Crazy? Hand Dig a 530' water line trench to 3 foot deep

labor is free. do it.

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Ya really, ones health is worth more then that I would think, it is well worth to hire it out then spoil a persons health like that. That is what machines are made for doing to save a person from doing permanent injury. You can do it by machine, but keeping a person healthy is worth more then trying to dig something that far and that deep, by yourself, even though you may have the time, Think How much is Your health worth? That dollar a foot is well worth it in my book.

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IF you value your time at more than about 5-10cents/hr, get it done by machine.

A backhoe can do more work in a couple minutes than you can do in a hour. Once I figured out how REALLY cheap machine time is, I never worried about it since.

Now, if you want to really want to save money, work smart.

Rent the backhoe, ( I assume the 2 days is a minimum since it shouldn't take 16hrs to dig 530' of trench), AND have a couple other projects that need doing at the same time, get multiple use out of the machine. That lowers your cost, and cuts out the operator labor on the other two quotes ( assuming you can RUN a backhoe without a lot of learning curve )

When we started out place, I actually BOUGHT an older backhoe from a local dealer, put in water lines ( I needed 1200' of 3' deep trench.....and WAY too many rocks for a trencher...tried it ), then dug my basement, then put in my septic system, THEN traded the backhoe back to the same dealer on a new farm tractor......almost getting the use of the machine for couple months for free.

I rented a trencher for $100/day and dug 900' of trench in about 4 hours but I was digging in sand and clay.

I think it was only about 2 1/2' deep but I've seen larger ones for rent.

I'd rent the trencher and save my back.

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Maybe your labor is free, but I do place a certain amount of value on my time.

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Unless it is too rocky for a Ditch Witch (available for a reasonable price at most equipment rental stores,) then rent the backhoe and get this done. You won't enjoy living without water. After digging the first 30 feet you will by hand you would probably be willing to pay twice the price to have the backhoe or Ditch Witch on the job.

Your labor may be free but how much is your insurance deductible? How much will a bad back cost you for the rest of your life? When we were building, we found that by paying cash, prices went down. Hiring a skilled operator if you aren't one, will cut the time it takes to dig the ditch dramatically and can save money in the long run.

$1 per foot = Dirt Cheap.

can you rent a ditch witch??

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Maybe price a mini back hoe with bucket on front.
Plan other work for it for the same rental time period.
Work it with a neighbor who needs some hours also to reduce the cost.
Sounds like the septic/sewer is already in so that opportunity is gone.
jim

Ditch witches work GREAT ( nothing faster ) UNLESS you have any kind of rocks over about baseball size.....then they don't work worth a flip. (At least the size you normally see at a rental store )

They simply bounce all over the rocks and don't work.

THAT was the case of my place. I pulled rocks out of my water line trench the size of small cars....the backhoe wouldn't EVEN lift them, but it would drag them up out of the hole and I could push them to one side.

Rocks are something else to consider in hand digging. One rock 1-2' in diameter is an all day project to get out of a hole just by itself.....you run into a 3-4' one, and your hand trenching now involves a BIG detour.

My husband hand dug about 400' with our teenaged son "helping". It took weeks! He said "never again". We've since bought a backhoe attachment for our tractor!

Chances are the $1.00 / foot guy is the one to hire. (Is he using a ditch witch, backhoe or what?)

To do it by hand, you are looking at blistered hands, a sore back, sore arms, and other sore muscles and HOPEFULLY you don't hurt yourself in the process.
(And if you are looking to do this soon - I would assume it's still somewhat cold in KY and you might still have frozen ground.)

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Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

Spend the money and get the water line done!

thanks for the feedback everyone. i can't believe so many people have experience with this

I'll take a few pics and post them when I get it done

after reading everything I'll be giving the $1 per foot guy a call

Think risk/reward ratio.

I had to run a 300' line the same depth through chert. It took a JD 600 backhoe to get the bulk of the trench dug, and then two of us with a mattock/pickax and shovel to take out some of the ledge I ran into. I wanted the experience of doing the job on my own. It was worth the money for the backhoe rental to serve my dual goals. If I now had a similar job and someone quoted a buck a foot, I'd ask "When do you want to start?" Be aware that when you rent equipment, you are responsible for the cost of any damages you might do to it.

The only way I would dig a 530' trench by hand is if the sweet lord was on the other end and that was the only way to get to him. I'd think twice even then.

Yes, but price a 3 foot trencher at the rental yard first. I'm guessing it will be half that much.

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If you do decide to try it, here is a link to a trench shovel that I bought. It is the only way I could get the last 6" or so.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=3860876
Dave

I'm sure you can do it, but I wouldn't waste the time trying. Not hard to find a better job than hand ditch digging.

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The money you save on machine hire, you will spend at the doctor. Save your cash somewhere else.

There is plenty to do on a homestead where doing the work yourself is a huge savings. This isn't it.