We are having a debate here at our shop, and I wont tell anyone how much money we think that may be, but to verify and to settle a gentleman's bet we DO need viable web-links to verify.
The Bagger 288 and Silver Spade are two that we have been debating, but we can't find anything about rates of pay. It can be a dragline or bucket wheel excavator, but any extreme machine rates would be helpful.
Anonymous
I have been looking into it for awhile now. I have a lot of work to be done and have decided it would be cheaper to buy a used machine and do the work myself, then sell it when I'm done. I find that prices start around $8k for an OK used machine like a John Deere or a Case. For that much it will be pretty beat up but it should work OK for the average homeowner. If you wanted to make a business out of it I would plan on spending around $15-20k for a reliable machine then add the cost of truck and trailer to move it around and don't forget insurance. Ripping out an underground line can get expensive to repair.