Should I Buy or Rent a Backhoe?...

Mar, 2014 by Alma Abell

Backhoes are the all-purpose workhorses of the construction industry. With their backwards-digging buckets and front loaders for scooping and pushing, they can handle a wide variety of excavation and moving jobs. Attachments such as augers, percussion hammers, and grapples increase their versatility. But hiring backhoe operators has gotten increasingly expensive. Businesses and even homeowners who appreciate their utility often get to the point of wanting to purchase their own backhoe. New machines can cost anywhere from fifty thousand to well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, figures that are well outside most budgets unless one owns a construction firm. Used backhoes are far more reasonable in price, at least up front. In some ways, purchasing a backhoe is just like purchasing a car or truck: maintenance and repair costs need to be added...

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