what is everyone doing for digging, and hauling dirt

[Signsfast]

I am starting to get some huge projects rolling in and its helping me justify a bigger dump truck and buying a machine. I currently have a f350 dump, looking at getting a single axle flatbed dump with a wood deck. I will build alum sides for it. it will be very univeral as i can use it as a dump and also transport signs around and lag the feet to the deck. looking for late 90's early 00's 33kgvw freightliners, internationals, top kicks ect... so if you see one give me a holler

now onto digging machines. I am thinking i will be getting a 5-6k LB mini excavator. I would rig up an auger on it for drilling holes for smaller footers, as well as digging all my usual square holes for signs.

So what do you guy have and what are your thoughts.

P.s thanks to Erik for making this subforum

[HansonSigns]

• Wow, you must do a lot of footings.... we have a wheelbarrow and pick up truck. We do subcontract out the occasional larger footing work, but that's usually only a couple of times a year.

[Signsfast]

We get into some decent size stuff. and i am tired of farming out the work and waiting on other people. besides its just another toy to have. It makes sense for me

[imanut]

Since that is a pad, why not j bolt rather than direct burial like that looks?

[Signsfast]

that particular job was for a foam monument, we did one big hole for the monument to sit flush on top to take a little of the load. besides we normally do direct burials unless the customer asks for anchor bolts and is willing to pay for the extra shop labor and materials. We do both though

Edited March 8, 2013 by Signsfast

[Signsfast]

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Edited March 8, 2013 by Signsfast

[ssigns]

Keith, you have come a long way since that old skyhook I sold you! Glad to hear you are growing. Have you looked into a dump trailer? This way you can send the crane and digging crew in one truck. We bought a bobcat/auger a few years ago and honeslty it was a huge waist of money. Once you hit a rock it's back to shovels. Mini excavators are really sweet but I heard the insurance is huge. I get more use out of my electric jack hammer than anything else.

[Signsfast]

hey Justin how are you man! the thing with the dump idea is that is great and all if you dont need to bring the dirt back with you. most of the time the client has no place on their property for me to dump their dirt so I need a trailer to haul the machine. i wouldnt even bother with the skidstreet, liek you said you hit one nice side rock and you are screwed. i would have the auger and a breaker mounted in a rack on the front of my trailer for the mini x. That way if the specs call for an augered hole i will be good. If/when we have augered holes engineered we also put in there that if we cant auger "so and so" size hole can be dug. i dont think the insurance on a mini x and a skidsteer is much different

[consign]

We have used a vacumm truck on several of our bases recently and it works great, only drawback is the limited capacity of the tank which sometimes requires an additional trip to the landfill when the bases get too large. We even use the vac for trenching the electrical in. It works great in Canada for cutting thru frost in the winter, cuts asphalt as well. Other advantage is when working close tolocated underground services there is less chance of damage to cables etc. The vac trucks seem to be readily available in most municipalities.

We are doing 2 - 3' diameter X 10'deep holes tomorrow using a vac and I will have the crew take some photos that I will post. The largest excavation we have done to date with a vac is 2 - 4' diameter by 15' deep holes, as luck would have it the dealer we were working at had lots of space to get rid of the waste.

Hope this was helpful.

Larry

[Chris@pirossigns.com]

We have been digging our own holes the last 5 years. Made much more sense with the amount of bases we were doing. We got tired of working around someone else's schedule and one less bill to pay out to someone else. Not to mention, more cool toys for us! We just purchased a tandem dump truck to go along with it. We bought a 14,000 lb mini and we can drill 4' diameter holes. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way now. We started out using our Skid loader and then realized the mini was the way to go. The hydro vac is great for properties with a lot of utilities. Saves a lot of time and money on fixes!

[Signsfast]

We have used a vacumm truck on several of our bases recently and it works great, only drawback is the limited capacity of the tank which sometimes requires an additional trip to the landfill when the bases get too large. We even use the vac for trenching the electrical in. It works great in Canada for cutting thru frost in the winter, cuts asphalt as well. Other advantage is when working close tolocated underground services there is less chance of damage to cables etc. The vac trucks seem to be readily available in most municipalities.

