Having some electrical run and need a trench dug to bury conduit. In the back yard where there may be pipes and need to go under a sidewalk. Just received a price for digging and back filling 65' that about knocked my socks off. It's from the guy who put in some drains for us, and I know their work will be speedy and professional. But still was much higher than I was expecting. About what would you expect the cost to be?

Will it be dug by hand?

How deep are you wanting it?

Do you know where pipes might be? Are you going to pothole for where pipes might be? What kind of pipes?

What about other utilities in the area?

What is the soil type? Any rock involved?

Yep, lots of variables to consider....

$2,850

I recall from my earliest cost estimation for construction to calculate 1 MH per CY soil to be removed. rough calculation 65 lf by 1 foot wide and 18' deep should be 4 cy or less. labor cost $25 per hour is $100. about the same back in after the electrician is finished and inspected??


add cost to rent a trencher or excavator, labor probably the same 1 day for 1 laborer.

of course do it your self , save money or pay someone to do it for you.

ymmv
john

quote:

Originally posted by ffips:
Will it be dug by hand?

How deep are you wanting it?

Do you know where pipes might be? Are you going to pothole for where pipes might be? What kind of pipes?

What about other utilities in the area?

What is the soil type? Any rock involved?

Yep, lots of variables to consider....

Hand dug, 24". Can guess where pipes might be, but that's why I was going for hand dug. It's in the back yard, so plain old dirt. No utility service there, but could be a buried gas line or sprinklers. No trees in the immediate area.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
$2,850

For real? The bid isn't that high, but closer to that than I expected.

Althernative is to rent a trencher for $250/day and repair anything I break...

I dug plenty of trenches farther and deeper than that by hand, but I wasn't setting the prices or seeing the bills. That was a long time ago, but I know it was no where near those prices, not even half. (and that included adding a new sewer line)



I'd probably do it myself by hand. The problem with renting a machine (not counting getting a good mark out to make sure you don't destroy something) is that you're unlikely to dig and fill on the same day. If it only needs to be wide enough for conduit, I'd certainly do it myself by hand... assuming the ground isn't atrocious. I'd start by hand, then let the ground tell you how much the job is worth.

Mark outs are free and mandatory. Call 811, you need 3 day notice before digging.

Good, Fast, Cheap.

Pick 2.

Additionally, life is good for construction - he likely raised his rates because he can.

Like rtquig posted above, https://www.texas811.org/

If your soil is decent, a nice walk behind trencher should do the trick. You should be able to rent one for $100-150/day. Check with some yards that are closed on the weekends. If you rent Friday night and return it Monday, they won't charge you Saturday and Sunday. 65' isn't that much. Is it a straight line?

Gluing schedule 80 conduit isn't rocket science.

Also, use 811 for the free markings.

How wide is the concrete that your are going under?

Call 811

Wait a week then rent a trencher

Do the nasty

Pressure off at local car wash

Return home and have a tasty beverage

65' x 2' deep =130' of earth moving at $10/unit, my SWAG is $1300 but that doesn't include conduit so, now I'ma say $1625.

How'd I do?

And please call before you dig. Buried gas is nothing to play around with.

65'? I'd just dig it myself. Especially if they're asking that kind of money.

Find an electrical contractor that does trenching. For your drain guy to dig trench one day then come back and backfill, tamp, seed, and straw on a second day adds to the costs. If you electrician won't trench find another one unless you know he does excellent work. We don't trench at the company I work for, but I have dug and backfilled many trenches. We typically charged $10-$20 per ft depending on the soil and the scope of the entire project plus the cost of conduit and wiring.

quote:

Originally posted by ffips:
…. Buried gas is nothing to play around with.

One of our guys at my former company hit a gas line. They evacuated the entire neighborhood, all sorts of emergency people, gas company, etc. I never found out how much, but we paid a hefty fine.

I had a generator installed last summer, and 2 college aged kids dug a trench from the gas meter to the electric meter to the generator. About 4 hours to dig the trench and come back a couple days later to spend an hour backfilling after the electricians and plumbers were done.

Their office is about 20 minutes from my house so I'd say 10 hours labor and 4 hours commute. They had a truck the entire time so that's 2 half-days of truck time.

It was lump sum so I don't know the trench cost, but I'd guess $420 in labor and $100 for the truck. That was for a shitty job of not setting the sod off to the side first and trenching 2nd, and hitting my sprinkler control line.

Some people pay for gym memberships. Others just dig their own ditches. Capisce?

If there are public utilities in your backyard the One-Call service should be able to mark them. Privately-owned lines would not be marked around here on private property.

You could probably dig it in a week. Quite a workout. A 6' digging / tunneling bar, a mattock, and a couple of shovels. A narrow flat shovel for the final shaping. There is a narrow spade shovel available as well.

Digging is an art. A methodical approach will yield steady results.

180 CFM attached to a 6' piece of ½" steel should blow out a tunnel under the sidewalk. You can also drive, say, a capped rod of steel under the walk. Pulling it out the other end creates your tunnel. How big is the conduit?

Last summer we rented a pretty large Ditch-Witch, a walk-behind, and it sucked. Between roots and rocks, getting even 12" deep was a mess. The tires were trash with no traction. It should have dug 24" but that is probably in loose soil.

Near on 30 years ago I had to put in a water service house-to-curb, did it without a permit, and the homeowner said "No backhoe". So I hired a 6'2" beefy master plumber to hand-dig the 35' trench 36" deep. It was the shovel-spade wide and took him six hours. $350 cash.

Guys who install pool heaters probably have access to the cheapest diggers. Installing HDPE pipe to residential pool heaters is a cut-throat business.