Equipment

Landscaping Equipment Guide

Email Link Print Page

If you’re a landscaping professional, landscape business owner, or manager of a landscaping equipment fleet, you know how important it is to have essential landscaping tools. That includes landscaping heavy equipment and lighter-duty landscaping tools such as the multitude of attachments available to make your jobs easier and more profitable. As a resource on what’s new with the latest and greatest Cat machinery, we’ve put together this handy equipment guide for landscaping businesses.

Commercial and residential property owners realize how essential professional landscaping is. Hiring a professional landscaping company can add significant value to existing properties. According to a recent survey, proper landscapes will improve property values by 10 to 12 percent. That’s an astounding increase and well worth the investment.

Increased property values transpose to a healthy landscaping industry. An IBISWorld industry research market report states the American landscape business experienced a 4.7 percent growth rate in the last five years. 

That expansion worked well for new, used, and rental machine suppliers like Empire, which can supply you with essential landscaping equipment. Increased property values transpose to a healthy landscaping industry. An IBISWorld industry research market report states the American landscape business experienced a 4.7 percent growth rate in the last five years. That expansion worked well for new, used, and rental machine suppliers like Empire, which can supply you with essential landscaping equipment.

In this landscaping tool guide, we’ll look at what Cat landscaping equipment and attachments are the best values. We’ll also provide an overview of your options between buying landscape equipment or renting it. Each acquisition method has its pros and cons. 

Excavator and Skid Steer

Most Current Cat Landscaping Equipment

There are three main categories of landscaping equipment: earthmoving machinery, material handling equipment, and supporting attachments. Cat is a world-recognized leader in the machine industry. You’ll see Cat yellow equipment with black accents on landscape projects across the United States, including our territory in Arizona, Nevada, and parts of California. Cat equipment strives to improve through innovative designs and progressive technology. Empire has a large assortment of new and used landscaping equipment and attachment available for you to buy or rent.

Here’s an overview of landscaping equipment:

    Backhoe Loaders

    • Many landscapers wouldn’t be able to do their jobs without their backhoe loader. While backhoe loaders require a bit more operating space than mini excavators and skid steer loaders, they handle material on a bigger scale. You can choose from a wide selection of new Cat backhoe loaders. The 415F2 model is a step up from skid steer duties, while the 420F2 backhoe loader is bigger yet. For serious work on large sites, you’ll want to look into the Cat 450 backhoe. Every Cat backhoe loader is attachment-oriented. Often, you’ll require a compactor or brushcutter, and you’ll find them readily available to quickly attach to your backhoe.

      Compact Track Loaders

      • Although skid steer loader are incredibly handy, you’ll have some job sites where tires won’t work. In soft ground, tires sink out of sight or rip up the turf. Here, you’ll want to spread your machine’s weight over a greater area, and nothing is a better solution than tracks. Cat brand compact track and multi-terrain loaders are the answer. New machines that you can buy or rent include the small 239D model up to the large 299D2 XHP models. These, too, are attachment-friendly. You can add blades, compactors, hammers, and backhoes.

        Compactors

        • Every landscaper finds a job where compacting is a must. That could be a small residential job you’ve bid on, where a driveway or patio requires compacting before you can lay the finished surface. Or it might be a retaining wall project that absolutely must have a solid base. Either way, if your landscape situation needs a firm footing, there’s a new Cat compactor that’s small enough for your site, but strong enough to flatten the ground. Many landscapers favor the Cat brand CB14, CB22, CB24, and CB34 small compactor models.

          Dozers

          • Cat brand dozers are super-useful on large sites where landscaping requires pushing material to level lots or build berms. Whether you have a blade or a loading bucket attached, you’ll find time for a dozer. Most people think of tracks when they hear of dozers. Cat has several small track dozers suitable for landscape work, including the D3K2 and D4K2 models. However, for your landscaping work, you might want to consider a wheeled dozer like the new Cat 814K and 824K rubber-tired dozers.

            Dump Trucks

            • It’s rare to win a landscaping bid that doesn’t require a dump truck. The question, though, is what size dump truck you need. Because dump trucks have a huge size range, many landscapers choose to rent their dump truck equipment for each different job. Empire has a wide dump truck inventory selection for you to rent from. We carry small trucks for five-ton loads all the way up to 42-ton mammoths. All Empire Cat dump trucks combine low mileage with the latest in technology. We provide you with dependable service while delivering economic solutions.

              SKID STEER LOADERS

              • No serious landscaping company should be without a skid steer. These rubber-tired workhorses are incredibly versatile, agile, and compact. New Cat skid steers range from the small and feisty 226D model up to the big and powerful 272D2 XHP. Skid steer loaders take on tasks like hauling gravel, grading lots, and moving dirt. With the right attachments, you can turn your Cat skid steer into a stump grinder or a post hole digger. Or, you can attach forks to load and unload pallets containing plants and fertilizer.

