What Do I Need To Hire To Excavate 50 Acres Of Clay

haskl33

This is for any of you excavation guys that have any input. I am a carpenter by trade not a excavation specialist.

We have 50 acres of clay/ soil in Mississippi that the Army Corps of Engineers wants/ needs for the levies in New orleans. I need to know what to look for when we go to hire a company to do the excavation for us. Would digging a big lake be a smart way to go? How will it be done? Any suggestions.

Like... what type of equipment should be used? How many? How long should it take? What are the going rates? Anything else I might look for when hiring a company.

Any help or advise would be appreciated.

jmic

Hask,
How much is the Army Corps. willing to pay you for the Material ? What kind of topography do you have on your property, what will the excavation cuts be? Sounds like you could be needing some serious equip. depending on what the answers above are. Someone will be making lots of money, hopefully you'll get some when the dust settles. I'd look at this senario............ You want the material, this is what I want for the property $$$$$$$$$$$. MHO.

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Joe

rino1494

Are you saying that the Armp Corps wants to buy clay from you that is on your property and you will be hiring someone to export the material ??

Like Joe said, how is the grade of the land. Digging a big hole prolly isn't the best idea. Might be best to grade it off so that it is flat or slopes if at all possible. Sounds like you will need at least a 40,000 lb excavator and a dozer.

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tgeb

Why not simply sell the Corps the clay where it is and let them deal with hiring someone to move it. Then you will not have the head aches of figuring cuts, rain delays while paying rental on equipment, or if the loader operator gets out of the clay and spends 1/2 day sending material that is not acceptable, etc. etc. you don't take the hit.

It makes a huge difference on what you are doing, what equipment you will need. Are you removing 6 inches from the entire 50 acres or 16 feet from only a specific section?
2 totally different approaches for the work to be done.

Just my thoughts.

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Tom

www.gebcon.com

PipeGuy

This question is very open ended. Are you saying you have clay and the Corps has offered to buy it? Are you asking how much you should charge for it?

IF the Corps has offered to buy the clay AND has specifically indicated how much it is willing to pay for it I would: 1.) take steps to quantify the volume of clay that is available for sale 2.) determine to what extent regulatory costs will impact the mining, transportation and sale of the clay 3.) estimate the cost of mining and transporting the available volume of clay 4.) estimate the cost of obtaining and placing a suitable backfill material in volume sufficient to restore the excavated area to its original elevations.

Once I was convinced that the price offered by the Corps was sufficient to cover the cost of the activities plus turn a profit commensurate with the risks involved I'd move forward with trying to strike a deal.

In the abscence of figuring all that out, you could get a good attorney to draft an agreement that provides that the Corps perform ALL work reqired at $x per truck load hauled away. Then all you have to do is count the trucks.

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dayexco

what's the value of the property, plus YOUR cost of the loss of the property. once the dirt's gone, you have a lake? if the clay runs deep, have them dig a hole vs. taking sq footage

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Mike Finley

Sounds perfect to me, have the Army corp of engineers pay for your man-made lake, probably a road into it and then when done you can sell it to a developer or do it yourself and turn it into a nice planned lake community.

Teetorbilt

What a windfall! You need some REAL professional help. Like Mike said, you have developmental opportunity. For free, if you play your cards right.

Look into state programs as well. In NC they will stock ponds over a certain size for free, even create them if you are willing to give up the acreage.

Take every advantage. There are probably some tax breaks in here as well. You REALLY need a pro.

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jazak

I would go get a 330 size ex, a D8 size dozer & a 966 size loader, tell the army to get their own trucks and you dig it and load. Sell it to them by the yd.

TMatt142

Hold up...First off, The Corps of Engineers is pretty picky about what they build their levys out of (speaking from experience with them). What you need to agree with them about first is they (the Corps) being completely responsible for all testing on the soils, be it during the excavation or before. Find out how many cu yrds they need. Whether you are going to dig a pond/lake or grade cut the 50 acres, first find out suitable haul routes ...that will last! Like what was mentioned, maybe letting THEM worry about the excavation and whatnot might be a better idea. Just make sure you put your stipulations and rules in writing before letting someone take over your land! Some things to think about if you are going to make a pond or lake outof it. When using an excavator you will need to make many "passes". If it is a deep pond, maybe verticle passes as well. I dug a 60,00 cu yrd retention pond on a job of ours a few years back that was a little less than 20ft deep. We used a Cat 345 (I wouldn't go any smaller). When digging a pond you need to plan out your haul routes with your digging to maintain optimum efficiency. Trucking? Will you use Tri-axles, belly dumps, side dumps?? These are all HUGE factors, and all of them will not run in WET clay! Will you be running the trucks into the bottom or is there enough open area for turn arounds (for bellys or side dumps). On my job we had them set up to run through the bottom to keep trucking flowing properly and averaged about 3500 cu yrds a day. That being said, how long of a haul is it? Or is it close enough to use scrapers?? A lot to think about when getting involved with a project like this. If it's a large pond your wanting to dig, another important thing to remember is when it rains, it will begin to fill up!!! I know they don't want wet clay to build levys! Have pumps handy, and where will you pump the water to?? Just what I thought up, I know there are several ways to do one particular thing so if anyone wants to let me know what I'm leaving out or have hit on......

dirtdiggencat

take 2 cat 320cl's
1 cat 330 with huge bucket (forget the wheel loader)
1 cat D-9
4 paddle wheel pans
tell army corps to approve your lake (it's the law on a big un)
tell um to line up the trucks n line up the bucks.
and call me in the morning.

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Eric K

I'd use a spade shovel.