Landscaping Equipment Guide

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 5.8 percent growth rate in 2018. Nationwide, the industry generated $93 billion in revenue. Landscaping employment rose by 3.3 percent, and individual businesses increased by 1.9 percent. That expansion worked well for new, used, and rental machine suppliers like Cashman Equipment, which can supply you with essential landscaping equipment.

In this landscaping tool guide, we’ll look at what Cat brand 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. Ultimately, your decision on landscaping equipment and attachments has to be the one that best serves your needs.

Most Current Cat Landscaping Equipment

There are three main categories of landscaping equipment: earthmoving machinery, material handling equipment, and supporting attachments. There are so many handy attachments available to landscapers that they deserve special recognition.

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 hard at work in Nevada. Cat equipment has been around a long time but continually strives to improve through innovative designs and progressive technology. Here’s an overview of the newest and most cutting-edge landscaping equipment.

• 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.
• Compact track and multi-terrain loaders: Although rubber-tired skid steers 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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. Cashman Rental can supply you with water trucks ranging from a 4,000-gallon tanker up to a large Cat water wagon.
• 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. Cashman Equipment 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 Cashman Equipment Cat dump trucks combine low mileage with the latest in technology. We provide you with dependable service while delivering economic solutions.
• Cat UTVs: These new Cat UTVs efficiently haul materials, trees, plants, and tools. Giving you the ability to quickly maneuver on job sites, these UTVs can also pull double-duty as recreational vehicles while hunting, fishing, and camping in your free time. Available in diesel or gasoline, 2- and 5-seaters.

Cashman Equipment also has a large assortment of miscellaneous new and used landscaping equipment available for you to buy or rent. Your next landscape job might require an air compressor or a portable lighting system. You could be interested in a genset for temporary power or a pump for wet locations. Or, perhaps you are ready to rent a sweeper for final cleanup or any one of many of the newest Cat work tool attachment solutions for your landscape machines.

In-Demand Cat Landscaping Attachments

Virtually all Cat brand landscaping machines are ready for any work tool attachments you need. Those could include your new skid steer, all-terrain loader, or backhoe. 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.

All Cat landscaping attachments are proven performers. Whether you purchase a new or used attachment or consider renting a landscaping tool solution from Cashman Equipment, you’re guaranteed to multiply your equipment force to your financial advantage. Here is the lineup for the most sought-after Cat landscaping attachments you can shop by tool type, equipment type, or industry applications:

• Augers for drilling post holes
• Backhoes for trenching and ripping
• Blades for plowing and smoothing
• Brooms for final cleanup
• Brushcutters for clearing and trimming
• Buckets for bailing, cutting, and loading
• Cold planers for breaking pavement and concrete
• Couplers for switching tools quickly
• Forks for lifting pallets and stacked goods
• Hammers for rock and concrete smashing
• Landscape tillers for breaking and blending soil
• Material handling arms for extended lift and reach
• Mulchers for cutting up vegetation and growth
• Rakes for clearing land, piling brush, and gathering leaves
• Sectional snow plows for cold-weather regions
• Snowblowers for when plows are impractical
• Shears for pruning and removing branches
• Stump grinders for getting rid of tree evidence
• Thumb attachments for gripping with buckets
• Trenchers for pipe and irrigation work
• Vibratory compactors for firming base materials
• Wheel saws for precise and powerful cutting

No matter what task you have in a landscape challenge, it’s reassuring to know Cashman Equipment has the right machine and attachment to simplify your job. You can always rely on Cashman Equipment to back you up in a pinch. However, your real dilemma might be deciding whether to buy or rent Cat landscaping equipment and attachments.

Should You Buy or Rent Cat Landscaping Equipment and Attachments?

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 make a pro-and-con list of the benefits and drawbacks of renting equipment or buying it outright. Let’s start this landscaping equipment guide portion with a look at renting Cat 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 Cashman Equipment, you’ll always be confident you have the newest, most current equipment on your job.
• Service and maintenance: Cashman Equipment 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.

Depreciation can be positive or negative, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes depreciation is an asset when you buy new or used Cat machinery and attachments. Let’s look at some of the reasons you might want to buy your landscape equipment and attachments from Cashman 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.

Where to Buy or Rent Cat Landscaping Equipment and Attachments

The question of the smartest place to rent or buy the tools in this equipment guide for landscapers is super-easy to answer. It’s Cashman Equipment every time. Cashman Equipment is Nevada and the Eastern Sierras’ oldest and most established dealer of new and used Cat brand machinery. We’ve been in business since 1931, and we’ve worked hard to earn and maintain our stellar reputation by serving customers like you with top-notch attention.

At Cashman Equipment, our mission is satisfying customers with high-quality products and superior support service from our employees’ integrity and expertise. To learn more about how Cashman Equipment can support your landscape business, call us today at 800-937-2326, or reach us anytime through our online contact form. We also offer 24/7 online parts, fluids, and filter purchasing for your Cat equipment at Parts.Cat.Com. Register today.