We are doing 2 - 3' diameter X 10'deep holes tomorrow using a vac and I will have the crew take some photos that I will post. The largest excavation we have done to date with a vac is 2 - 4' diameter by 15' deep holes, as luck would have it the dealer we were working at had lots of space to get rid of the waste.

Hope this was helpful.

Larry

not something i would consider, but please post some pictures, I have never seen it done in person or up close

[Signsfast]

We have been digging our own holes the last 5 years. Made much more sense with the amount of bases we were doing. We got tired of working around someone else's schedule and one less bill to pay out to someone else. Not to mention, more cool toys for us! We just purchased a tandem dump truck to go along with it. We bought a 14,000 lb mini and we can drill 4' diameter holes. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way now. We started out using our Skid loader and then realized the mini was the way to go. The hydro vac is great for properties with a lot of utilities. Saves a lot of time and money on fixes!

nice thats quite a big "mini"! what kind of dump do you have? do you auger most of your holes? we do mostly square/rectangle holes unless the job is speced otherwise

[housersigns]

Nice 8% royalty... if you werent paying that, you could afford any kind of equipment you would need. Franchises are a waste.

[Chris@pirossigns.com]

We have been digging our own holes the last 5 years. Made much more sense with the amount of bases we were doing. We got tired of working around someone else's schedule and one less bill to pay out to someone else. Not to mention, more cool toys for us! We just purchased a tandem dump truck to go along with it. We bought a 14,000 lb mini and we can drill 4' diameter holes. I couldn't imagine doing it any other way now. We started out using our Skid loader and then realized the mini was the way to go. The hydro vac is great for properties with a lot of utilities. Saves a lot of time and money on fixes!

nice thats quite a big "mini"! what kind of dump do you have? do you auger most of your holes? we do mostly square/rectangle holes unless the job is speced otherwise

We try to auger as much as we can. The spread take up a little too much time, but it really depends on whats called out. We just bought a Ford Louisville. Got a good deal on it. We were using our F550 dump, but we were tearing it up, so we decided to go bigger. Good luck!

[Signsfast]

Nice 8% royalty... if you werent paying that, you could afford any kind of equipment you would need. Franchises are a waste.

I can afford anything I want, thanks for your valuable opinion though!

Edited March 13, 2013 by Signsfast

[ssigns]

The only way to settle that debate is to swap tax returns. This topic wasn't about how to afford- it was about what to buy. I don't know of many fast signs that have the equipment you have- you should be proud of what you built your business up to!

[Signsfast]

# 15 fastsigns in the network. Not bad for 2 guys in their 20's

[teksign]

We mostly vac trucks, a little more money, but nice clean job.

This morning I was arranging for (3) holes 36" dia by 11'-6" deep. The capacity of these trucks are 12 imperial yards but combined with the water they use and the fill.

Dumping fees on these are $110 with their hourly rate $265/hr.

We actually just finished a base 7' x 8' x 5'-6" in the middle of winter. We actually uncovered conduit that wasn't picked up by the utilities locates.

dave

[alltex]

I have never seen a "vac" truck. I think I understand the concept. Don't know if they would work down here, with all the rock we have.

[Signsfast]

Upped our game a little bit last weekend

[Piros 1]

I think Chris answered your questions except if you need details on the equipment, the dump has a 16' box that we plan to adapt the gate to a swing gate (makes it easier to load). The excavator is a John Deere 60D long arm. Good luck with your purchase an as Chris said looking back we have no regrets going this way. Our first attempt was with a JD-CT332 tracked skid steer but it made more mess and was limited to augured footings and 10' depth. Since we switched to the excavator we have very little site clean up. Out of the ground and straight into the truck. Also with the larger truck we able to haul most jobs off in one trip and bring the equipment back without over loading the truck. I hope we have helped with your planning.

[PAsignco]

we have a bobcat skid steer with a 36" auger and a 14' 14k dump trailer. We also have hired a company that has a auger rig that can do a 42" hole up to 20' deep.

Find the company that does intersection lights or a electrical contractor that does a bunch of parking lot lights. Most will have the ability to auger sign footers as well.

Edited December 23, 2013 by PAsignco