New Thomas mini skid steers?

W

Wes84

New member
Location
Dothan
Hey guys. So it just so happens that my wife is Canadian and the Thomas Equipment manufacturing facility is right down the road from her house. We went up to visit last week and I decided to check them out. The owners were very friendly and showed me their place and their equipment. They appear to be very well-built. We talked about me buying one factory direct from them but his initial price that he spat out was $25,000 (45 DT model with Kubota D1105-E4 24.8 hp with dual pump 14 gallon/min. hydraulics). He said that he could work with the price on it a little bit but I'm still unsure that this is going to be a good value. My local Ditch Witch dealer quoted me $23,000 on an SK 600 which is basically the same class except for having the small block kubota 24.8 but having a much higher ROC. It looks like great equipment but it seems like it's more on the no frills side of things and I'd expect to get a considerable savings from a small company buying factory direct as opposed to buying a major name brand from a dealer.
Could anyone shed some light on this for me? Especially someone who owns one or has had experience

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Wes84 said:
Hey guys. So it just so happens that my wife is Canadian and the Thomas Equipment manufacturing facility is right down the road from her house. We went up to visit last week and I decided to check them out. The owners were very friendly and showed me their place and their equipment. They appear to be very well-built. We talked about me buying one factory direct from them but his initial price that he spat out was $25,000 (45 DT model with Kubota D1105-E4 24.8 hp with dual pump 14 gallon/min. hydraulics). He said that he could work with the price on it a little bit but I'm still unsure that this is going to be a good value. My local Ditch Witch dealer quoted me $23,000 on an SK 600 which is basically the same class except for having the small block kubota 24.8 but having a much higher ROC. It looks like great equipment but it seems like it's more on the no frills side of things and I'd expect to get a considerable savings from a small company buying factory direct as opposed to buying a major name brand from a dealer.
Could anyone shed some light on this for me? Especially someone who owns one or has had experience

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Don't know about what Thomas is with their price but your ditch witch dealer isnt doing you any favors either. I just went through it all with my dealer but I never even looked at the 600. The sk800 he quoted me $26674.67 with all taxes and fees. I think the 800 is a bit more machine. If I could have gotten one I probably would have bought it, but I was gonna have to wait a month for it and he found a 1050 demo that fit the bill!
 
flyingsquirrel25 said:
Don't know about what Thomas is with their price but your ditch witch dealer isnt doing you any favors either. I just went through it all with my dealer but I never even looked at the 600. The sk800 he quoted me $26674.67 with all taxes and fees. I think the 800 is a bit more machine. If I could have gotten one I probably would have bought it, but I was gonna have to wait a month for it and he found a 1050 demo that fit the bill!
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Yeah Ditch Witch quoted me $25,000 over the phone on the 800. What I'm wondering is what is the mark up on mini skids? I'm guessing that Thomas is going to counter offer about $22,500-23,000. He says that he's giving me the same price as a dealer. Thing is if I were a dealer I'd have to sell that Thomas at the same price as the SK 800 (which is a little larger machine) just to make $2000 profit. I'm scratching my head a little on that one. Dang Ramrods aren't cheap either. Sent me a quote with these ridiculously high prices and then dropped them $3000-$4,000 to about the same price as bobcat or ditch witch and called it a "special deal". No thanks.

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Lumberjack said:
That's a great question, Z. If it's CAD that's an interesting price at least. If not.... pass.
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Why would you prefer to pass on it? Just curious? I have experience with heavy equipment but am new to the mini skid market

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Jasonk said:
Ditch witch makes the best minis on the market IMO. Hands down......I own 3
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Thats what everyone says. I wouldn't mind having that 1050 or 1550. I've heard they're monsters. Shock ones do you have and what are you're thoughts? I don't think I need the biggest one out there. I have a residential brush clearing business and I need one to run a mini rotary cutter and maybe a tree shear and grapple.Not handling a lot of big trees though.

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Wes84 said:
Why would you prefer to pass on it? Just curious? I have experience with heavy equipment but am new to the mini skid market

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10 years ago, the Thomas 25Gs sold new for $12k. For $25k USD there are better options that have support and penetration in the US market already.
 
Lumberjack said:
10 years ago, the Thomas 25Gs sold new for $12k. For $25k USD there are better options that have support and penetration in the US market already.
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It's the 45 DT. Which is a comparable 25 hp Kubota diesel track machine. But I see what you're saying. Do you know what the 45 DT or 35 DT sold for a few a years back?

