Hello, My name is Steve Singer. I need to dig some holes and I have never operated heavy equipment before. I am a good driver and have driven all kinds of cars and trucks, motorcycles, boats, yachts, etc. I have had some experience with smaller tractors and all kinds of landscaping equipment. I have acquired a 40 acre parcel of land in South East San Diego County. The land is rocky and uneven with ravines and shrubs to 6' in height. The whole property is slightly to extremely sloped. There is a well graded road running from east to west across the south end of the property and another graded road runs from north to south along the east. We are going to build Walipinis (a type of semi-subterranean greenhouses) I want to dig rectangular trenches approximately 20'W X 40'L X 6'-8'D Should I rent an excavator or a backhoe or something else? Are there any other factors that would effect the decision? Thanks for any assistance you can give, Steve Singer
If you've never operated an excavator before, you'll probably save yourself a lot of manual labor with a hand shovel if you hire the job out. Not that it can't be learned, but it takes a few hundred hours to start getting proficient at it. It's nothing like driving a car, boat or truck. Equipment rental is expensive and often times they turn down the relief valves to reduce the wear on the machine. This also reduces the machine's performance. It might take a rental machine a few more days to complete job than a factory spec machine. This could leave you with a bigger bill than if you'd brought in a pro, not counting the added labor of fixing mishaps by hand.
I would hire a private contractor with the little amount you have to do. He'll come in and be gone before you can bring a machine in yourself. It'll be less expensive.
I tend to agree with jospoi and Catken about hiring a contractor. But, if you do the work yourself, please slope back any trenches over 5' deep. Like this https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10932 .
Hi Steve, I've been operating a long time, seen lots of accidents(including death) with experienced operators. Common sense can go a long way, but get some training before you dig any holes, to many people die in cave ins every year. We have safety meetings every week to remind us of hazards on job sites. joispoi and Buckethead have great points, sub the holes out to someone that has dug a lot of holes, knowing your slopes is huge, and at least watch one or two. Keep in mind a good operator can make it look easy, but there is a lot of experience and safety going in to it. As far as your questions, a CAT 315 excavator would work good. Other factors may need skid loader or small dozer to level off area outside holes. May need dump truck to move material far away from holes. I would be glad to help with private messages if you prefer.
Hire it out. Rocky hard ground is a pain, skinner bucket maybe needed (ie 48" have to use a 24" bucket)or a hoe ram is needed,all eats time & $$$.To many if for somebody new to a excavator.