Am I being foulish thinking I can do it.

[new jersey mike]

I have a couple of projects that require an excavator, pulling shale out of an old foundation, replacing a pond drain pipe, replacing an old farm road culvert pipe and enlarging a fire pond.

I am very mechanical and intuitive. Learning my tractor, loader and attachments and the uses and limitations.

I can rent the equipment BUT have never used one. It may sound foolish but youtube was the first time I saw the control for an excavator. I figured I could rent for week and consider the first couple of days as training to crudely develop the use of the controls.

I am most likely looking at at least 2 weeks but I will be learning and it will be a lot less expensive if I can master this skill for the current and future projects.

Well what do you think?

 

[rus_geek]

I rented a mini-ex for a project and found that I picked up the controls and 'feel' pretty quickly. In my case, it was putting in an egress window, so I was digging alongside a foundation.

You'll be working with much larger equipment, but also in much less confined spaces. If it takes you twice as long as hiring an ex with an operator would it still be less expensive to rent? If so, I'd definitely go for it. You might even get your work done quicker than you expect, and 'find' more work for the ex while it's there.

-rus-

 

[tcartwri]

An experienced operator will do that work 10 times faster and probably for half the expense than renting your own equipment. And they wont make any mistakes.

 

[nwngunner]

We wanted to have a culvert put in, we talked to guys local who do it, upwards of 5000 dollars. We rented a back hoe and ex for several days and done more for **** of a lot less.

 

[davedj1]

I say depending on what size machine you want to rent, it is generaly cheaper to rent by the month. If you think it will take two weeks, then rent it for the month if it works out to be cheaper (you can let it sit on rainy days). That being said, MAKE SURE you call DigSafe before you dig. It's free too!
Have fun with it and be careful, don't tip it over!

 

[o2batsea]

None of those projects sound particularly urgent. I would take them one at a time. Rent the equipment to see how you do on the first and if you think it's too much then call in the experts. Don't rent a backhoe for a week, rent one for a day to start.

 

[Rustyiron]

None of those projects sound particularly urgent. I would take them one at a time. Rent the equipment to see how you do on the first and if you think it's too much then call in the experts. Don't rent a backhoe for a week, rent one for a day to start.

I agree 100%
I've seen people that can just sit in a machine and take to it right away, or at least be able to use it but there's a big dif between using a machine and being an operator! Do the culvert job.

 

[HiTechTed]

I had never used an excavator in my life and rented a Bobcat mini excavator last year for a few odd jobs I needed to do. Take it somewhere on your property where you can practice with it, and I'll bet after about 20 or 30 minutes you'll be ok with it. I had it for 2 days and by the time I was done with it, I have to say that I was very comfortable with the controls. You can do it.

 

[Renze]

My brothers 6 year old boy rides the excavator while daddy is operating, sitting on his lap and also holding the sticks. When my brother held his hands still, the kid rotated and dumped next to the trench. then he said, hey, if you can do it too, just try it !
Then he began to think and he didnt know how to.

Generally you have to think for 5 minutes, then just try on intuition: That will mean you'll go wrong a couple of times, but thats the way to learn it. If you have to think for every move, it takes longest to learn.

 

[Army grunt]

Look into renting a 4wd Jd backhoe, with a extend bucket. You'll be amazed at the amount of work you can do with it. JD is really user friendly. levers are "see spot run"easyTheirs alot to be said about doing it yourself.As long as you have the time.
Army Grunt