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Ok. I think I can wrap up this thread for anyone that may wonder about Thomas mini skids. What it boils down to is that Thomas is selling their 25 hp 45 DT units to the Australians for a handsome price and they're happy to pay it because Australian made equipment has become so inflated. I'm not sure exactly what Thomas is making but they are retailing in Australia for around $30,000 or more. I found a dealer in the U.S. that was selling the same unit about a year ago for $20,500 with a bucket included. Even so, he wasn't even willing to match the price that an equivalent Ditch Witch would cost after dealer mark up. They are nice machines and the guys at Thomas are really nice guys to deal with but I hope their gig in Australia holds up in the long run because they will never penetrate the U.S. market this way.

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Lumberjack said:
Sounds like you came to a solid conclusion.
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Yeah, he tried to convince me that the advantages offset the cost but I guess if you dig enough you'll find the square answer. The Web research pointed to it being a $20,000 machine in this market from a dealer. When I found the recent ad from the dealership in the U.S. saying the same I couldn't stomach paying that factory direct just out of principle. I asked him if he'd come down to $21,000 and he wouldn't. I would have probably bought it and I'm sure that he would have still made money but he more or less said they had people lined up 8 weeks to pay a higher price than he gave me to begin with. What brand would you recommend?
 
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Wes84 said:
Yeah, he tried to convince me that the advantages offset the cost but I guess if you dig enough you'll find the square answer. The Web research pointed to it being a $20,000 machine in this market from a dealer. When I found the recent ad from the dealership in the U.S. saying the same I couldn't stomach paying that factory direct just out of principle. I asked him if he'd come down to $21,000 and he wouldn't. I would have probably bought it and I'm sure that he would have still made money but he more or less said they had people lined up 8 weeks to pay a higher price than he gave me to begin with. What brand would you recommend?
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So here is the problem with your theory of it should be cheaper factory direct. Sure makes sense to the consumer. But let's look at it from a dealer/manufacturer perspective.
I'm a dealer for Thomas, I sell 200 of their machines a year at 22k each. I'm making money the factory is making money everyone is happy. I get wind the factory is selling direct to consumers for 21k, how is that going to make me feel as someone that makes a living off of selling these machines. I have 200 on order, I'm paying for and now the factory I'm buying from is under cutting my price. I will tell ya where they could stuff those 200 machines and the dealership! Thats why most manufacturers don't even entertain selling direct. If you piss off your dealer network you will have to do all that work they currently are to sell those machines. Sure there is a middle man, he's gotta get his dollar, but he is getting paid for the work he is doing to sell. The factory isn't going to jeopardize that network to sell a machine. Sorry.
Go to a DW dealer try out an sk800 and a 1050. Pay the price and move on with life. It's a business write off anyway.
 
flyingsquirrel25 said:
So here is the problem with your theory of it should be cheaper factory direct. Sure makes sense to the consumer. But let's look at it from a dealer/manufacturer perspective.
I'm a dealer for Thomas, I sell 200 of their machines a year at 22k each. I'm making money the factory is making money everyone is happy. I get wind the factory is selling direct to consumers for 21k, how is that going to make me feel as someone that makes a living off of selling these machines. I have 200 on order, I'm paying for and now the factory I'm buying from is under cutting my price. I will tell ya where they could stuff those 200 machines and the dealership! Thats why most manufacturers don't even entertain selling direct. If you piss off your dealer network you will have to do all that work they currently are to sell those machines. Sure there is a middle man, he's gotta get his dollar, but he is getting paid for the work he is doing to sell. The factory isn't going to jeopardize that network to sell a machine. Sorry.
Go to a DW dealer try out an sk800 and a 1050. Pay the price and move on with life. It's a business write off anyway.
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Yes. I totally understand everything you're saying. What you may have missed earlier in this thread is that Thomas has virtually no network in the U.S. period. That's the whole reason that he was "discounting" and selling to me factory direct in the first place. I live in southern Alabama.The nearest dealership that I found was in Massachusetts and he hasn't sold one of their units in over a year. Thomas was going to try to work out something with my local Kubota dealership for the warranty and that was the extent of the service. Maybe he was looking down the road and trying not to establish a low market value for furore machines if he did penetrate the U.S. market. I don't know. But either way he could have likely done a little better seeing as how he was trying to sell higher than what dealer price was a year ago. My point is is that looking into it and trying to do business is a waste of time for an American right now.

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