EQUIPMENT FOCUS
Ditch Witch, meanwhile, focuses on the breadth of its own mini lineup to satisfy an increasingly diverse market, for dealers and users.“ Some owneroperators buy small at first and wish they had gone bigger a year later,” said Kukuk.“ So we allow the customer to grow with us by staying in our product lineup because we have a small stand-on mini loader all the way up to a full size stand on.”
While more affordable than a traditional compact loader, these mini machines are still not cheap. Enter the rental industry.“ This price on this 17 P-Tier is about $ 40,000,” said Laufenberg.“ Our dealers have their own rental strategy; we encourage them to get into that business. It’ s a big part of the compact industry.” He added that Deere’ s compact excavator and track loader are the two largest-volume machines in that business.“ And landscaping is key to both of those machines,” he said, with rental being a main access point.
Looking at rentals, I searched online to compare daily and weekly rates for mini loaders and traditional compact loaders. Prices vary by region and rental business, but a mini loader, like a Dingo generally costs $ 100 less per day to rent than a larger Cat loader. And that translates to $ 500 per week.
Convenience
The price factor applies to many potential buyers. The size factor applies to most potential buyers. The“ convenience” factor applies to all. I’ m talking about a variety of benefits here, including attachments and technology features, plus ease of use and ownership that can help with labor and more.
“ We have labor challenges in this market,” said Werner.“ These small utility loaders are more capable than ever. This helps improve the lives of the workers.” Werner talked about the machine’ s quick learning curve and easy accessibility along with the capabilities in small spaces, which leads to workplace improvements.“ A lot of times we talk about how hard it is to get labor,” he said.“ If we could just focus on how we keep the labor we have and keep them in the industry, we could solve a lot of our problems.”
And that brings us to attachments.“ A machine can do a job, but not without an attachment,” said Kukuk. Ditch Witch has grown its share in the tree-care business, in part due to a relationship with Branch Manager, a Minnesota-based manufacturer of attachments that serve arborists and other landscape pros.
“ We realized there was a need in the market to support the attachment side of the arborist business,” said Kukuk.“ So we partnered with one of the best brands out there and we launched five different attachments to help arborists do their jobs. That’ s been very successful for us to support this market.”
High-tech capabilities
The nascent technology side of these mini machines is a developing story for both users and business owners. And if a manufacturer does not offer tech features on its machines, it’ s missing out.
See Compact Equipment, Page 21
www. OPE-Plus. com December 2025 OPE + 19