Sweet spot when buying a digger

[Post and beam]

Of course i have read the checklist, and would certainly read it many more times if i ever pull the trigger and buy a used digger, current experience level is zero.

 

I imagine that there is a sweet spot of cash against age/hours.

 

Use would largely be for moving soil around to sculpt the land around the house, provide a driveway etc. Perhaps foundations of a double garage that we have permisssion for. perhaps about the 2 tonne size. I have read that th slightly larger machines are actually easier to use. My intention would be to use it for a year or two and then move it on as a going concern for the next user.

 

Anyone got a realistic idea of where this lies please.

[ProDave]

For moving soil I would be looking for a JCB 3CX etc not tracked digger.  You can pick up a front bucket of soil drive to where you want it and tip it.

 

A 360 excavator is pretty poor at moving soil, that would be a bucket load at a time, or using the dozer blade to push it around.

 

Unless you want to buy a dumper as well?

[Roger440]

Theres not much of a sweet spot. Anything thats ex company or ex hire are a lot of money.

 

Anything older seems to disappear abroad.

 

Older stuff here, is hard to find. They do come up, but you need to be on the look out all the time. Plus of course the market is rife with scammers.

 

Also, if going for older, factor in it probably will break down. If you are hands on and practical, mostly not the end of the world, but if you need to pay every time, the cost and delays will quickly render it a false economy.

 

Im on my second Kubota KX61 (which was £5k, Mostly because its got no cab or roll over hoop). Which as it happens, broke down mid job yesterday. Got it fixed this morning but lost 6 hours productive time with the rain closing in.

 

It also broke down a couple of weeks ago, and desperatley needs new tracks (steel). Im nursing it as tracks are mad money.

 

And one of the rams is pissing out oil

 

But it was cheap, so no real surprise.

Edited 16 hours ago by Roger440

[nod]

Your better off hiring 

2 tone is small for moving soil around 

[Alan Ambrose]

There’s also quite a lot of skill required to use one well. Another vote for hire and see how you get on. Unlike a lot of hire rates, the rates for excavators seem pretty reasonable to me.

[Kelvin]

It depends on how much you have to do and how organised you are. With hiring you need to plan your time well to make the best use of it. I’ve hired a 2.5 tonne digger and small dumper truck when moving a lot of soil/gravel etc and will do that again in September to finish off the drive. For the landscaping I just got a guy in with a very large digger. Took him two days to do all the terracing, ground shaping and levelling plus he moved a load of dry stone walling stones around for me into a pile. Didn’t cost very much, he did a better a job than I would have done and it was done quickly. 
 

My cousin swears by having a digger but it always seems to be broken. He’s very handy so fixes it himself but he spends as much time fixing it than digging. I think he likes fixing it. 

[dpmiller]

Digger and dumper combo for me- 3CXs are great but not so much if the ground is soft or you need into a tight corner

[Dave Jones]

get a 5 tonner. more bank for your buck than a little stealable one. Can lift a ton bag. Has reach to load a 8 wheeler for muck away. Many many times quicker than a 3 tonner.

[ProDave]

Moving soil with the dozer blade

 

 

When I was doing my groundwork I wanted to clear all the topsoil and pile it up at the edge of the site.  I did not find a cheap enough dumper close enough so was doing it all with my 3t digger.

 

So I used the dozer blade.  Piled up a load of soil in front and pushed it.  After a few runs, what spilled out from the sides formed a trench and thereafter not much escaped.

 

Once pushed to the edge, used the digger bucket again to pile it up into one big pile.  So it can be done.

 

Beware once you get up to about 6 ton not all diggers have a dozer blade.

[saveasteading]

My admirable small grounworker contractors over the years are my guide. They tended to have a middle aged tracked kubota or similar.

They break down or lose tracks regularly, and often the repair cost is unviable... then they get abandoned until given away.

Owning one has the advantage of instant availability, and saving time, hire cost and transport.

Owning on one's own plot removes the HSE overview on commercial sites, and transport. 

 

BUT. Breakdowns as above.

It very often isn't the right machine...too small, needs tracks, not performing.

 

I suggest a long chat with the managers at local hire companies.

The smaller ones especially.

They might have a machine nearing selling on stage which could sit with you instead  of in their yard. Pay by the clock plus a monthly. They maintain.

You also agree a discount on other hire equipment but promise (and keep to it) not to hire from elsewhere.

OR they sell you it but provide some guarantee, at least on major issues.

They might say no but have another suggestion.

They will probably like you, the project, the enthusiasm, and the 2 years of hire coming. I'd enjoy sitting with you in that chat.

£5k mentioned above, plus maintenance? How far will that go in hire cost?

[Post and beam]

Thanks for all the great advice guys.  As to the sweet spot, if i were to go for a 2 tonne Kubota of some description then i am thinking of about £12-14k.

The idea( hope) being that the hours would be low enough that big expensive repairs would be unlikely and re sale would off set the higher purchase price. Thats what i mean by sweet spot.

Organized is not how i imagine this to go, hence the longer ownership period rather than a well planned shorter hire. 

[Thorfun]

20 minutes ago, Post and beam said:

Thanks for all the great advice guys.  As to the sweet spot, if i were to go for a 2 tonne Kubota of some description then i am thinking of about £12-14k.

The idea( hope) being that the hours would be low enough that big expensive repairs would be unlikely and re sale would off set the higher purchase price. Thats what i mean by sweet spot.

Organized is not how i imagine this to go, hence the longer ownership period rather than a well planned shorter hire. 

i previously bought a 2.6T Kubota used it for a while to dig a driveway and some trenches and move blocks/tonne bags etc around site. i sold half of it to a friend and then eventually sold him all of it for pretty much what i paid for it.

 

now the house is nearly complete i do need a smaller digger to help with landscaping and moving heavy things around (i'm a wimp) and so i'm looking at a 1.7T machine for around £10k inc VAT. i figure that will see me for the next 5 - 10 years and with the amount of use it will get probably won't devalue too much.

 

in the last couple of months i've hired 2 x diggers (one 2.5T and one 1.5T) and have spent over £600 for 2 x full week hire (i didn't need it for a full week but a day's hire is stupidly expensive). i had to plan when i wanted to do the work and wait for it to be delivered etc. i feel like i've thrown that money away and i could've put it towards the purchase of a digger.

 

having a machine on site means i can pop out whenever i feel the need to do some work.

 

for me that's priceless as i'm a lazy ******* and am not organised at all! 🤣

[Ben1984]

I paid £10k + VAT for a Kubota U-17 (around 2000 hours) for my build, it's brilliant. If you can afford the inital outlay I think buying will work out cheaper than hiring in the long run and the benefit of having the machine on site 24/7 is huge. So many small jobs that are 10 times easier with a machine here, but you couldn't justify hiring one in for.