Beyond considering which equipment dealer has the largest presence and best service, (more physical shops the better) check if they have mobile mech/techs they can send to you in the field. I bought CAT (4 CAT locations within 1.5 hours of home base, a fifth is 2.5 hours, and a major distribution warehouse full of parts in town), I've had a couple hydraulic issues that were handled same day in the field. Just had another (hydraulic leak somewhere in the tub) and called my tech directly and he's coming at 0600 tomorrow. I lucked out and of them lives 10 minutes from home base. Mulching is hard on machines and down time slaughters productivity. Lost an hour today, worst case is losing tomorrow. Best case is its another O-ring blew out and I'll be up and back working by 0800. I was considering ASV (only on shop within 6 hour drive) and Deere (Two construction shops, 1 and 3 hours away), but the repair network at CAT made it an easy choice.

Met with a contractor today that does fire mitigation by hand (no machine). He wants to collaborate with us since he does not want to buy equipment. Trying to figure out a fair way to work together? He is also a general contractor. I was thinking of billing him with a 10% discount if he brings us in on a job. Does that seam reasonable?

New ad content started this morning, coincidentally, exactly what this mornings (5/22/26) podcast covered. Ads talking to target land owning clients. Had nothing booked. 3 Leads later and I just booked a 3 day job, going on a site visit next week for a 165acre piece (hopefully 10 acres of mulching), and waiting to speak to an 80acre parcel (looks like 15 acres of mulching) this afternoon. Possible 60K of work in the pipe.

First job booked today. Two weeks after starting ads. 25K in estimates sent out and the jobs are starting to book.

These two jobs taught me valuable lessons (first hand). Worth a lot more than the ~$5,000 in time/wear/broken teeth cost me. Fortunately, I used the crew day pricing tool and bid them ok even with the losses. Both jobs ended well and the land owners loved the result, it just cost time and frustration on my end. Rocky land is a lot harder on equipment than first thought. It threatens to remove your tracks at every turn (literally). I had to slow production from 1.5 acre/day to .75-1 acre/day. Ten seconds of inattention and my 275 walked out of a track (thought I had everything to put it back on but spent 2 hours chasing the right tools, stubby bottle jack and 6' pry bars). Even going slow and skimming most of the ground I knocked out two teeth (carbide) in the last hour of the job. The Douglas Hawthorn (thorn tree) is a beast. The mulcher rips foot long strips instead of chips. It bogs the head constantly, slowing production to 0.5 acres/day. It hides how big it is with wide spreading branches that cover a 30' diameter shielding from view the eight or nine trunks lurking inside,scheming to steal your time. I have now updated my estimate algorithm to include a "surcharge" for rocky ground and or thorn trees. Thorn trees will get knives instead of carbide. Hopefully that will increase production rate and the charge will cover the swapping of teeth.