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Summer 2012

Bobcat System on the job every day

Reliable equipment has been good replacement for machine plagued by breakdown.

Ryan Kopp, owner of Kopp Excavating

Ryan Kopp, owner of Kopp Excavating

A diverse group of customers — builders, landscapers, plumbers and pavers — is keeping Ryan Kopp and his Bobcat® loaders and excavators busy every day.

“The Bobcat System has been good for my business,” says the owner of Kopp Excavating, Manheim, Pa. “Almost every job that comes my way I can handle with the two machines on my trailer, an E32 excavator and T300 compact track loader. Lack of work has not been a problem. Neither have machine breakdowns.”

From 1995 to 1999, however, the situation was much different. “I quickly found out that if I couldn’t get to a job, someone else would take over. My first equipment decision put me in a difficult position to compete.”

Kopp got his business off to what he calls a “frustrating” start. He initially used his father’s loader when it was not needed on the family farm, and it was a different brand that was not as reliable.

“I would get paid for a job and wind up putting all the money back into keeping the machine running,” he says. “It was one thing after another (drive chains, starters, hydraulic hoses). I just wasn’t getting anywhere and decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation.”

Good advice

Ryan Kopp pairs his Bobcat T300 compact track loader and E32 compact excavator to keep up with customer demands.

Ryan Kopp pairs his Bobcat T300 compact track loader and E32 compact excavator to keep up with customer demands.

His future wife Haley kept telling him that he needed something reliable if this is what he wanted to do for a living. In 1999, a year after they were married, she persuaded him to purchase a new machine. He chose a Bobcat 763 skid-steer loader and a 709 backhoe attachment.

“I thought it was crazy, but it turned out to be one of the best things I ever did because for the first time I had a good, reliable machine,” he recalls. “I would not be in business today if I hadn’t listened to Haley.”

He says his original approach was to buy used equipment based on what the area farmers were using. Once he started looking at what contractors were operating, he could see that it was possible to make a living in the business.

“Once I got the 763 and backhoe, I felt confident even though there was plenty of competition around here,” he says. “Before long, the work followed, and the reliability of the Bobcat equipment has kept me going strong ever since.”

He put about 3,300 hours on his 763 before replacing it with an S205. To broaden the scope of his work, Kopp purchased the first of his two Bobcat 334 excavators in 2002. In addition to the E32 M-Series compact excavator and T300 compact track loader, Kopp also owns a 442 excavator and still has his S205. His local dealer is Bobcat of Lancaster.

“They make me money because they are so reliable and allow me to take on such a variety of work,” he says.

The E32 and T300 are his main machines on jobs such as building boulder retaining walls, excavating home additions and driveways, and utility work. He mainly uses the agile S205 for snow removal and the powerful 442 for ripping out stumps and excavating for larger additions. Bobcat attachments such as an auger and hydraulic breaker are interchangeable between the loaders and excavators and have proven very valuable, according to Kopp.

“There’s a lot to like about Bobcat equipment,” he says. “I have been dedicated to the brand since purchasing my 763, which first convinced me of its sturdy reliability and easy serviceability.

“Bobcat has always impressed me with its industry-leading technology. It seems the company always comes out with improvements before the competition.”

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