Bulk Excavations - DIY?

[BadgerBadger]

We have a gently sloping site and are ridge height constrained, so we are having to reduce the ground level to give our build an L-shape with a slightly sunken patio to the rear.  We need to remove approx. 375m3 of in-ground soil.  It's ~25m x 20m area and average depth is around 0.75m.   It's a bit deeper at the back but can slope back up to natural ground level, so hopefully nothing too tricky.

 

I'm working the finances at the moment and am using Estimators Online to try get a good baseline.  For the excavation and removal of this soil, they've estimated ~£10k for the 50 muckaway lorries, and then about £25k for the labour and plant hire for excavation and lorry loading.  Muckaway is as expected, and not much we can do to reduce that, but the labour/plant seems very steep?

 

Is it practical to consider the bulk excavation as a DIY job, or is the volume going to be just too much and take too long to do on a fairly standard hired excavator/dumper?

[ProDave]

Many of us on here have bought our own second hand diggers, done such work, and then sold them on at the end, and you won't lose much doing that.  I did my own foundations as well.

 

Your job will be to dig it to the levels you want and pile it up somewhere the grab of the muckaway lorries can reach.

 

Mine was very much at the budget end of DIY diggers but it did all I wanted.  Others have bought something more recent and not regretted it.

 

[Ronan 1]

25k for a machine and labour to dig only 375m3 is ludacrious, Its at tops a few days work and definitely not a full week for a labourer and machine and driver I'd expect closer to 3k. I assume you will already have a groundworks on site anyway to do foundations.

Can't comment on price for lorries as no idea of location, material or closest tip.

Plus I'd say if your using standard 8 wheelers and not loading it straight from the excavation your probably looking at closer to 55 to 60 lorries.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Ronan 1

[LSB]

We are doing 240m2 x 30-40cm deep of old concrete ourselves, so not quite as much as you.

We bought an old digger, just delivered this week which we intend to sell at the end of the build, so we expect this to cost very little.

Of course we do need to find the time.

 

We are also at the top of a slope and ridge constrained, but ours isn't a new build it's a barn conversion.

The reason we are going down is because the floor is currently 4 different levels and the rear of the barn is only 1.88m currently.

 

We looked at getting it done, but didn't even get as far as receiving any quotes, the groundworkers who came just gave the sharp intake of breath and said, "that's a big job", then left.

 

[PeterW]

375 cubic metres is about 550 tonnes so 17 tonne lorries at £200 a lorry would be 45 bulked up. That’s your £10k or so. JCB and driver for a week is £1200 round here, can load a wagon every 30 mins so 12/day from day 2 onward. Even if you got a 13 tonner to do the excavation as it’s hard ground, that would be £1700 with driver and delivery. 
 

All done in a week max, change of £13k. 

[nod]

Your labour estimate is ridiculous 

I’m not a big fan of these online estimates Get a real person to come and estimate for you 

[Thorfun]

3 hours ago, PeterW said:

at £200 a lorry

that'd be nice. down here in West Sussex I'm being quoted £270+VAT ?

 

mind you that's for one lorry. I guess if I said I had 50 loads the price might reduce a bit. but I wouldn't have thought it would go down to £200.

Edited March 27, 2021 by Thorfun

[James94]

Might be worth looking for a local farmer who can take it off you, saved us a few quid.

Regards  James

[Conor]

Your estimates are way off. A good ground worker in a 15t machine and a stream of tippers will have that done in a few days. Also try and keep as much as possible on site for future backfilling and landscaping. It's absolutely critical to do your homework and find a home for your excavation risings. We got a place that charged £120 to collect a 16t load, and £50 charge for our lorry to dump. All in, moving 750t of soil cost just under £10k. If we'd gone for the first place that was over £200 a load, that £10k would have been over £16k.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Conor

[dpmiller]

Who was that @Conor?

[Conor]

@dpmiller a place at Temple that my ground worker found. 

[dpmiller]

gotcha. Locally, Jim Lynas is pretty fair too.

[BadgerBadger]

Thanks all!  That's really useful, and all much more in line with expected!  Looking at my online estimate it basically works out a rate per m3, which might give a better estimate for small volumes, but clearly falls over at larger volumes!

[PeterW]

1 minute ago, BadgerBadger said:

Thanks all!  That's really useful, and all much more in line with expected!  Looking at my online estimate it basically works out a rate per m3, which might give a better estimate for small volumes, but clearly falls over at larger volumes!

They will not be using SPON major works which is probably more comparable. It will be priced off the small works pricing.