                Small and Mini Hydraulic Excavators

                • Many landscape jobs require excavating tasks like trenching or planting. However, some landscaping sites are in tight confines like between buildings or along retaining walls. New Cat small and mini excavators like the 300.9D can get into shoulder-width spaces. For mid-sized, yet confined, work, you’ll want to try the Cat 302.4D mini hydraulic machine. Or, where you have a bit more room, the 305E2 CR excavator is the answer to moving material fast and efficiently. As with skid steers and track loaders, new Cat small excavators accept many attachments like blades, thumbs, and various buckets.

                  Telehandlers

                  • For moving massive materials like potted palm trees or lifts of paving stones, you’ll want a telehandler. Cat offers you three new lines of telehandlers suitable for landscaping work. Their power, lift height, and extended reach are impressive for relatively small machines. Landscape-suitable telehandlers include the light TH255C model, the medium-duty TH351OD model, and the heavier-capacity TH357D model. Like all the newest and most current Cat landscape equipment, the new telehandlers are user-friendly and require little time to learn the ropes.

                    Wheel Loaders

                    • These new and advanced Cat loader equipment pieces make short work of loading, hauling, digging, and grading on any landscape project. Cat wheel loaders come in a full range of sizes. For places where space is at a premium, but materials need moving, look into a Cat 906M loader. If you have more space and more material, try a Cat 908M model. And where you have more distance and workable area, the new Cat 910M wheel loader still lets you do typical landscape duties with a bigger and more powerful machine.

                      Water Trucks

                      • Landscaping work often requires pre-irrigation watering for laying sod or a dependable water supply for keeping down the dust. Many landscaping companies prefer to rent their water trucks rather than buy them outright. Because water trucks are seasonal equipment, it usually makes more sense to rent them on a job-to-job basis. Empire Rental can supply you with water trucks ranging from a 4,000-gallon tanker up to a large Cat water wagon.

                      Skid Steer attachment
                      In-Demand Landscaping Attachments

                      All Cat landscaping attachments are proven performers. You ate guaranteed to multiply your equipment force to your financial advantage. Virtually all Cat brand landscaping machines are ready for any work tool you need. For example you might want your mini excavator to pull double duty as a rock hammer. Or, you might see a profit center in turning your base equipment into a land clearing opportunity

                      No matter what task you have in a landscape challenge, you can always rely on Empire to back you up in a pinch. We offer options to buy new or used  and rent attachments. However, your real dilemma might be deciding whether to buy or rent Cat landscaping equipment and attachments.

                      Should You Buy or Rent?

                      Buying vs. renting is a crucial decision. You need to assess your personal needs and exactly what you require your landscaping equipment and attachments for. It’s best to asses the task for your jobsite the benefits or drawbacks of renting equipment or buying it outright.

                      REASON TO RENT EQUIPMENT

                      • Short-Term Use: If you only need a broom sweeper or a rock hammer attachment for short-term use, it makes more sense to rent it than buy it. You won’t have the capital outlay and the unprofitable idle time that owned equipment involves.
                      • Varying Size Requirements: On projects that require a dump truck, for example, you might have one job requiring a five-ton truck and the next needing something much more substantial. Renting solves that situation in a flash without expensive purchases.
                      • Evolving Technology: Cat equipment technology continually improves. If you rent from Empire, you’ll always be confident you have the newest, most current equipment on your job.
                      • Service and Maintenance: Empire maintains and services the equipment we rent. You won’t have the expense or inconvenient downtime of having to deal with repairs yourself.
                      • Capital outlay: Renting requires no cash up front. You won’t have to tie up valuable working capital with rental equipment.
                      • Financing: Financing is one of the most expensive costs of purchasing equipment. Renting your landscape equipment and attachments alleviates that cost.
                      • Storage: There’s no storage problem when you rent with Cashman Equipment. When you’re finished using a loader or mini excavator, Cashman picks it up, and you don’t need to find a secure storage space as you do with purchased equipment.
                      • Depreciation: All equipment depreciates over time, regardless of how well you take care of it. Brand-new equipment depreciates rapidly, and Cashman Equipment absorbs this cost when you rent. Sometimes depreciation is an asset when you buy new or used Cat machinery and attachments.

                      REASON TO BUY EQUIPMENT

                      • Tax Advantages: If you own your equipment, you’ll be able to write off related expenses on your tax declarations. Those can include pro-rated depreciation, as well as operating expenses such as servicing and maintenance.
                      • Availability: If you buy your landscaping equipment and work tool attachments, you’ll always have them available when you need them. Even though Cashman Equipment has a large rental inventory, there could come a time when something you need is on loan to another business and not readily available. Buying prevents an equipment shortage.
                      • Familiarity: Once you own an equipment piece or attachment, you’ll be familiar with its operation, including any quirks. Your learning curve is over, and you have no training time as you do with an unfamiliar machine.
                      • Credit Rating: If you borrow to purchase landscaping equipment, you’ll strengthen your credit rating, which improves your borrowing power and helps with future business development.
                      • A Sense of Ownership: There’s an intangible feeling of possession with purchased landscaping equipment and attachments. Once you’ve bought it, you own it. That satisfaction is hard to take away.

                      YOUR LANDSCAPING PARTNER

                      At Empire, our mission is to provide high-quality products, superior support service and expertise to all our clients. To learn more about how Empire can support your landscape business, contact us today!

                      CONTACT US

                      Related Topics