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Fall 2008

Equipment elevates business to new level

Lawn maintenance is replaced with challenging landscape endeavors

Peter Marra

Landscaper Peter Marra built his business with dependable Bobcat tool carriers and attachments.

Peter Marra has moved on to landscaping’s “big stage” accompanied by a cast of Bobcat® products —six hard-working compact loaders, a smooth-operating compact excavator and more than 20 versatile attachments.

“If it wasn’t for Bobcat equipment, I don’t know where we would be,” says the Manchester, Conn., landscape contractor. “These machines have improved our business 100 percent.”

Today, Marra and his 16 employees take on landscaping jobs ranging from the Hotchkiss School, a prestigious boarding school in Lakeville, Conn., to $3 million homes on the shore, or new homes for upscale builders. “When I first started 28 years ago, I couldn’t even dream of doing these types of projects,” he says.

After focusing on mowing lawns and small landscaping jobs for a decade, Marra purchased his first Bobcat loader in 1990. When some customers wanted him to do more landscaping, Marra looked for an easier way to move soil and mulch.

“I was always a tractor guy,” says Marra. “Buying that first 763 loader was the hardest decision I ever made. Once I got the Bobcat loader on the job, I quickly discovered it was the greatest machine I owned. I wish I would have had it sooner. It changed the way we worked forever.”

Complete landscaping capabilities

Working in both the residential and commercial markets, Marra has the equipment to handle landscaping jobs from start to finish, from rip-outs to site preparation, to seeding and plant installation. Among his Bobcat machines are a T300 and two T190 compact track loaders, a 337 compact excavator, three 763 skid-steer loaders, and a group of attachments, including landscape rake, auger, seeder, hydraulic breaker, stump grinder and angle broom. All were purchased from Bobcat of Connecticut.

Once I got the Bobcat loader on the job, I quickly discovered it was the greatest machine I owned.

Marra added track machines as his workload increased.

“The T300 and T190s allow us to not only work a longer season but to become a complete landscaping company,” Marra says. “Now we can do our own site preparation. The T300 with the Bobcat dozer blade attachment does an excellent job grading, backfilling and shaping landscape areas. With the T190s we can work in tight quarters and in difficult soil conditions.”

For Marra, breaking away from being a mowing-only business to providing complete landscaping services revolves around his Bobcat equipment. “The key was finding out what Bobcat machines can do,” he says. “There is not a landscaping job we cannot do with our loaders, excavator and attachments — whether it’s moving a thousand yards of topsoil, grading, leveling, or digging trenches, sewer lines and small foundations.”

Precise work calls for Bobcat compact excavator

Another Bobcat track machine that Marra relies on is the 337 compact excavator, which regularly delivers powerful digging performance.

“Every time we use it, we are amazed by what it can do,” says Marra. “For example, on one job we had to remove several tree stumps that measured about 4 feet in diameter. The excavator took them right out of the ground — no problem.”

The smooth controls of the 337 have also impressed Marra. “We can do very precise work, including placing boulders and other landscape materials. It’s a joy to operate this machine, and it’s very productive.”

Go online to read more about Bobcat compact equipment designed for the landscaping market at www.bobcat.com/landscaping.