Lets say you have an equipment operator that earns $20/hour. I always double that for loaded cost. That operator can dig probably 50 foot/hour reliably. So say 320 feet/day with start up and shut down inefficiencies. 8 x 40 = $320. So $1/foot just for the labor. More if we pay for a health insurance plan.
Then equipment allowance. $100K used excavator. 10% time value of money = $10K/year Depreciation expense, say $20K/year. So $30K/year. If you kept it busy half the time, say 1000 hours, that is $30/hour. $240 per day. We are up to $560/day for 300 feet of ditch. Round it up to $600 and you have a minimum of $2/foot. And knowing my estimates are generally off by half or 3x, perhaps $5/foot is a good planning figure for the true cost of digging a ditch. From: Chuck McCown Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2018 6:33 PM To: af@afmug.com Subject: Excavation costs Anyone figured out what it costs them per foot for excavation using their own machine? I am working to figure out the real cost. What does it cost to have a contractor do it?