To Tench Or Not To Trench

Learn the NEC with Mike Holt now!

To Tench Or Not To Trench

  • We do all of our own trenching

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • We hire a trenching outfit to do the dirty work

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • We tell the customer/GC to arrange for trenching

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • We don't do jobs that involve trenching

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    1
Status
Not open for further replies.
Most all the contracts the company I work for exclude.

Concrete cutting, coring or patching

Excavation

Rigging

Dumpsters

and a few others I can not think of now.

We are electricians. 8)
 
iwire said:
We are electricians. 8)
Click to expand...
"Well for God's sake, man, call a plumber! WE are specialists." :lol: :lol:

(From the movie, "Scavenger Hunt." Told to the hotel manager by a team of contestants as they walked out with their prize, a commode, leaving water running all over the hotel's bathroom.)
 
I can't submit a vote because sometimes I'll let customer arange for trenching, sometimes we'll trench, sometimes we'll sub it out. There wasn't a box to vote for some or all of the above.
 
iwire said:
Most all the contracts the company I work for exclude.

Concrete cutting, coring or patching

Excavation

Rigging

Dumpsters

and a few others I can not think of now.

We are electricians. 8)
Click to expand...

But if the price is right, we can and will do anything.
 
I personally don't trench...that's what the apprentices are for. I stay away from trenching as much as possible. To much can go wrong. I have the customer do it , I tell them it will save them a bunch of money if they do it. If I do it , well then I am just going to have to charge you accordingly.
 
We don't trench if at all possible. We either plow or bore. I don't like taking out perfectly good dirt.

It's like parachuting. Why would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane ?
 
i do the digging in my company, my old boss told me to give my shovel a name and get to know it. he would use the ditch witch as a table and say we could dig a 50' trench 18" deep, that the trencher would break before we would, not my fav. part of the job. but i never quit.
 
Ah, the DitchWitch.
When I was an apprentice I dug 250' or so of thrench in the same time the three journeymen dug 25'.
Why isn't the boss using the proper tool? Maybe he wants to keep everyone busy.
~Peter
 
peter said:
Ah, the DitchWitch.
When I was an apprentice I dug 250' or so of thrench in the same time the three journeymen dug 25'.
Why isn't the boss using the proper tool? Maybe he wants to keep everyone busy.
~Peter
Click to expand...
if you bid job do you want to use trencher, if at hand or dig dig dig. time is money. this should not be caveman electric, get job done move on to next job. stay busy puting dirt back into hole not taking it out. :p
 
trenching

trenching

trench whenever possible as long as ditch witch can handle it if trenching is too rocky or too hard for ditch witch sub it out at customers expense. An addl 2 to 3 dollars a foot for trenching is profitable unless you need dynamite to penetrate rocky ground. rock teeth only do so much good if you need rock teeth sub it out or go to small backhoe aatchment or yo will waste too much time not get the trench deepenough backhoe is slow. solid rear axel is a wrestling match all day with a 1100 lb machine. avoid baretto hydraulic in rocks and turning rear wheels are a pleasure on the newer ditch witches Sparky
 
My last boss always excluded trenching and left it up to the GC which I quikly discovered was a bad idea. The GC would decide we could throw our stuff in when the plumber did his trench and the plumber wouldn't notify us till half an hour before he was ready to backfill plus it wouldn't run exactly where we wanted it plus it wouldn't be the required depth, etc, etc. Nothing but hassles.
You're far better off doing your own trenching.
 
i dont dig at my house,,why would i dig a someone else's,,
if digging is required for something,i tell the custermer to dig the trench & then give me a call,,i never hear from them after that,,
let the young guys make the money on such a job,,if the dig it,,they deserve it,,
i sure dont need the work that bad,,
i"d take the day off and ride my harley around that day instead,,
 
My theory on trenching. I really don't like trenching, but I do end up putting it in my bids. My hourly rate for trenching goes up 50%. If they want to negotiate on price I tell them they can handle the trenching themselves and the price can be adjusted. If I get the job I just hire a helper to do the digging.
 
Re: trenching

Re: trenching

quogueelectric said:
Labor rate 75 per hr straight labor, 100 per hr you watching, 150 per hr you helping.
Click to expand...
That's going in my contract, and will be read out loud.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top