rent a mini excavator or hire it out?

[Wnc3]

RTO....rent to own.
Of all the equipment out there, the mini excavator is my favorite to operate. Have a ball!

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Re: rent a mini excavator or hire it out?---UPDATE

went to rent the rental yard and just my luck the only mini he had was being repaired (didnt have the courtesy to call me and tell me) and wouldnt be ready for a couple days, so p'ed off i just decided to dig it with my tractor. 5 hours later she was dug, looked pretty too. Of course i had to dig much more than was needed since i had to have a long ramp to get down that deep but it was successful and really not even as big deal as i originally thought. I hit sandy loam the first 16 inches, then red clay down to about 4 feet, then grayish-whitish clay and that stuff was really dense and really heavy. But i took my time, dug it slow, took enough bites out of it with the fel that i knew could handle and slowly backed out of the hole. This hole was one way in one way out due to some trees and a chain link fence. Was a real experience to dig that deep with a tractor, main thing i had to keep the ramp incline at a managable level, so after digging for awhile i would back down and use the box blade to cut the sharp incline down to a more gradual one, but nevertheless its dug and the 1000 gallon rainwater tank is in there and covered up. After the drought we had last year i think i will really like to have some back up water to water the shrubs and stuff.

Im disappointed i didnt get to use the mini, i really was exciting about playing with one since they look like they could be a lot of fun. Thanks for all the replies though on the use of one though. :thumbsup:

 

[jinman]

Re: rent a mini excavator or hire it out?---UPDATE

went to rent the rental yard and just my luck the only mini he had was being repaired (didnt have the courtesy to call me and tell me) and wouldnt be ready for a couple days, so p'ed off i just decided to dig it with my tractor. . .

. . . Im disappointed i didnt get to use the mini, i really was exciting about playing with one since they look like they could be a lot of fun. Thanks for all the replies though on the use of one though. :thumbsup:

I don't know how far "way south of Dallas" is, but that sounds about like Waxahachie to me.:laughing: However, in the DFW area, Zimmerer Kubota has rentals and their equipment is really good. I believe they have an excavator and trailer to haul with. I don't know current prices, but I'd expect them to be competitive. If you are paying for delivery and pickup, that can add a bunch to the cost. If you have your own trailer, that's sure to save you some money if your trailer and tow vehicle are rated to haul the weight of the mini-ex.

Since you have your job completed, this all doesn't matter for this job, but I find some local rental places are running on a shoestring and it shows in their equipment. I went to rent a trencher once and had to listen to a guy go into a rant about how all his trenchers were being abused. Even though I'd rented from this guy before, he wanted me to be liable for all repairs. I told him if he had a new unused machine, I'd consider it, but that he sounded like a guy who was trying to go out of business to me. Sure enough, he closed his doors in about two months.