DieselBound
Elite Member
I'd just get a bid based on job, that way if someone has to deal with some "interesting stuff" it's on them to figure it out (and do it).
A problem with just "making the hole bigger" is that you're loosening up supporting soil. You really have to get that soil repacked well, and a larger hole means a lot more packing. When I put in my fencing I used a skidsteer with a 12" auger. I hit one immovable object (some cedar down around 3' or so- auger wouldn't penetrate it- was just as good as a big rock). Hit one tree root and ended up cutting that out of the way with my 20v sawzall! But, when I went to dig the holes for my front drive's gate posts I ran into some nasty fill and I had that auger walking all over the place as it hit some big rocks (I was working the angle really hard to minimize the drifting, but no matter, you're going to walk if you hit an immovable object); I had a LOT of packing to do in order to shore up those holes (one not too bad, but the other was about a 2' dia hole (for 8" posts!)- I packed all my posts using a tamper, hard freak'n work but they set up like they were in concrete.
A problem with just "making the hole bigger" is that you're loosening up supporting soil. You really have to get that soil repacked well, and a larger hole means a lot more packing. When I put in my fencing I used a skidsteer with a 12" auger. I hit one immovable object (some cedar down around 3' or so- auger wouldn't penetrate it- was just as good as a big rock). Hit one tree root and ended up cutting that out of the way with my 20v sawzall! But, when I went to dig the holes for my front drive's gate posts I ran into some nasty fill and I had that auger walking all over the place as it hit some big rocks (I was working the angle really hard to minimize the drifting, but no matter, you're going to walk if you hit an immovable object); I had a LOT of packing to do in order to shore up those holes (one not too bad, but the other was about a 2' dia hole (for 8" posts!)- I packed all my posts using a tamper, hard freak'n work but they set up like they were in concrete.