Trenching...

[1793]

I have a small trench job, ~20' from house to garage, in the near future. I'm planing on digging with hand tools, no Ditch Witch. Trench is 5" wide and 18" deep. I'm interested to know how you rate this portion of a job. Do I keep to my hourly rate or do I make adjustments?

[Dennis Alwon]

I would keep it at my hourly rate or more so the HO would hire someone else to dig the trench. I Hate trenching. Notice the "H" is capitalized.

[benmin]

I'ld go hourly. Who knows what you'll find in the ground

[LarryFine]

I wouldn't even consider trenching this by hand, but that's me. :rolleyes:

[mdshunk]

A shovel just barely fits my hands. Trenches have two options... homeowner digs or I sub it out, mark it up, and add it to the bill. A trenching/excavating sub often has my trench done about the time I roll up on the job in the morning. Pretty nice.

[chateau mike]

just because it is labor does not devalue your knowledge. estimate the time it takes to do the entire job multiply times .25 and add it keep your hourly rate. enjoy capitalism. and buy a trencher with your profits

[chris kennedy]

20 feet. Are you guys kidding me? Here in Fla., one man and myself could dig that in the time it takes my to two finger type this post. I love to dig. It's mindless labor and I love the break from thinking. By the way, I would go 22 inches deep to get my 18 to top of conduit. We ALWAYS make money doing underground!

[iwire]

Chris, come on up to New England your opinion of digging would likely change rapidly.:grin:

[chris kennedy]

All sugar sand here my friend.

[iwire]

All sugar sand here my friend.

Here if it's not ledge, its rocks with a bit of dirt around them.

[chris kennedy]

What do you mean by "ledge"?

[hardworkingstiff]

What do you mean by "ledge"?

My guess would be rock ledge.

[iwire]

What do you mean by "ledge"?

That is when you find solid rock and you either find another route or blast.

I guess another word for it would be Bedrock

[stickboy1375]

Here if it's not ledge, its rocks with a bit of dirt around them.


You get dirt around your rocks? lucky you! :grin:

[tallgirl]

Here if it's not ledge, its rocks with a bit of dirt around them.

Here it depends on which side of the fault line you're on. To the west, it's limestone. To the east, it's clay and limestone.

Fortunately all the cheap land is east of the fault (west is in the hills and around the area lakes the rich folks like to live near), so the only digging I've had to do has been in clay.

[macmikeman]

When I first started I dug in that SW Florida sugar. It was a total piece of cake. Here it is either solid clay or else you hit dried up lava. I own shovels, but they are for scratching away that select gravel they place under slabs just before the compactor comes around.

[donselectric]

i dont dig...have the ho do it
i spray ground where and how deep
and tell them no rt/lft angles

[electricmanscott]

i dont dig...have the ho do it



This made me laugh really hard till I realized it ment home owner. :grin: Still funny!

No digging for me. Did that stuff as a helper with the promise of all the glamourous electrical work to come when I got a little older.

[bradleyelectric]

I either ask my friend if I can borrow Jose for an couple hours, or tell another friend where the job is and he brings out his skid loader with the trencher bar. For $400 he will trench anything, and believe me that thing can trench anything I've seen around here in a long time and do it in a hurry.

[360Youth]

Here in NC coast you can be in sand or dirt and roots with some clay. Farther inland it becomes more rocky (or so I have been told). One thing I have learned is that I would rather dig in the sand, at times they take about the same time. If I had to go 20' in dirt it may take an hour to dig one ditch. In the sand it may take one hour to dig the same ditch 5 times after all the caving in.

[cowboyjwc]

Years ago I asked a "HO" who was digging him or me? He said he assumed I was doing it and asked why. I told him I charge $50 an hour weather I'm hooking up electrical equipment or digging ditches and I don't dig very fast. He decided to have his two teenagers do it.

[tshea]

We rent a trencher at 25' otherwise the apprentice gets the shovel. I used to sub trenching to my brother-in-law until he got sick. Sometimes we have the HO do the trench. We give specific instructions.
The nice easy ground in spring, becomes as hard as concrete around Aug. Then you need a backhoe! When homeowner finds out how much for trenching, they usually get it done.
Had a guy do half the trench for us. Called and said we could finish, don't care how much!
I usually tell teh customer (resi) "Do you want to pay to do wiring or pay me to dig trenches?"

[lowryder88h]

I own two shovels one is marked HO and the other one is marked HO. I be am a electriciam, me not labooreer.

[SurfSide EC]

I usually tell teh customer (resi) "Do you want to pay to do wiring or pay me to dig trenches?"

I hate digging as much as the next guy and the older I get the less I want to, but how is trenching any less electrical than drilling holes or stapling wires??

[bradleyelectric]

Its not, but you can tell someone else that you need a trench from here to eternity and have them do it easier than you can tell them to drill out this circuit and have it right.

[frank_n]

I never dig. I rent a trencher for $175 and charge $400. This covers my time to trench and stand in line at Rent-Rite. I actually spend more time getting the trencher to and from the job than I do digging. That's why I love the trencher!

Frank

[larryl]

you can rent a ditch-witch for 170.00 for half day,

you own what ever you hit,,,
i NEVER do any trenching,

[j_erickson]

Years ago I asked a "HO" who was digging him or me? He said he assumed I was doing it and asked why. I told him I charge $50 an hour weather I'm hooking up electrical equipment or digging ditches and I don't dig very fast. He decided to have his two teenagers do it.

I take the same approach. "It's $75 per hour and we're not very good with a shovel." I will sub it out, though, if they'd like.

[fisherman]

you can rent a ditch-witch for 170.00 for half day,

you own what ever you hit,,,
i NEVER do any trenching,
I don't do trenching either. Most of the yards in my area of Florida are covered with sprincklers My digs are anywhere from 25' to 150' , but I hate going back and repairing what I've hit.

[RUWIREDRITE]

Here in the Garden State we have a saying that states "Call Before Your Dig" so a proper markout is done of all utilities before a machine or manual labor hits the dirt. The consequences of not calling can bring on big fines from the local utility companys if you happen to hit something.I have seen contractors, homeowners, or hired help get charged up to $20,000 dollars if they hit something and forgot that important call.We own trenching /digging equipment of all kinds to do the job so, it's not too bad dealing with the dirt/rocks/roots/granite/ bedrock and so forth. I have had the HO dig their own trenches in the past, and found that digging in a straight line seems to be a strange effort to them. This usually means we must straighten or adapt to what they have left us. Depending on the situation at hand we have a set fee for trenching after a thourough inspection has been done to a specific site.

[quogueelectric]

I ran out and bought a ditch witch 4 foot blade and turning wheels. My wife ran it over in the driveway totaled a one month old suv and knocked my ditch witch into the next county. Last job I had to rent one until I can get mine fixed. North shore of long island Roslyn harbor Hit Boulders as large as cars its a glacial thing. Almost worked for free for 3 days. If the terrain is known to be tough sub it out. If the earth is sand and clay go ahead and rent that trencher but allways add a little for the unexpected we should not work for free nobody else does.

[SurfSide EC]

I own two shovels one is marked HO and the other one is marked HO. I be am a electriciam, me not labooreer.


I need to get into your kind of electrical work. It's all labor around here.:smile: Just the other day I had to dig about a 30-40' ditch, 3' of it underneath sidewalk. If you can get somebody else to dig it or trench it, good, but it's just part of electrical, and it's all labor. Digging a ditch sure can beat hauling wire, boxes, tools, ladders, etc., in and out of jobs.