What a Mini Skid Steer Can Do on a Residential Lot

I run two machines. The big one is a Kubota compact track loader, and it gets most of the attention. The small one is a stand-on Kubota mini skid steer, and on a normal Polk County house lot it's the one that earns its keep. Here's what it does, where it goes, what it won't do, and when I bring the bigger machine instead.

What is a stand-on mini skid steer?

Picture a skid steer shrunk down until the operator stands on a platform at the back instead of sitting in a cab. It's narrow, it's short, and it turns in its own length. It takes the same kinds of attachments as the big machine, just smaller: forks, a bucket, a grapple. It rides on the flatbed, so it shows up with the crew instead of needing its own trip.

The point of it is reach. A compact track loader needs a double gate. The mini goes through openings the big machine can't, and it works in a backyard without turning the lawn into a race track.

What does it do best?

Hot tubs, lifted whole. This is the job people know it for. Drain the tub the day before, and I get forks or straps under the shell, lift the whole thing and set it on the trailer. No Sawzall, no fiberglass dust in the lanai, no shards in the pool deck for a year. One tub starts at the $125 job minimum when the machine can reach it.

Tight gates and side yards. Most Davenport and Poinciana lots have one gate on the side of the house and a lanai out back. The mini fits through what a crew with a dolly fits through, with a lot more lifting power.

Brush on a small lot. A fence line of palmetto, a hedge you finally gave up on, a pile of limbs the tree service left. The grapple loads it onto the trailer in a fraction of the time a crew spends dragging.

Moving heavy things across a yard. A cast iron tub, a safe, a pallet of pavers, a big planter, a slab of stone. The forks carry it from where it sits to where the trailer is, over grass, without anyone throwing out a back.

Small demo. Pushing over a rotten shed, pulling fence posts, lifting a paver patio.

What can't it do?

Plenty, and I'd rather say so on the phone.

• Heavy lifting past its limit. A mini lifts a lot for its size, but there's a ceiling. A swim spa, a big commercial safe or a full pallet of block may be past it. Send a photo and I'll tell you.
• Breaking concrete. The breaker runs on the big machine. A mini on a driveway is the wrong tool.
• Real clearing. It'll clear a fence line. It won't clear a lot. That's a track loader job.
• Deep sand or mud. It's lighter than the big machine, but it's still a machine, and it can bog down where the track loader wouldn't.
• A tub it can't get to. If the gate is narrower than the machine, or the tub is boxed in by a screen enclosure with no opening, I tell you before anyone drives out. No charge for that call.

When does the bigger machine come instead?

When the job is about ground, not about fitting. Clearing a lot, grading a pad, moving a real pile of dirt or rock, breaking a slab, loading storm debris across a big yard. The compact track loader does all of that faster and safer than the mini ever could. It needs a wider gate and it leaves more of a mark on soft grass, so I only bring it where it fits and where the job calls for it.

Sometimes both come. A hot tub sitting on a raised deck is a mini job for the tub and a track loader job for the deck, and I quote that as one piece of work.

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How do I know which machine fits my yard?

Measure the gate opening and text me the number with a photo of the path from the driveway to the job. That's it. I'll tell you which machine fits, whether either one fits at all, and what the job costs. If the answer is neither, I'll say so and you've spent nothing.

What Big Rob's does here

The skid steer services page covers both machines, and hot tub removal is the mini's most common job. The small machine works most in Davenport, Poinciana, Haines City, ChampionsGate and Kissimmee.

Text a photo of your gate and the job to (863) 225-2147 and I'll tell you which machine it is.