[AlaninCarlisle]

I want to put in a wild-life pond for grandkids. Maybe 3M x 5M x 1M deep. I'll do the lining and fencing-off etc

What do you think is a fair price for a day's work with a mini-digger plus driver? My thought was around £2 - 300 including mini-digger but I  have been quoted prices ranging from £400 to £800

[Fairy Plotmother]

I wouldn't have thought that it would cost less than £400 as that sounds cheap to me. Mind you look where I live. 😏 I am going to have to pay at least £1500 to have the council put in a dropped kerb at the front of my property. 😠

[AlaninCarlisle]

My logic is 8 hours at £15 per hour for operator = £120 plus one day's hire of digger plus delivery and collection for which I'll get a price on Monday but probably around £150. Hence my own back-of-my-mind estimate of £300

[John]

I don't think they're that difficult to use but I'd probably take twice as long as an experienced operator.

Some figures to work with:

Average wage in the UK is £27,600 a year

52 weeks in a year, less 4 weeks holiday, less 2 weeks for 'sick' or bank holidays = 46 weeks
46 weeks x 40 hours a week = 1,840 working hours.
2 hours a week average on admin = 92 working hours
Potential working time = 1,748
Baseline charge = 27,600 / 1,748 = £16.00 an hour

Add to that cost of transport, storage, insurance, phone, accountant and other business costs like advertising . Don't forget that the operator also needs to factor in time when unable to work due to weather and to cover times when he just doesn't have any work.

As a rule of thumb, double the baseline charge to cover all the additionals and we're at £30 an hour so £200 a day is pretty reasonable and £250 not extortionate.

[AlaninCarlisle]

The annoying thing is that a neighbouring farmer would do it for thirty quid which is what he charges me to bury fallen animals but at the moment the only access is through our garden and his huge backhoe would cause massive damage to the back lawn

[John]

The annoying thing is that a neighbouring farmer would do it for thirty quid which is what he charges me to bury fallen animals but at the moment the only access is through our garden and his huge backhoe would cause massive damage to the back lawn

£370 would buy a lot of turf! Or you could get that plastic mesh designed to make grass into parking areas and make tracks for the wheels. Incidentally, a lot of agricultural equipment doesn't put as much pressure on the ground as you might think with the big tyres.

Incidentally, pal of mine said it was a doddle using a mini digger he hired to dig the footings for an extension.

[AlaninCarlisle]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll do the best deal I can on digger hire and do the job myself. Should be fun.

[Barry C]

I'm glad John came up with his figures of £30 per hour plus, recently we have needed to use a number of local tradesmen. We are lucky round here and have a good number of all sorts of trades, however they are busy.

I always work on £25 per hour for skilled labour (although we have an old fashioned odd job man in the area who charges £15 an hour plus travelling) and never been far wrong in my own estimates. OK, occasionally you may get someone on the cheap, but I'm happy to pay someone who has to make a reasonable living and get a decent job done 

[AlaninCarlisle]

Just checked hire cost. WM Plant in Carlisle charge £60 per day plus VAT for a 1 tonne mini-digger. Delivery cost is variable according to distance but probably about £15. Job's a good un!

[8doubles]

Just checked hire cost. WM Plant in Carlisle charge £60 per day plus VAT for a 1 tonne mini-digger. Delivery cost is variable according to distance but probably about £15. Job's a good un!

Worth it just to play with the digger !