Treacodactyl
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Digger hire...I would like a very rough idea of some costs, I know my question is a bit like how long is a piece of string but I would like an bit of a clue as to whether it's something to consider or just an unrealistic dream.
Anyway, if I wanted to build a pond/lake in wet clay, about 1/8 an acre (500m2) I would like to know how much it would cost to hire a mini-digger to do the job. Either just the digger or, ideally, with an operator. Any ideas?
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RichardW
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Sounds like a job for a larger digger not a mini digger. A bigger digger will cost more but will do it in less time.
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Treacodactyl
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I would have other uses for a mini-digger, such as clearing our / creating a few drainage ditches and only a small one would fit. Also access to the area isn't the best.
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judith
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We paid £90 for a weekend about 3 years ago.
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Treacodactyl
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | I would have other uses for a mini-digger, such as clearing our / creating a few drainage ditches and only a small one would fit. Also access to the area isn't the best. |
To clarify, I've just had a look and something like a 3-ton digger would fit but the 5-ton is getting a bit too big.
That seems about £300 a week or £250 a day with driver.
Now, any idea if it would take one week to dig a pond or much more? How long does it take to learn to drive one?
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Rob R
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£250 a week here for a 3.5 tonne one, which dug our pond out adequately. They're easy to learn if you have any kind of hand-eye coordination but it might take a bit more skill depending upon the complexity of the pond, soil conditions etc. We got ours stuck in the middle and it took some experience to get it out & put it right again.
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Treacodactyl
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Can you give me some idea what size your pond is and how long it took? Just a week?
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RichardW
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One with metal tracks would be better if you have no hard standing to drive over. Ours has rubber tracks but we take ours down the road so needed them. The next wood down to use had some one come with a 17 tonne jobby & they did a lake 10m x 20m with a central island in a day (and other bits too).
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Rob R
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450m2, triangular, sloping down from ground level at the thin end to 6ft at the other. It took a couple of days, although that was all silt. If it's heavy clay you may be better getting the biggest you can for the size of bucket. Also, no matter how big your bucket, only take thin scrapings rather than one big bucketful each time or you end up spending more time cleaning the bucket out with a spade than you do actually digging. A week should do it; what are you doing to do with the clay?
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Treacodactyl
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Sounds a similar size, do you have any photos?
The idea for the spoil would be to make some banks around the area. The land has several hedge banks so some new banks would fit in quite well. I would also need to factor in the cost of moving the spoil to the relevant places.
Of course I'd run any plans past the relevant authorities, whoever they might be as I'm not altering the course of any streams rivers so not sure if I need any permissions.
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dpack
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it is always good to have a banksman and if there is any chance of pipes or cables a detector is a good idea (bout £30 for the week to hire detector ) saw a bucket hit an 11000v cable ,bit extreme
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Brownbear
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I once dug someone a pond with C4. that was fun, sadly now no longer allowed, as our nanny state frowns on people blowing huge holes in the ground with high explosive.
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dpack
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i was talking with rob about extra ponds and thought the quarry bangman would be a chap to ask
oh well
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digit
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How deep is the pond going to be?
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Treacodactyl
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Good question. I gather they don't need to be much deeper than a meter for conservation but I'm not sure if they need to be any deeper if I intended to stock a few fish. One meter would be a good starting point, and perhaps an island.
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digit
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500m2 x 1m thats 1100 tonne of muck you need to dig out, just to give you an idea. You may need a dumper to speed thing up
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The.Grange
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Around this way a mini-digger, bobcat or dumper, cost £50 per day self drive, you have a cleanage charge if not given back clean and fuel has to be replaced. They also charge for delivery.
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Rob R
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| The.Grange wrote: | | Around this way a mini-digger, bobcat or dumper, cost £50 per day self drive, you have a cleanage charge if not given back clean and fuel has to be replaced. They also charge for delivery. |
That seems to be about the going rate- the cleaning charge is a good point, though it tends to mean 'not caked in mud' rather than sparkling clean  , the tracks and buckets in particular. They'll definitely charge more if it's returned without one of the buckets too- so make sure all the buckets you receive are clearly marked on the inventory & get straight on the phone to them if they don't deliver everything that is written down, even if you don't need it, as you could be billed for the 'missing' buckets. 
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Treacodactyl
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Thanks for the numbers, yes I'm aware that I need to consider moving the spoil, if anything that might be the most time consuming and costly element.
Currently ideas range from getting in a specialist pond creation company, although the pond might be a bit small for that, to getting my own small tractor with the necessary attachments. That might sound extreme but will end up needing a tractor so it's just the attachments that will be an extra cost. There's also plenty of other work such as ditches that I'd rather do over a long period of time rather than have to rush through in a couple of weeks.
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Rob R
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A 360 will be a lot easier than a tractor & backhoe just for manoeuvrability. I'd say that with that option you'll need the extra weeks just to get it done rather than the efficiency of a good mini-digger. Ditching is very efficient with a tracked digger compared to a tractor/backhoe. Same goes for moving spoil short distances with a dumper, rather than a tractor/trailer.
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