Vijay

I've tried but he wouldn't budge much They're £800 a side for tracks for the 5t machine, it's making me think a 3t might be the way to go as the tracks are half the price

lol Chinglish - perfect word to describe a reply!!!

Bit naughty for Ebay to allow overseas sellers to advertise as UK location then But at least they tend to have good customer services when it comes to problems with sellers.

That sounds totally crazy that the Police couldn't see it for what was a decided to prosecute and dispose her savings

I did notice that and have already emailed the seller to ask. I suspect you're totally right though

I'm about to order one of the laser levels I posted a link to, anyone know a reason why I shouldn't??

Cheers Declan. Feeling a little more optimistic about getting the beams in place now, use a digger to lift them onto floor height and then slide/walk/pallet truck/trolley jack/brute force There will be a mix of clay/earth around the plot but there will be some sort of hardcore working surface at the front of the plot, so as you said, they will wear down quicker on that. Any idea what sort of life span tracks would have on mixed ground? Or even just on hardcore (so I can look at worst scenario)?

I'd be happy with even setting them on the wall and getting mates to help me for the day in moving them into place. Plus I've got a pallet lifter Roger440 generously let me have which I'm sure will help (or even trolley jacks on wood running boards) Lifting with forks is off the cards, last thing I need is any stupid accidents What's the score with tracks and how long they typically last? How long would tracks with 40-50% left last? A quick check at replacements and they are £800 a side Are they DIY fitting or specialist?

Access all around is no problem as I have a 3.5m no build zone at the sides of the house. But can a digger lift a 5m beam when the digger is straight with the arm at 90 degrees (so the arm is reaching into the house from the side but the digger itself is facing forward). Looking at the specs of the 5t digger, full reach is 6m

Good point Peter, after reading your thoughts, I can imagine it would be very jerky trying to unload a pallet. (Best leave that to delivery guys then). A big job I will need doing is lifting the beams for the B&B ground floor into place and am hoping a digger would be fine with that? (especially one around 5t)

That could be why then lol I haven't ventured to Hartwell yet

My mate also showed me that you can get pallet forks for them which would also be extremely handy on site to unload (Dave reminded me of that in his post)

Terry, I took a detour through Ashton today, I looked out for a self build but couldn't see any going on

Anyone know if these are any good? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROTARY-RED-LASER-LEVEL-TRIPOD-STAFF-5-DEGREE-RANGE-ALIGNMENT-SELF-LEVELING-/231715205939?hash=item35f34d7333:g:KEgAAOSwI-BWF1wa

Evening Dave, I understand things can be done with a smaller machine but I'm trying to think of the bigger picture oh how a bigger digger would make digging easier and quicker and also as your guys have pointed out, the other uses for the digger

Access is no issue and the plot is 1/2 acre. Got to dig down 1.5m in places and then level out the plot and dig down for the drive, so there's plenty to do.

Hi, Any tips on what to look for when buying one? I'm looking for one for setting out work and if I end up doing groundworks myself. There's so many on Ebay/Amazon starting from £100 + but any features I should definitely be including when buying? Just watched a couple of YouTube videos and a laser receiver seems a good idea and a must if working on my own Thanks Vijay

What do you think is the better buy for the same money, a new smaller machine of around 2.5 or 3 tonne or an older one of around 5 tonne? I've asked a couple of friends and they both said an older larger machine to make work easier.

http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specification?type=con&category=Midi+Excavator&make=Hitachi&model=EX60-5&modelid=104294

Thanks Peter

Any thoughts on Daewoo and Takeuchi diggers? There is a 5.2 tonne Daewoo and a 4.75 tonne Takeuchi digger that have popped up. More money than I want to spend but I'm thinking long term and other uses (like lifting in the ground floor beams)

Good idea, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btssm.doihaveotg

Not sure of the capacity, but the only smaller diggers they had were 2007/2008 Cat 301.6's, the cheapest was £5250 but had an accelerator problem. Five of them went for £6000 and one went for £6700. All those prices are + 3% + VAT each

Took a trip with a mate to this auction today and glad I did. I didn't go with the intention of buying, it was more to look as digger sizes and what sort of money they go at auction. It was mainly CAT diggers and the sizes I looked at were the 2.8, 3.5 and 5 tonne machines. Including fees and VAT, the 2.8's were around £10,500, the 3.5's were around £13,000 and the 5's were around £14,800. Most seemed to come with 1 or two buckets and from what I've been looking at online, these didn't seem to be anything special in terms of what you get or price. So the search continues

looks very handy, one of those things you're glad to have on a shelf when needed! Just looking on Ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5m-6LED-Android-Endoscope-Waterproof-Inspection-Camera-Micro-USB-Video-Camera-DY-/262372344256?var=&hash=item3d169c41c0:m:mJJDt_M-100B3Vuz-HyHAiQ and these have the control box away from the connector, so might sort the coming out of the socket issue