Kubota SVL75-3 Helps Small Excavation Company Dig Up New Business
Purchasing your first piece of equipment is a big investment when you run your own small business and Jason Rottier was intent on getting it right.
“It was a giant, and I mean giant, step for a small company less than three years old,” explains the owner of Rottier Excavating in Wallaceburg, Ontario. “I looked at used and new machines, I looked at horsepower, hydraulic output, high flow capability, user comfort, I looked at everything.”
Jason’s exhaustive research led him 45 minutes up the road to nearby Wyoming, ON, where he met Eric Vanderlinde, a sales representative at SouthPoint Equipment, an official full line Kubota dealer.
“Once I talked to Eric, it was seamless - he kind of put me at ease,” says Rottier. “He said, “We’ll figure it out. We’ll get you in the machine you want to be in.”
That machine was the Kubota SVL65-2 compact track loader. Rottier made the purchase in early 2022 but with his company rapidly expanding, he found himself back at SouthPoint less than two years later ready to purchase the new SVL75-3.
“Jason was very confident in the Kubota brand,” explains Vanderlinde. “After experiencing zero issues and minimal downtime with the SVL65-2, and excellent support from our service department, he knew the SVL75-3 would prove to be just as reliable and durable for his business.”
MORE COMFORT
“I wanted to upgrade to something with a little more horsepower and ergonomics,” says Rottier, who measures in at over six feet tall. “When you have big boots, you need a big area and there’s a lot of leg room in the SVL75-3. The Air Ride seat is nice. I have lower-back issues and I can sit in that thing for 10 hours a day.”
“Jason is a bigger guy, so having a roll-up door and the widest cab in the market is huge,” says Vanderlinde. “Getting in and out of the machine is very easy for him now.”
MORE PRODUCTIVITY
“I use it for everything - landscaping, bush removal, loading dump trucks, cutting wood, and I’m not easy on things, says Rottier. “If it lasts for what I do, then it’s a solid piece of equipment.”
“The pushing power of the SVL75-3 is great - it’s like a small dozer. Now I have the horsepower and weight to run a forestry mulcher and do more kinds of jobs.”
MORE ATTACHMENTS
Thanks to its compatibility with all types of attachments, Rottier says his new machine has opened the door to additional opportunities.
“The SVL75-3 is a Swiss Army Knife for my business. I have a grapple bucket. I do a lot of brushing and moving material. I have a trencher for putting in hydro, gas and waterline trenching. I have a soil conditioner. I have a Kubota land plane, which is one of the most useful things I own. Forks, buckets, an HLA SnowBlade, you name it!”
MORE EASE OF MAINTENANCE
“It’s nice when you can get your arms in and see the hydraulics and not have to dismantle everything and take all the panels off,” explains Rottier. “With the SVL75-3, you open the door and flip the hatch up and the whole thing’s open.”
“I had to change my hydraulic filter at 50 hours. It was the first service thing that popped up and I was dreading it. But when I pulled the cab up, it was two bolts and I lifted it by hand. I got my partner to put a lock on the hydraulic and I crawled into the belly of that machine and grabbed the filter, gave it a wrench, and we had it done in like ten minutes.”
MORE CUSTOMER SERVICE
“One thing that is very big, not only for our dealership but also for Kubota Canada, is training,” explains Vanderlinde. “We invest a lot of money into getting to know our products and competitor products, and Kubota has dedicated field product specialists to teach both our salesmen and our customers about the equipment.”
“Everybody at SouthPoint has extensive knowledge of the machines and the equipment,” says Rottier. “Parts are always in stock and I’m never shutdown or left waiting for service. When I call, someone answers the phone, and if Eric’s busy with a customer, he always calls me right back.”
MORE PURCHASES IN THE FUTURE?
“The Kubota KX080-5 series is a beautiful machine - it’s next on my wish list,” says Rottier. “I really want one bad, but I have to convince my wife and business partner, Sarah, that we need it and it’s going to pay for itself. Kubota machines always do.”
“I USE IT FOR EVERYTHING - LANDSCAPING, BUSH REMOVAL, LOADING DUMP TRUCKS, CUTTING WOOD...”
JASON’S THREE FAVORITE FEATURES OF THE SVL75-3
TRACK DESIGN – What an upgrade, I love it! It doesn’t plug up. It floats beautifully across the ground. In terms of comfort, it makes a 10-hour day a lot nicer.
VERTICAL LIFT – I think I gained eight-to-ten inches in reach height. That doesn’t sound like a lot until you’re loading over the side of a dump truck all day.
FULL-COLOUR REAR-VIEW CAMERA – The clarity of the integrated backup camera is phenomenal. I can maneuver it to see in those blind spots, which from a safety standpoint, is huge for me.