LOOKING INTO LEASING “Financially, a monthly lease payment is often more manageable, if contractors are asked to ‘gear up’ quickly to take on new contracts.”
If the recent disruptions to the logging industry have reminded us of one thing, it’s that logging can be a volatile and stressful industry to be in. With the high levels of debt and risks associated with running a logging business, impacts of log price downturns to the Covid-19 pandemic have been huge. Reducing debt through leased logging equipment is one way to mitigate unnecessary financial risk, so here, we look at the benefits of leased logging equipment.
It goes without saying that having reliable, quality equipment is key to hitting production and running a successful harvesting operation.
But quality gear is expensive, and lots of loggers fall into the trap of purchasing less than reliable gear that ends up hurting their bottom line, with massive downtime and repair bills coming at them.
Leasing logging gear is an alternative solution, that’s gaining more traction and reducing financial risk and stress for many contractors.
Log Lease Director Ross Davis started out in forestry almost 40+ years ago, with a small ground-base crew. Since the early 2000’s, he’s been bringing gear into New Zealand, importing his first hauler from America.
“As our numbers of haulers grew, it was a natural transition to lease out haulers to other contractors, which was the start of Log Lease, formalised in 2010,” says Ross.
Log Lease carries a range of specialist lease equipment for the logging industry, with a fleet of Haulers, Loaders & Processors.
Ross’ daughter Sarah is the operations manager, while son-in-law Rob is the Fleet Manager/ Diesel Mechanic based in the Whangamata and Maramarua workshops.
As a team, they have broad and varied experience, plus, they’re all on the same page about the benefits of leased logging gear, which are becoming more well-known.
“Financially, a monthly lease payment is often more manageable, if contractors are asked to ‘gear up’ quickly to take on new contracts,” he says.
“The model we’ve seen working well, is buying new gear to work alongside lease gear which means you have new reliable equipment across the board rather than purchasing older gear when starting out.”
“The days of contractors fixing and servicing their own gear are gone.
With leasing, costs for insurance, breakdown and maintenance are covered. We also offer flexible contracts, so when there’s a downturn for example, you’re not stuck with a machine you don’t need.”
“We treat our customer relationships like a partnership – we want to help and support these contractors to succeed. I have been a contractor and I know how hard this industry can be, so we are always wanting to support them however we can.”
He encourages anyone thinking about reducing debt in their logging business or anyone starting out to check out the Log Lease website and get in touch.
“Even if we don’t have something you need listed, you never know, we could have something lurking in the back. Get in touch and we’ll try to help or point you in the right direction.”