Making a living with with your machine?

[4570Man]

Why do you prefer an excavator for putting in a septic system over a construction backhoe? Digging is the easy part. Moving all the material is way more work.

 

[edgarrian]

If the septic system required pipe with stone. Id park the dump truck at the end of the trench. I dig out section of the trench, place pipe then dip the stone out of the bed of the truck. I know a lot of guys don't like doing that but i found it to be much easier. I never messed up the dump bed of the truck. You just gotta be careful. It kept the customers yard cleaner as far as not having stone in part of their yard. I find it easier to dig out ur septic tank hole with an excavator. I basically grew up on an excavator so it just came natural to me. I know when my dad would put yards for a new construction home. Sometimes those guys would get septic stone all over the place. Who ever installed the septic system they would generally drop all their stone one spot. Then bucket to the trench. Stone would be everywhere. When I installed a stone system I would never leave a site with that much stone every where. Typically in Indiana you would use the chamber system which is easier. Generally you have to install a perimeter tile which I would think if you used a BH with for that. It would be very time consuming. When I had to install a perimeter tile. Id use my dads tractor. I would dig out a place on the property about a foot deep then dump my stone there. The stone pile would stay in my little hole i dug out. Once I used the up the material for the perimeter tile. I would just cover the remaining stone which wasn't much with the dirt I excavated for the pile. I never over loaded my bucket so that it was spilling out. People always noticed how clean my site was.

Why do you prefer an excavator for putting in a septic system over a construction backhoe? Digging is the easy part. Moving all the material is way more work.

 

[4570Man]

Dipping the stone out requires owning your own truck and keeping the truck tied up the whole time vs hauling another load. I can dump the gravel in the gravel driveway and move it with the loader. There’s no down time waiting on a truck and no need own a truck and still no mess. A construction backhoe is a completely adequate tool for digging a septic tank hole. A construction backhoe is a completely different class machine than a tractor backhoe. There’s no shortage of people claiming a mini excavator out digs a backhoe. If the competition was fair they would. The excavator to actually do that is a rare breed. In my area you hardly ever see a mini excavator bigger than a 50 series mini. The 50 series is seriously lacking the brute force of a 310 full size hoe. If you want to buy a used mini bigger than a 50 it’s going to cost a lot more because there aren’t many out there. The smallest full size excavators require much bigger trucks to move.

 

[edgarrian]

Ur right in that it would take time to use only one truck with my method but I had the time to do it that way. Its not as if I had 20 jobs lined up to do. It was a side gig for me. I typically had 4 to 5 jobs at any given time. When I worked for a family owned excavating company. Thats how we did it with them as well. WE used two dump trucks. Once one was empty then a guy left to get a load. We would never dump the septic stone in the driveway as it was a much different stone. Basically in indiana its common to use limestone for the driveway and basically river stone for septic. So you wouldn't mix the two otherwise you would piss off the home owner.

Ill always disagree that a backhoe out digs a track hoe any day. I understand that they are more versatile and you can do many tasks. But with an excavator if you are talented you can do just as much. I could load logs in a dump truck without a thumb on the bucket. Backhoes are certainly capable and as you stated most likely cheaper. As a experienced operator id much prefer a trackhoe as many experienced would side with me.

You gotta do what your finances allow you to do. When i purchased my excavator slightly used it was a hair under 30k. That same machine now is 70k. Crazy how much stuff has gone up. Its kind of scary if you are looking to be a small excavating company such i was. I had a trailer, dump truck, excavator. I would rent a equipment off an on. Actually thats how many big companies are starting to navigate there excavating needs. They are renting the big equipment.

Anyway I get that the backhoe for you is most likely the better option. Do it, to it.

Dipping the stone out requires owning your own truck and keeping the truck tied up the whole time vs hauling another load. I can dump the gravel in the gravel driveway and move it with the loader. There痴 no down time waiting on a truck and no need own a truck and still no mess. A construction backhoe is a completely adequate tool for digging a septic tank hole. A construction backhoe is a completely different class machine than a tractor backhoe. There痴 no shortage of people claiming a mini excavator out digs a backhoe. If the competition was fair they would. The excavator to actually do that is a rare breed. In my area you hardly ever see a mini excavator bigger than a 50 series mini. The 50 series is seriously lacking the brute force of a 310 full size hoe. If you want to buy a used mini bigger than a 50 it痴 going to cost a lot more because there aren稚 many out there. The smallest full size excavators require much bigger trucks to move.

 

[4570Man]

Here we use limestone for everything. Limestone is $8-10 a ton before delivery. The river rock is like $70 a ton. An equal weight excavator will no doubt out dig a backhoe but you need a second machine to equal the backhoe. The second machine brings its own problems. Primarily cost and getting it to the job. And the digging is the easiest part of a septic install. Putting in gravel and dealing with dirt that doesn’t fit back and spreading everything back around takes way longer. I hate how slow tracks move and how bad they rip stuff up. I’d be more inclined to buy an excavator with wheels. But again very rare on the used market. Mini excavators are over rated in efficiency IMO. Spend way longer getting to the site, dig maybe 20 percent faster and then spend way longer doing what the front loader is better suited for. A lot of the hate for backhoes is caused by tractor backhoes. The efficiency of a swivel seat construction backhoe is a much closer contest. My buddy has a 50 series mini excavator which is the biggest mini in common use. I’m aware there’s a few bigger but they’re rare. There’s only a few jobs he can do faster than the 310. Digging ditches with a 36” bucket isn’t one of them. Digging ditches with any bucket and covering them back up with unlimited room isn’t one of them.

 

[4570Man]

Backhoe vs Excavator - YouTube

 

[flashpuppy]

The big sticking point is your definition of a living. I am fairly certain that I could not duplicate my salary with a tractor or skid steer and dump truck.

 

[edgarrian]

Backhoe vs Excavator - YouTube

We used a backhoe for about 3 days on a job spreading top dirt at warehouse that was getting its final touches done on dirt work. We at first used a back hoe to load the dirt into a dump truck. It was slow as molasses. My supervisor got a excavator 4 days after and it was much quicker. There is a reason why you don't see back hoes being used very often at a big construction site. The back hoe just didnt have enough *** (weight) to break up the dirt that had been sitting there for year. It was also compacted b/c they used scrapers to build long top dirt pile. It was much easier with the excavator. This little example was surely to be won by a backhoe.

 

[4570Man]

I doubt you brought in a mini to replace the backhoe and probably got a full size excavator. And working for 3 or more days is a much bigger project than putting in a septic or similar task. A mini simply can’t do the work of a backhoe and needs a skid steer to help. Aside from spending considerably more money up front how long would it take to justify the extra time spent hauling 2 trips going and coming vs just working slightly less efficient?

 

[edgarrian]

I doubt you brought in a mini to replace the backhoe and probably got a full size excavator. And working for 3 or more days is a much bigger project than putting in a septic or similar task. A mini simply can稚 do the work of a backhoe and needs a skid steer to help. Aside from spending considerably more money up front how long would it take to justify the extra time spent hauling 2 trips going and coming vs just working slightly less efficient?

Everyone has their own preference. For me it was an excavator. For you its a backhoe. Job tasks is another consideration. I dug a lot of basements and i would say with doing a job like that you would want a track hoe. Basically I did a lot of foundation digging, tree removal, fence removal, field tile, backfilling, septic installation, tearing down old silos or barns and boring them. For me it made more practical sense to have an excavator for those tasks. I don't know what you are wanting to do other than install septics. Some of the tasks I have mentioned I don't think is well suited for a backhoe.