people with micro excavators

so this is a question for people who own like the u17 Kubota cat 302 etc I just want to know what is the biggest job yall have done with them

Carolina start up said:

so this is a question for people who own like the u17 Kubota cat 302 etc I just want to know what is the biggest job yall have done with them

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I don't own one. Biggest I've seen done with one is planting a shrubbery, "something nice, not too expensive."

Your question might be better answered if asked in the Mini excavator thread as the machines you mentioned are at the bottom of that class.
I think micro class would normally chat in there as well.
If you are more specific with your question will normally provoke more responses.
Regards.

I had a bobcat E20 for 3 years. Good little machine.

Biggest job we ever did with it was a pool dig, bout 100 yards. 1 tiny scoop at a time.

Main use we had for it was trenching. Did miles and miles and miles of trenching with it.

In the late eighties I was working a job, a huge Victorian house. They added a garage. The underground line to it was 150 feet, 46" deep.
The painter talked the older lady into hiring him to dig the ditch, said he owned a JD 450 crawler with backhoe. We agreed on a time he would dig, a Saturday. I arrived early morning. No sign of him, but a John Deere 20 was sitting there. All attempts to reach him failed. His wife said he went hunting. I knew the owner of the rented excavator, called him to ask permission to use his machine. He said that'd be fine.
I dug the ditch, it was after sundown when I was finished. I used a farm tractor with bucket & back blade to place sand & backfill. It took all weekend & into the next work week.

Friday we finished a 70' ditch underground service. The excavator (a friend of the owner) is starting out in a small scale excavating business. He had a 3 ton Bobcat & a borrowed compact utility tractor with bucket.

He started digging Monday, finished the 46" deep ditch Tuesday. The meter end of the ditch was open, he had sewer & water lines to do. It wasn't ready for us until Friday.

Little excavators can do a lot, but it'll be slow!

Digging to install or fix weeping tile in tight area's would be a lot better than hand digging and wouldn't damage the lawn/landscape too much. You might think a micro is too slow until you consider how much work hand digging would be.

On a different project, the homeowner put the conduit in the ground. He overshot the power pole, and turned conduit at a 45 degree angle to come out of the ground. I can't imagine what he was thinking, (or drinking)? It had to be dug up, shortened, and turned at 90 degrees to come out of the ground vertical 8" from the pole. Not to mention, It needed to be schedule 80 conduit. Seth argued that we had a borrowed little 23 HP Kubota sub compact tractor with backhoe. It'd be easier to transport to the job site than a big backhoe.

Amazingly, it took 6 hours all told. The small bucket, the short reach, it wasn't possible to place the spoils far enough away it didn't fall back into the ditch.

fun fact after i posted this i got a few calls for jobs and realized right away no micro-minis went from maybe I could use one to right away knowing it wouldn't be a good choice for the first machine

They always beat a shovel..

We use a guy for trenching that has a small fleet of Yanmars strategically placed and picks one up and brings it to your job site behind his F250. They fit through gates and such and can manuver into tight spots. Backfill blade also. He can work around existing customer facilities a lot easier than a chain trencher trying to hook onto everything.

CM1995 said:

They always beat a shovel..

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not when taking down trees and currently gotta go bid for a clean remodel of a yard with the removal of brush and hauling off everything on about 2 acres of land looks like I might be able to make what I made last year in one month this year

Carolina start up said:

not when taking down trees and currently gotta go bid for a clean remodel of a yard with the removal of brush and hauling off everything on about 2 acres of land looks like I might be able to make what I made last year in one month this year

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Still beats a shovel for what you describe. I'd dig all day on a mini-mini if my other alternative was a shovel to take a tree down.

CM1995 said:

Still beats a shovel for what you describe. I'd dig all day on a mini-mini if my other alternative was a shovel to take a tree down.

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at this point I want a kx057 or a kx040 or a 308 hopefully this year I can add one just gotta pay off the equipment I got now

Cat 304e, biggest job was a 400 foot water line install. I've dug out stumps that weigh as much of the machine. Didn't set any speed records but it's what I had available. Sure beat a shovel!!

Rented a Takeuchi TB108 last summer, looks like a toy but still way faster then a shovel. Dug out about a tandem load of dirt into wheelbarrows in a few hours. Ground was hard enough the tooth bucket could barely dig it, glad I wasn't using a shovel! The 1.7-2.0 ton size really impress me. Rented a few times for foundation repairs and sewer repairs, dug down 7-8' with them and they can move some dirt in decent time for how small they are.

The plumbing contractor I work for has done several hand digs that could have been done with a micro. I was not working for them at the time. I've dug inside many buildings but the smallest machine was about a 25 rental. The folding roll bar on the newer ones will be the ticket, IMO.

It would shock people what we have done with our 17g not the least of witch was a 12 foot deep sump pit because that was the machine that would fit in the building and as stated it beats a shovel

I rented a bobcat 10 a couple times the only thing that is useful about is it fits thru a door and is faster than a shovel in TI work there good I wouldn't own anything smaller than a 17 tho that is a handy size and its limitations are your imagination

I recently added a 35 to the fleet the 17 spend a lot more time parked but it's still more versatile than 35

skyking1 said:

The plumbing contractor I work for has done several hand digs that could have been done with a micro. I was not working for them at the time. I've dug inside many buildings but the smallest machine was about a 25 rental. The folding roll bar on the newer ones will be the ticket, IMO.

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Dahm those are some ambitious plumbers! I've been digging for plumbers with my 6 ton digging 2' wide trenches in a building cause they are too lazy to dig a trench by hand, many of which are only 2" pipes 8"-10" deep. By the time it's done probably 6 tandem slinger loads of sand to backfill all the trenches.

These hand digs were inside completed buildings, down hallways, in basements. No way to get even a 2 ton machine in. I am hoping to get a 1 ton on rent to purchase, next time one comes up.

So many specialized machines! I'd love to own them ALL! I want an electric 2 ton machine for inside buildings, a 6 ton for medium sized jobs. I'd sure love to have a 20 ton, but then I'd have to hire a mover to transport it.
Then, I'd need two sizes of little & bigger track loaders, a big pay loader, and at least 1 Morooka tracked dump truck. I'll also need a bigger dump truck.

Instead, I own a standard sized backhoe. It has its limitations, but is about as versatile a single machine as I can think of. I can trailer it, but short runs (3 miles typically) I drive it, faster than loading it.