Back in 2015 I bought a used B7500 with 400 hours on it. Got the loader, brush hog and a land pride blade with it. Lightweight little thing but planned on mowing and snow blading so should be perfect. The new house needed landscaping badly as it was surrounded with packed clay that turned to very slick and nearly unplantable surface.
Initial quotes were $55,000 to over $60,000 for a large patio with two sets of stone steps going down to the lower concrete patio. So a few beers, a tape measure, some rough calculating and a call to the flag stone quarry and I jumped into some deep water. Had 2 18 wheeler flatbeds of flagstone delivered and would end up using something like 20 tons of road base and gravel.
The little 21 hp was going to be tasked with excavation, leveling, dirt hauling, hauling the 500 pound flagstone steps, and setting those. Here are a few pics as we progressed.
We worked and worked at excavating and the patio plan morphed a bit as we went. The clay was amazing hard but a guy could practically sculpt it to the shape I wanted.
Finally ready for the walls to go up. We laid a deep course on gravel bed and I learned the fine art of setting walls. The little Kubota working hard all along the way.
And finally one of the wall and steps in.
It was at this point that we decided to also do a patio where the propane tank was sitting. This whole bed here is now a flagstone patio and the second set of steps goes down in the lower right corner. The little used Kubota B7500 earned its keep and then some. I just sold that tractor and upgraded to a L3560HST. Never underestimate what the little guys can do.
Initial quotes were $55,000 to over $60,000 for a large patio with two sets of stone steps going down to the lower concrete patio. So a few beers, a tape measure, some rough calculating and a call to the flag stone quarry and I jumped into some deep water. Had 2 18 wheeler flatbeds of flagstone delivered and would end up using something like 20 tons of road base and gravel.
The little 21 hp was going to be tasked with excavation, leveling, dirt hauling, hauling the 500 pound flagstone steps, and setting those. Here are a few pics as we progressed.
We worked and worked at excavating and the patio plan morphed a bit as we went. The clay was amazing hard but a guy could practically sculpt it to the shape I wanted.
Finally ready for the walls to go up. We laid a deep course on gravel bed and I learned the fine art of setting walls. The little Kubota working hard all along the way.
And finally one of the wall and steps in.
It was at this point that we decided to also do a patio where the propane tank was sitting. This whole bed here is now a flagstone patio and the second set of steps goes down in the lower right corner. The little used Kubota B7500 earned its keep and then some. I just sold that tractor and upgraded to a L3560HST. Never underestimate what the little guys can do.
