How I Saved Serious Cash By Moving Rocks On My Own

In my quest to become a true DIYer, I collected many power- and hand tools over the years, not to mention my outdoor power equipment, which outgrew my “workshop” in the garage.  I really wanted to either buy or build a shed but I really did not have a suitable location to place it near the driveway.  In addition, because my backyard was nothing more than triangle shaped, approx. 50 sq ft of grass patch, on a severely sloping lot that is covered with rocks, placing a shed would simply not have worked.

So I staked out a location near the driveway which would require cutting down 2 small dead trees and also relocating about 15 ft x 25 ft of rocks (2 feet in height) to the adjoining slope, I was astounded by the prices I was getting.  One landscaper wanted $14,000 and my tree service/landscaping company wanted $8,000 for the job.  Obviously, I didn’t have that kind of money, nor did I want to invest that kind of money to get a tool shed.

After much researching, I decided to rent a small excavator/earth mover from a local company called Bobcat of Green Brook, NJ.  Cost?  $670 including tax and delivery (diesel not included) for 3 days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

By the way, I highly recommend this company if you live nearby;  I had the unfortunate luck of striking a bees nest on my first excavation and literally had to jump out to get away from a swarm of angry bees.  Then I had to make an emergency trip to a local hardware store and buy bunch of bee killer sprays and other stuff which ate up most of my day.  When I called my salesman Steve, he empathized with me and allowed additional 3 days of rental for free! If you are Steve’s boss, don’t get angry! I ended up being your loyal customer by renting Bobcat 190 and 320 from Steve multiple times.

This was the VERY first time I operated a heavy equipment (well, heavy to me anyway 🙂 ), I was bit concerned the controls would be too difficult. On the contrary, after tooling around for 10 minutes, everything felt normal. The seat swiveled so that I could effortlessly change from loading (buckets) to using a backhoe to dig out a large boulder.