Hey everyone,
I have the opportunity to buy an excavation business and have been wrestling with the feasibility of it. For reference my experience is 3 years of resi construction management going vertical not earthwork specific. My seat time is also limited to about 20 minutes in a skid steer a few years ago, call it 0. I'm good with finances which should help me with the estimating and money management, but again, not direct experience in earthwork estimating or this businesses cash management. Assume I'm a competent person with good spacial awareness who could pick up operating at a decent pace given seat time.
Machines:
25k lb DOZER, 20k lb DOZER, 35k lb EXCAVATOR, 18k lb EXCAVATOR, 12k lb EXCAVATOR, 11k lb SKID STEER, 2 trucks, 3 trailers, and many attachments and buckets. Also LOTS of misc supporting tools. Assume heavy equipment is in good health but generally floating around 3k - 4k hours.
With entry i'll have 5 months of dedicated training with the owner working on various projects before he is out of the picture. He's a solid guy and knows what he's doing and will be committed to training during that time, but it will be 5 months max.
This is clearly too much equipment for me to utilize at a high rate early on, but it's setup as something i can grow into fully over the next 2-3 years.
My question is, realistically can i get to a point where I'm competent enough to run small jobs safely primarily by myself within that training period while I grow or is this an exercise in self sabotage?
Really looking for advice on where I can expect to be after the training period. I have an idea, but wouldn't mind advice on entry level working capital estimates for a business with this much iron. I'm mostly focused on my ability to actually get work done, not the business management side as much.
Thanks for any input