I'm looking for land and have some questions related to the physical logistics of the actual excavation:

Would the excavation equipment be able to access the site on cleared bare ground without "proper" roads?

How steep of a slope can the equipment handle? I live in a mountainous area and have concerns about the feasibility of excavating ponds at the bottoms of our steep valleys.

Lastly, how much of the expense of excavation is related to the transport of equipment to the site? Is buying land near the excavation company enough of a financial advantage to justify passing up other promising properties farther away?

Generally, the equipment doesn’t need a proper road. They tend to make their own.

They can generally handle fairly steep slopes. However,tracked equipment doesn’t do well on rocks.

No idea about transport expense but figure it would have something to do with the cost. However, these guys don’t just work close to home. They expect some travel.

A 1/4 acre pond will have more of the pond cost into moving equipment than a 10 acre pond.(as a % of the total pond cost).