My extremely talented (and especially redknecked) digger and I spent the day (in yet another delightful snowstorm) estimating projects to take us into spring (which puxie Phil predicts to arrive in -what-  June this year). Seriously we drove at a top speed of 35 mph due to weather. MI frost laws (for those of you in the toastie regions) prohibit heavy loads on our roads during the freeze/thaw season to keep us from further trashing our crappy roads by putting a lot of weight on these surfaces with soft foundations.
Last fall when I started the prequal to this thread, we picked up so many orders in six weeks that some were not officially completed until after the new year. With the new pork....oops I mean stimulus law, most of us here are predicting unprecedented demand + lots of newbie installers.
Take your time, shop right, check references but, don't call in September or the only guy who will be able to get you running before Christmas might have 6 weeks experience.
Luck to all,
Joe

Oops sorry, the point of the frost law explanation, was that the only way we can get to a site right now is to drive a backhoe there. Excavators and dozers are out.
This doubles dig time and postpones finish grades 'til spring.
j

Are you saying you own a backhoe or simular piece of equipment? Perhaps you can answer a question that always bugs me. Why do people who pay 80 to 100k for heavy contruction equipment leave it outside in the weather all the time? One would think even a modest steel building to house equipment would extend it's life considerably. I do understand that at a job site, you have to leave it outside, but when it's back in the yard, I would think you would want to attempt to protect it.

Cost of hauling / housing it in shelter exceeds any savings from not being out in weather.

Value / utility of such gear depends on engine hours and condition of major subsystems such as hydraulics. Neither of those is much impacted by sitting outdoors.

This is in contrast with, say, your car, whose paint and upholstery are a substantial part of its apparent value so benefit from being garage kept.

Just my $0.02