[Daleswoman]

We are thinking of hiring a mini digger to dig a drainage trench and soakaway. How difficult is it to operate one? Is it feasible to do this ourselves, rather than pay a contractor to do it? Any tips gratefully received!

[Womble]

It's certainly feasible. Whether it's advisable or not is another matter! 

We have previously hired diggers both with and without drivers, and I'd say the rate of progress was maybe three times faster with a professional driver than with us doing it ourselves, particularly with fiddly things like picking up and moving rocks. Also, if it's an owner-driver who comes, they retain responsibility for breakdowns etc.

So, in future, we'll hire one with a driver - it was just so much faster and hence more cost effective. Also, though it's great fun initially, the novelty of digger driving wears off much quicker than you think it will 

HTH!

[Bionic]

I echo everything that Womble has said. We had someone show us how to use the digger but it took us much longer than it did him to do the same amount.

If you want a bit of fun (big boys toys) then do it yourself but if you want a quicker and possibly better job get someone who knows what they are doing to use the digger for you.

[shep53]

ECHO everything said , if good ground and simple digging you can do it but it certainly takes longer  ,  if bad ground and you get stuck then you need experience to get yourself out , and depending on how hired you may as said have to pay for repairs ( hydraulic pipes tend to rupture )

[pharnorth]

Unless you have a 21 year old son. We hired one for the weekend last year he loved it. We loved that he loved it. I agree with what the others said it would have bored the pants of me in 10 minutes but for him it was like the computer game became real. They can really handle the joy sticks these kids.  Doing pirouettes he was.  Him and his digger became as one.

[Sbom]

It's pretty easy, my eight year old mastered it in minutes and will happily dig trenches for water pipes all day!

I nearly tipped ours over whilst doing some gardening  though  , they can be top heavy depending on the size of them and sloping ground is challenging....

Oh and make sure you know where any existing underground pipes/drains are ( hubby found a water pipe  )

[Daleswoman]

Thank you for the replies!

I have the feeling with this one that it might be better to let the experts do it for us rather than risk damaging the digger or injuring ourselves. There is also the question of how to move the soil we dig out to where we want it to go.  We've got a few more weeks or months to think about it anyway as it's far too wet to take anything on there at the moment.

If we do go ahead and do it ourselves I will report back ...

[lars64]

You've got good advice so far. I've done a lot of work on an excavator and own one. Using it is not rocket science. I think it took me a less than a day to get cocky and think I knew how to use a machine and probably a month or more to know how to use it SAFELY under all circumstances.

As someone who's worked machines on my own land, roadways and building sites, I am amazed that hire companies will still hire a machine to someone with absolutely no training. You wouldn't be let near a building site without the right qualifications, etc. A relative of mine had a trip via air ambulance for emergency treatment after hiring a machine and getting crushed when he tipped it over. I asked him why on earth he hadn't asked me to do the work (I'd have done it for transport & fuel costs). He said that he'd seen me operate a machine, "how difficult could it be?". Anyway, thanks to the NHS and 12 weeks recuperation he was fine.

Minis are IMO just as dangerous than the larger machines, they are easier to tip over and the boom of a 1.5tonne mini will kill you just as stone dead as a big machine if you get in the way.

If I ruled the world, there would be MINIMUM 1 day training + exam pass on safety awareness & safe digging practice before you could hire a machine.

[Daleswoman]

Lars that sounds like good advice to me. Thanks.

[bazzais]

If your digging near a building - start practising at the other end of the trench

Its so easy to knock something down with a digger of any size.

You'll be doing the peter crouch robot dance for a while until you get to know the controls.

If its a one off - just get a contractor to do it - they may let you have a sneaky go for the laughs.

Our local kids attraction 'folly farm' has units that dont travel but have the digger attachments for the kids to play on digging sand and stone from one place to another

Ta

Barry

[sss]

I looked at renting in to do my ditches.

It worked out a lot cheaper getting a man in. He turned up in bigger than i would have rented but it only took him a couple of hours. It would have taken me at least a long weekend.

[Slimjim]

You will get a neater and better job done by a contractor. Where you can have some fun though is by hiring and driving a small tipper truck to move the spoil from the trench. It's still not without risk, but is easier to operate safely and almost as satisfying when you think how long it would take with a wheelbarrow.

[DaveJ-L]

We purchased a 1.5 tonne one at the end of last year as we are doing a self-build - for the amount digging / clearing of site has allowed me to work on whilst the planning and build warrant are being progressed.

Whilst it took a while (several hours/days) to get the hang of it especially picking up stones I'm reasonably competent/safe now - although continue to learn. My teenage son (19) was quicker to start with the controls but it is definately down to practice.

Saying that I've got to bigger stones so I will probably hire a man with a bigger (13T) digger that could be done in 1/2 a day that will take me several!

[Simon O]

The small diggers may not be powerful enough for the job - guys doing some work at our place hired a small digger for a day but the heavy clay soil was too much for the digger so they just did it by hand