mini digger - is it worth it and what to look out for...

[JFDIY]

@Omnibuswoman

There's a Lewis badger to consider, this is a small wheeled loader a bit like @joe90 has. Just seen one pop up on eBay, if the listing is legit and it's not knackered, might be worth considering.

[joe90]

16 minutes ago, JFDIY said:

Lewis badger

I thought you were making that up, but, yes, sweet little thing.

[dnb]

I bought a 2.5 tonne digger for our build and so far haven't regretted it. I was initially very rusty - I had not driven anything like it for close to 25 years - but it all comes back quickly enough. Various people I have roped in to help over the build have also used it to good effect, saving me a lot of hire charges and it's done a few jobs on other sites too.  So far I estimate I would have spent at least £3k on hire and deliveries etc and would have used weeks of my holiday from work because it wouldn't be cost effective to only have said digger for say a month of weekends. I fully expect you'll get the hang of driving a digger within a couple of hours, so no problem there. But the work you list doesn't look that extensive really so there probably isn't much of a saving to be had - the people getting rid of the soil may well take the tree stumps out for you for very little additional cost because they're already there.  The rest of the work on your published list is probably not much more than a weekend hire.

 

You will find more work as you progress of course - are there digging requirements in foundations for instance?  My digger made all the difference on many occasions, e.g. when we put in the ground floor concrete beams, and because it is always available I haven't needed to take soil from excavations away only to buy back more when landscaping in the dim and distant future. Mine isn't going to get much use for the next couple of months though - diggers are not known for making roofing or cladding easier!

[Omnibuswoman]

4 hours ago, JFDIY said:

@Omnibuswoman

There's a Lewis badger to consider, this is a small wheeled loader a bit like @joe90 has. Just seen one pop up on eBay, if the listing is legit and it's not knackered, might be worth considering.

 

thanks @JFDIY I'll have a look at that now!