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A theme I hear from contractors these days is that more than ever, they are using dozers to do finish grade passes.
Motor graders can do this too, but a motor grader is a one-job machine. A dozer can also hog out mountains of dirt, pile up brush and material, push out stumps, cut slot trenches and rip. So when it comes to utilization, the dozer wins hands down. The limitations that keep contractors from using them for finish work more frequently are human and two-fold:
1. It takes a lot of stick time before you get competent with a dozer.
2. Experienced dozer operators are rare and in high demand.
Machine control technology, using digital topo maps and GPS-guided blade control is one solution, but comes with a heavy price tag. Setting up a machine can cost anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000, hence adoption rates have remained stuck in the single digits.
Caterpillar offers all the aforementioned GPS bells and whistles. But the company also recognized several years ago the hesitancy of many contractors to buy into a full-blown GPS system.
