Toro Co.'s expanding line of construction equipment includes the "Mud Buggy," a motorized, ride-on wheelbarrow originally produced by Stone Construction Equipment before Toro purchased that company's assets in April 2012. More new Toro equipment, including horizontal drills, utility trenchers and plows, will premiere at the International Construction Utility Equipment Expo in October.

Toro Co., a leading manufacturer of lawn care and landscaping equipment, is penetrating the construction market with new lines of concrete mixers, trenchers, utility drills and other heavy-duty machines.

Toro's foray into construction began in earnest when the company purchased assets from Astec Underground and Stone Construction in 2012. The Astec acquisition brought the company a line of horizontal utility drills and trenchers, and the Stone Construction purchase added a line of concrete mixers, compactors, stump grinders and motorized wheelbarrows called the Mud Buggy. Toro says it is seeing strong demand for walk-behind trenching machines and rider trencher machines.

Toro's new building products are finding their way into the marketplace through equipment rental houses, which are eager to offer the newest building products to contractors. Since the recession, many companies have eschewed maintaining costly equipment yards, choosing to rent heavy equipment for days or weeks to finish projects. To capitalize on this trend, Toro is marketing to rental houses like United Rental, Ziegler Cat, RSC, Home Depot and Sun Belt.

The Bloomington, Minn.-based Toro started rolling out Stone Construction concrete mixers, rollers and compactors under the Toro label in April. Further product releases will include rebranded Astec utility trenchers, plows and horizontal drills, which will be revealed in October at the International Construction Utility Equipment Expo (ICUEE) in Louisville, Kentucky, October 1–3.