Private hire of small excavator
Discussion
Mammasaid said:
But not as fun!
Yes, most of the plant hire outfits will hire you a mini excavator. It will take you a little to get used to working it, but it's easily doable.
I hired one a few years back, just paid and they delivered. No questions on whether I had any qualifications. Got a quick introduction on how to use it, then left to get the groundwork done. Worst bit was I had it for 2 days and rained all the time. Garden looked like the Somme when I'd finished Yes, most of the plant hire outfits will hire you a mini excavator. It will take you a little to get used to working it, but it's easily doable.
We had a landscaper do our garden. He got a licensed operator to run the mini digger. Very fast and a better job than DIY.
Garden makeover was a full refurb/ redesign. I shied away due to time it would take me plys the people doing the various jobs were excellent. Patio was porcelain slabs and the chap did a superb job. He took 4 days (3 days solo and 1 day with labourer). The prep done by the digger driver impressed him as it made his job easier.
The whole job was a big one making DIY a no-go. Mrs sospan would have been a PIA if my slower work rate was going on. Not as expensive as we thought and less than our budget. Left some money over for spending elsewhere and I avoided a lot of hassle!
Garden makeover was a full refurb/ redesign. I shied away due to time it would take me plys the people doing the various jobs were excellent. Patio was porcelain slabs and the chap did a superb job. He took 4 days (3 days solo and 1 day with labourer). The prep done by the digger driver impressed him as it made his job easier.
The whole job was a big one making DIY a no-go. Mrs sospan would have been a PIA if my slower work rate was going on. Not as expensive as we thought and less than our budget. Left some money over for spending elsewhere and I avoided a lot of hassle!
What are you hoping to do with the digger?
They're not difficult to use after a few hours getting to grips with things but some tasks are more difficult than others.
Levelling any significant size of area and leaving a nice flat surface is probably one of the most difficult tasks. I can happily dig away all day but the old guy I hire in for any significant digger work is on another level when it comes to grading!
They're not difficult to use after a few hours getting to grips with things but some tasks are more difficult than others.
Levelling any significant size of area and leaving a nice flat surface is probably one of the most difficult tasks. I can happily dig away all day but the old guy I hire in for any significant digger work is on another level when it comes to grading!
I've a lot of expertise in this area. If you're travelling/tracking it on the public highway, inc. pavements, verges etc, you need category H on a driving licence.
If it's doing work for someone else as a contractual arrangement - e.g. someone's paying you, you come under the Health and Safety at Work Act 74 and require suitable information instruction, training and supervision.
If it's purely domestic use, then it's down to you although the hire company as part of their terms and conditions must supply sufficient informaiton on the safe use of the machine - usually the operator's manual.
Hope that helps.
If it's doing work for someone else as a contractual arrangement - e.g. someone's paying you, you come under the Health and Safety at Work Act 74 and require suitable information instruction, training and supervision.
If it's purely domestic use, then it's down to you although the hire company as part of their terms and conditions must supply sufficient informaiton on the safe use of the machine - usually the operator's manual.
Hope that helps.
Reading some of the other comments, these machines are not toys and will and have killed their operators or those nearby. Get some training if you are unfamiliar with these or any machine types. I write safety publications for the construction sector specialising in plant and one domestic incident from memory was a nurse helping a neighbour - in Dollis Hill - with their garden by driving a small dumper. Lost control and overturned the machine. Four young girls lost their Mum.
Yep, we recently had a 9 tonne machine in doing some work with a pro operator helping me out and despite going over everything with a scanner and mapping things out as best we could still managed to dig through the phone line on 3 separate occasions!
Open reach and their engineers were great though, they shared our bafflement at the route of the cable and there was no mention of any charges at any point. I suspect other services might not be so helpful however.
Open reach and their engineers were great though, they shared our bafflement at the route of the cable and there was no mention of any charges at any point. I suspect other services might not be so helpful however.
Mammasaid said:
I tried that service and ended up with about 100 emails loads of which seemed to want payment. Should it be free for DIYers?
When we were having an extension built I borrowed the builders mini digger one evening to get a tree stump out from the bottom of the garden. Piece of piss to operate until somehow it slid down and tipped into the hole I was digging and in the process the top of the bucket arm went through the garden shed. Took all night with lights rigged up in the garden to get it back upright, and as I drove it up the garden steps it broke every one. The wife went mental the next day as it looked like someone had gone on a drunken rampage with a tank over the lawn, with hindsight I should have asked the builder to do it. Ended up digging the stump out by hand.
Dan_The_Man said:
When we were having an extension built I borrowed the builders mini digger one evening to get a tree stump out from the bottom of the garden. Piece of piss to operate until somehow it slid down and tipped into the hole I was digging and in the process the top of the bucket arm went through the garden shed. Took all night with lights rigged up in the garden to get it back upright, and as I drove it up the garden steps it broke every one. The wife went mental the next day as it looked like someone had gone on a drunken rampage with a tank over the lawn, with hindsight I should have asked the builder to do it. Ended up digging the stump out by hand.
That's the sort of mess that I would get into, my enthusiasm overwhelms any limited ability.Are you an Aries too?
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