Buying a mini-digger - DIY madness or good idea?

[Wayners]

I know someone that bought a digger to build.
Practiced and got digging.
Ended up undermining the house next door, then a call to an emergency building firm had to be brought in to prop it up. Cost £1000s and was all good in the end, although the neighbor had to stay in a hotel for a week. Lot's of concrete!
Go carefully with that digger is the moral

 

[kingandy2nd]

Found one for you:

Ha. Hard hats are for wimps

try https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/ for a start...lots of the smaller ones have closed over the covid meltdown, but there is a mine of information, networking is the key.

Thanks for that.

I know someone that bought a digger to build.
Practiced and got digging.
Ended up undermining the house next door, then a call to an emergency building firm had to be brought in to prop it up. Cost £1000s and was all good in the end, although the neighbor had to stay in a hotel for a week. Lot's of concrete!
Go carefully with that digger is the moral

Cheers, I’ve had plenty of digger practice and the only casualty so far has been my broadband cable

 

[scbk]

Since covid, the price of second hand machinery, diggers dumpers trailers vans etc has been really high, I don't know will it come down soon?
I've not looked recently, but I think £5k would be bottom of the market?
Watch out for stolen machines, and sometimes the hour counters have been tinkered with. Be wary of anything with fresh paint.

In general there's very little deprecation on machinery, better than having money in the bank imo.
I bought my kubota micro digger about 5yrs ago (the size was handy at the time), probably still worth what I paid for it

 

[lostinthelight]

I always fancied a Powerfab 125, the one with the driven wheels and its own road trailer, although they are rare and getting a bit long in the tooth now, but apparently very capable and all run from a honda breaker engine with DIY maintenance. Think Tom from the Good Life and you'll get the idea.

Brilliant and simple machine.
Ive had an ex electricity board one since the late1980's and all its cost me in all that time is oil changes, two hydraulic pipes and a pair of drive tyres. The hydraulic drive motors can be disengaged to road tow it using its fold down tow hitch and lighting board.
Personally I wouldn't hire a machine out cos thats when the repair bills can soar, but have done it with me as driver.

 

[kingandy2nd]

Since covid, the price of second hand machinery, diggers dumpers trailers vans etc has been really high, I don't know will it come down soon?
I've not looked recently, but I think £5k would be bottom of the market?
Watch out for stolen machines, and sometimes the hour counters have been tinkered with. Be wary of anything with fresh paint.

In general there's very little deprecation on machinery, better than having money in the bank imo.
I bought my kubota micro digger about 5yrs ago (the size was handy at the time), probably still worth what I paid for it

I’ve not been tracking the costs, but the don’t seem outrageous. Yes, £5k seems to get a very old machine from a known brand, or a newish machine from an unknown brand.

I can up my budget as needed, seen a couple of kubota machines that are 7-8 years old around the £8.5k mark.

 

[kingandy2nd]

 

[23vc]

Nice! Is that your trailer to move it to different jobs? Or is it staying put at yours

 

[kingandy2nd]

Nice! Is that your trailer to move it to different jobs? Or is it staying put at yours

I had to hire the trailer in the picture.

I do have a car trailer for my vehicles, but it’s not a flatbed and the tracks of the digger are too narrow to go on it.

I don’t plan to shift the digger now it’s home to be honest. However I did like the fact this flatbed was narrower than my existing trailer, but had a wider load area (as the wheels are below the bed)…so I might just look to trade in my trailer for a flatbed and then I’ve got flexibility if I need to dig something at a mates house

 

[kp00110]

World’s biggest excavator sale in Leeds this week

More than 1,000 machines will come under the hammer at Euro Auctions site

www.constructionenquirer.com

For anyone else looking

 

[alex.bennett]

Interesting thread.

Honestly your maths isn’t far off. If you’ve got that many jobs lined up, owning one can make more sense than rushing everything over a few hire weekends. You can just take your time and do it properly.

A 1.5t machine is about right for that kind of work too. Small enough for tight spaces but still capable for digging, footings, and stumps.

Main thing with used is just checking condition. Hydraulics, play in the pins, and general wear will tell you a lot. If it’s been looked after, it’ll do the job fine.

 

[Mottie]

Holy thread resurrection Batman.

 

[robinbanks]

In other news, 2 years on @kingandy2nd gow did you find the decision to purchase? Have you since sold it? How much did it cost vs hiring?

I lost a grand I think, on my JCB, over a 5 year period building my own home. It was incredibly useful and well worth it, but a bit big for some jobs. Still have the forklift I got 2 years ago and I’d say that’s been even more useful. A lot of what I used the JCB for was lifting rather than digging..
Now I’m planning a pool, I wish I’d never sold it!

 

[kingandy2nd]

“Dear ChatGPT, please write me a forum post that looks genuine but includes a link to my Australian digger sales business so I can post it up and sneak a cheeky vio of the forum advertising policy” ?


In other news, 2 years on @kingandy2nd gow did you find the decision to purchase? Have you since sold it? How much did it cost vs hiring?

I lost a grand I think, on my JCB, over a 5 year period building my own home. It was incredibly useful and well worth it, but a bit big for some jobs. Still have the forklift I got 2 years ago and I’d say that’s been even more useful. A lot of what I used the JCB for was lifting rather than digging..
Now I’m planning a pool, I wish I’d never sold it!

I am happy with the purchase - it's seen plenty of action over the past couple of years, and will have some more jobs to do with it this spring/summer.

From a convenience point of view it's been great to be able to roll it out as and when I want it, even for smaller jobs where you'd never consider hiring a digger for a couple of hours.

Obviously, I appreciate that is a luxury that most people wouldn't have given the outlay at the start, but I've probably saved at a few weeks of hire costs which adds up to a couple of £k.

My plan is to donate it at the end of the year to my mate who's been on the tools for a number of years, but his knees and back are giving out now so he's struggling a bit. Hopefully he can start a little business as a man+digger hire service and go a bit easier on himself as he gets towards retirement.

That'll mean that I do take a hit financially on the overall endeavour, but I'm in a fortunate position that I can do that... and the ability to be able to help a good friend in such a way is worth way more to me than the £££.