yoderjac
5 year old buck +
There are many tasks at the pine farm where it would be great to have a hoe like maintaining water bars, putting culverts, fixing drainage along roadsides, and more. My wife and I are currently building a 40x64 barn with a small 500' living area in it. We will sell our house when we retire and move into it while we build our retirement home and then this area will become spare bedrooms for guests. I have a barn builder working most tasks, septic, well, barn, living area, and such. I'm dealing with the road and power. The road is roughed in but not surfaced. I'm currently working power issues.
My current access easement allows for power and we would like it underground. I'm responsible for trenching, laying conduit, and covering the trench and the power company does the rest, at least to the meter. They will provide 1400' of wire for free and charge $8.17/ft beyond that. To use my current easement the I'd exceed the wire allotment by about $1500 worth. Most of the trenching would be easy along the road through the open area, but 500' of the road runs through a wood lot. I would not need to take out any oak trees, but the path would be so close to some trees that it would damage if not kill them and dealing with the large roots would be problematic. Trench must be a min of 4" x 36". Trying to route far enough around them would drive up the wire cost as well.
I'm currently working another option. There is a house 2 properties away that a guy has been building himself for the last 10 years, a little at a time and it has power. The route would go entirely through an open oak flat. I can route so no large trees need to be taken. It would come within roughly 6' from some so I'd still be dealing with roots but hopefully not enough to damage them badly. Tis route is about 900', well within the free wire allotment. The neighbor with the power source is willing to grant me an easement if I follow his preferred route on his land and dig him a short trench while I have equipment in. I still would need to cross a short section of another neighbor's property and I'm working that.
I'm considering a couple options:
- Hiring someone to do the job.
- Buying an old mini-excavator and doing 95% myself and hiring someone to do the fine work near power sources. With this option, I'd be looking for something in the $10K range and I'd keep it for use at the pine farm. I may eventually sell it. It will probably save me repair costs for using my loader for things I shouldn't.
- Renting a mini-excavator for a week for about $1,000 and doing 95% myself.
I don't think I'd have any problem trenching with a min-excavator. It may take some practice to get the bottom flat.
Any thoughts on size for this particular job? I have a 10K trailer so it would need to be under that.
Any thoughts or general guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jack
My current access easement allows for power and we would like it underground. I'm responsible for trenching, laying conduit, and covering the trench and the power company does the rest, at least to the meter. They will provide 1400' of wire for free and charge $8.17/ft beyond that. To use my current easement the I'd exceed the wire allotment by about $1500 worth. Most of the trenching would be easy along the road through the open area, but 500' of the road runs through a wood lot. I would not need to take out any oak trees, but the path would be so close to some trees that it would damage if not kill them and dealing with the large roots would be problematic. Trench must be a min of 4" x 36". Trying to route far enough around them would drive up the wire cost as well.
I'm currently working another option. There is a house 2 properties away that a guy has been building himself for the last 10 years, a little at a time and it has power. The route would go entirely through an open oak flat. I can route so no large trees need to be taken. It would come within roughly 6' from some so I'd still be dealing with roots but hopefully not enough to damage them badly. Tis route is about 900', well within the free wire allotment. The neighbor with the power source is willing to grant me an easement if I follow his preferred route on his land and dig him a short trench while I have equipment in. I still would need to cross a short section of another neighbor's property and I'm working that.
I'm considering a couple options:
- Hiring someone to do the job.
- Buying an old mini-excavator and doing 95% myself and hiring someone to do the fine work near power sources. With this option, I'd be looking for something in the $10K range and I'd keep it for use at the pine farm. I may eventually sell it. It will probably save me repair costs for using my loader for things I shouldn't.
- Renting a mini-excavator for a week for about $1,000 and doing 95% myself.
I don't think I'd have any problem trenching with a min-excavator. It may take some practice to get the bottom flat.
Any thoughts on size for this particular job? I have a 10K trailer so it would need to be under that.
Any thoughts or general guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jack