I rarely use a skid steer on jobs unless it is to move large quantities of soil or trees. Once I'm done with that I rototill, rototill, rototill and mix in good compost and planter's mix. Yes, compaction is a problem and I try to limit where I drive.
just about every job we do involves the skid steer, why because it saves labor and increases profits. Areas ran over several times are ran over with a subsoil ripper and repaired
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Matt Thompson
Thompson's Landscaping
Henderson, NC
I'd like to see a soil ripper work on Colorado clay! I bet it wouldn't work, but I'm not sure. Never heard of one here in CO, but that doesn't mean they are not used.
Honestly I'm one of those companies that don't care unless the grass or sod gets severely damaged then I fix it but if looks good and alive and no ruts then I do nothing.
Why add to the cost? Beause I personally care about what happens with the soil and microlife. The better the soil, the better whatever grows in it. Compacted soil lacks air pockets and makes diifficult for plants to root and thrive. Maybe I'm being anal, but I can live with it. :-)
When I quote a job for a raised patio, fireplace, paver walkway, etc...., I'm usually quoting against other companies and I'm NOT going to include fixing of any areas that are run over by my equipment. For one thing, it's not that I don't care, I tell them it's hard to estimate what kind of damage will be done and will give them a separate estimate as the job progresses. For another thing, why add more costs to the job when I'm competing against other companies who I know are not adding in the extra time and materials to do that kind of thing.
Now, on the other hand, if I know for a fact that the entire side yard will be reduced to soil, I tell the client this up front and price it accordingly.
For simple installations where the grass gets matted down, we don't do anything and I've never seen any ill effects so I'm not about to waste any more of what little profit we're making these days.
In my area the only soil that is in the usual subdivision tracts around here is what we put there when we landscape. Most of the excavating, material movement and grading is done by machine. The most I will do when we run over a lawn to move material is to repair the damage by topdressing and seeding. The next season that is usually the best looking part of the lawn. Where we drive isn't usually where we want plants to root and thrive. In those areas we dig out the fill and replace with top soil. The client really dosn't want the added expense of labour to rototill, add compost etc. just because we ran a machine over the lawn. As long as it looks good.
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Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Beer in one hand - Nacho's in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming : Woo Hoo, what a ride!
I don't really have experience with lawns, because that's not what I do. I do mostly beds. I have seen the compaction damage done because I had to fix it. And it took a lot of rototilling with a commercial grade tiller for the soil to be even workable. Not if you doig the prep for hardscape then obviously there's no need to worry about compaction. But I know a company here that does a lot of the prepping for beds with heavy machinery and then just dumps some compost on top of it. For me it's not the way to go.
Add me to the list of not worrying about running equipment over lawn. We do the topdress & seed method of repair as well. Beds are treated differently because we want optimal plant growth there, but as far as lawn goes- as long as the grass grows it's okay.
If it's constant running back & forth- we put down plywood sheathing and run over that to save the lawn and/or hardscape. Seems to work just fine so far...
Like Fine Edge and Brooks, we don't worry about damaging lawns. We frequently use a backhoe on a lot of our jobs, for excavating, moving materials, etc. We also explain to the client that even though they see $X for the backhoe, it saves them a lot of money because the backhoe can move more material more quickly than we can shovel and wheelbarrow it. Living in CT with the world's rockiest soil, we bring in all new topsoil for our bed installations. Better soil, no worries about digging to put in a shrub and hitting a big rock where you can't install and messes with your design, and better establishment of plants with fresh nutrients.
For walkways and patios we bring in a backhoe as well. Even trip after trip in the same area has not ever damaged the grass. If it did, or we thought it would, we would be up-front wtih the client, explain to them that even if we have to repair the lawn due to heavy equipment and that will add to costs, in the long run they are STILL saving money by having the equipment do the heavy labor faster than we can. Have never had a problem.
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