tool that increases productivity and/or reduces labor costs and overhead. That is the definition of an investment: a purchase that makes or preserves money.

One very good example would be the grapple that can load huge piles of brush, but also handles loading great volumes of larger material – trees and branches – into a chipper or grinder for quick conversion to mulch or starter material for biofuel. Or one that might get you the job no one else wants to – or can’t – handle. What might have taken a crew of three a half-hour or more, now takes about five minutes.
Second, we find that business owners are stepping out of their comfort zones and looking at attachments that broaden or re-define their businesses. For example, in the snow belt, when tree care slows down in the winter, snow clearing either for residential, commercial and even government subcontract work starts to look attractive. That tool carrier you own is yours 24/7. If it sits idle for any reason, such as that you don’t have the tools to expand your horizons, you are missing out on two things – income potential and utilization of your capital. You own it, now use it!
Let’s look at some examples.

Versatility
With regard to versatility, reduced labor cost and return on investment, comes a specific example regarding grapples from Marcus Steigerwaldt, sales manager at Multitek. “The biggest thing for us in terms of trends has been the increasing popularity of tools like the Mark II rotating grapple winch skid-steer attachment,” he says. “We see that guys buy that piece so they can reduce payroll and related labor costs as well as keep overhead low so they can stay competitive.”



The Mark II features a 360-degree (either direction) rotating grapple that opens up to 60 inches, and it comes with a 9,000-, 12,000- or 15,000-pound winch system and a tree push bar. “Depending on the skid steer itself, the grapple can haul 20 to 30-foot long trees right out of the woods, whereas other attachments may require a crew to cut trees into pieces and haul those. Equipment like this represents a huge labor savings,” Steigerwaldt adds, “especially when you consider it can load brush into a chipper, which makes it very versatile.”

The second case revolves around broader application of attachments and comes from Dave Nelson, one of the owners of Loftness/US Attachments. Loftness makes tree cutters, flail mowers and mulching heads for chomping up trees using excavators, loaders or skid steers as the tool carrier. But it also provides a slew of other attachments, such as snow blowers and agricultural products such as rock pickers, crop shredders and even sod rollers/unrollers.

“Most of our heads (for tree care) are just for trees and branches, but it’s no secret that business has fallen off due to the economy. But it will definitely come back. For economies of scale, we sell more heads for excavators because owners want to get more use out their excavator, getting it to reach further and higher without having to move so often,” Nelson says. “The challenge now is to get cutting heads on increasingly smaller excavators (cost efficiency and versatility), even mini excavators, but only if the excavator has enough power to run the head.”

Another challenge will be to find ways to either catch or collect materials ground by cutting heads, he says. “There is definitely a use for that material on the ground if we can find a way (of developing or adapting an attachment) to harvest it efficiently and economically.”

Other attachments represent an opportunity to expand the arborist business, he says, such as a snow blower or even a rock picker. Though mostly for farming use, perhaps there is an opportunity to work with either farmers or land owners/developers to improve lots for the future or to work with schools and municipalities, even large developers or gated communities, to employ the sod unroller for a golf course, football field or estate grounds.

Sometimes, specialty attachments are the order of the day.



Ed Coulbourn, Jr. is president of Big Beaver ReTREEver and inventor of a different tree removal system of the same name. It is defined by a telescopic handler featuring 360-degree rotation for a grapple/cutter-head that is adapted solely for the rotating telescoping boom of the highly customized MRT loader, made by Manitou of Italy. The MRT has added safety and hydraulic components for tree removal. The setup allows for the boom to reach the grapple up and out to grasp a tree and, holding it securely, sever the tree in sections, allowing the operator to safely bring or drop the tree or sections to the ground. It can trim and remove pieces to heights of almost 68 feet.

Coulbourn maintains the Big Beaver ReTREEver allows for a crew of three men to do the work of up to two bucket trucks and their crew of 4-6 men each in many situations.

When asked if the grapple/attachment market was moving toward productivity and profitability, he replied “yes to both!”

“Essentially, what I see are two groups of tree care guys with differing philosophies. One group has embraced the 21st Century, and these will be the leaders and survivors in the future. These are the people who continually will go with new technologies, such as anything new a company like Bobcat or Vermeer will come out with. They’re the risk takers,” Coulbourn says. “The other is the guys with the truck and ropes and maybe a used chipper. There will always be a place for them, especially if they are good,” he adds, “but there may not be as many of them.”
He points to industrialization and companies such as John Deere, which in farming and to a lesser extent logging and other industries, replaced man and mule power. “The evolution takes time, but it happens. The same is happening in this industry.”
Machines such as his, Coulbourn maintains, will make life better and safer, because “...you can work less and make more money. You can see it in the growing popularity of the crane. A traditional crane is a huge improvement, but it can be somewhat limited because they are not reinforced for lateral torque; their strength is in lift and takedown.”

A major point to consider with respect to attachments, Coulbourn says, is their application to other processes, for example, using them to feed a tub grinder that produces mulch.

Stan Ogletree is a certified arborist and founder and president of Beaver Squeezer Grapple LLC. He says, “We have seen a trend with mini skid-steer users toward smaller rotating grapples without power rotation. Opting for manual rotation gives the buyer a bit of a price point advantage yet versatility for use with smaller machines, which I’ve noticed is a trend in smaller cities.”

“In and around the Northeast Georgia area, I notice many guys are able to use small or average-size skid steers with turf tires to get those jobs others might not want to touch,” Ogletree says. “And even the bigger companies are looking to smaller machines with versatile grapples and attachments to help fill in to do the oddball stuff in and out of tight yards or for jobs you might not consider, like landscaping by moving boulders. You’d be impressed at the odd things a grapple can do.”
He notes that in the western U.S., the winch, often alone on a skid steer, is popular in tree care to get material up or down a hill. “We also offer the winch on large grapple attachments to allow guys to get in and out of areas people would not touch. Not only does the winch help move material, it also means the operator can get the machine out of a tight spot,” Ogletree says. “Or, if you can’t get a loader to the site, pulleys, ropes and 100 feet of cable plus the grapple means you can get material out of pretty much anywhere.”



“Compact equipment can be the workhouse due to its versatility with attachments and its maneuverability and ability to access tight jobsites,” says Bryan Zent, marketing manager for Bobcat. “Grapples are great for a wide array of applications, such as clearing brush, logs or other waste materials. Another type of common grapple attachment is root grapples, which are heavy-duty attachments that clear roots, rocks and debris from the ground. The curved, skeletal teeth pick up material without driving into the ground, allowing dirt to fall between the teeth and stay in place, if required,” he notes.


And, as tool carriers, compact loaders can help contractors break into new markets and applications with the use of attachments. For a contractor who already owns a compact loader and is looking to diversify his or her business, it is as easy as purchasing or renting a new attachment that fits the job. Renting or purchasing attachments that can do the work is a smaller investment than buying new equipment.

Zent shared with us the following examples of attachments and tasks an arborist might take on with their use, in addition to their standard use of moving logs and brush:

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