The question is how much would you charge,... or do you think is fair to do the following excavation work? :bouncegri To operate a 120 John Deere Excavator inside a commercial building under construction with the intent to excavate under ground laterials ranging in depth from 9 feet to 3 feet. Now here's the catch the walls are up the steel trusses are in place above you attached to the support columns & your liable for damages. As to the amount of pipe thats to be put in with stubs comming up it's a virtual mine field. What about clearances above the boom....none., The boom has to be used extended in order to dig. All spoils are to be loaded into a truck. In order to load the truck the boom has to be brought out extended then dump... don't forget the columns or walls when you swing. Other conditions setting a trench box is intresting to say the least, but the best part is the mud. Let me know what ou think, Thanks...Oh the rate we charged was $156. Hr.
What was your reasoning for using a 120 sized machine? Most minis in the 8K pound range will dig at least 9 feet deep, I'm just curious why you wouldn't use a mini for indoor operation.
Sounds like you should be using something a lot smaller in there. I wouldn't charge extra, i would go so slow so that nothing gets damaged. You'ld end up getting rich on that job cuz of the rate of production. Worse thing that will happen is the owner wises up and boots you off the job, and hires someone with the right machine for the job.
I have used a JD 410j tractor loader backhoe inside buildings alot that seemed to work the best and when we teemed it up with a 308 mini it went real well.
It's hard to give a fair rate to operate a machine from in what you've described to be an environment that prevents the machine from being used correctly and operating efficiently. Grabbing one or two buckets with the stick fully extended is one thing, but if you're forced to keep the stick all the way out all day long....:Banghead it makes for slow going. Did you have to do any heavy lifting that required the 120? From what's described, I'd guess that a 5-8 ton hoe could have moved around better and gotten the job done faster. It's hard to second guess someone else's pricing without having seen the job. How many days were you there? I can see charging more for confined space work since you're taking additional responsibility. It doesn't make sense to charge the same rate that you would for pulling stumps out in a field....there's a whole lot more that can go wrong.
seems to me like that was some poor ass planning on that building... but i dont do per hour pricing.
I think I'd use a mini, even if I had to rent it for a job like that. Just double what you're charged for renting it.