If you bought or rented and excavator, what would you do with the dirt you dug?
If you dig and dump the dirt right next to the pond, then you will still need a dozer to spread it out. If you need it hauled any distance at all, then you will need a dump truck to move it and a dozer to spread it out. While it's possible to do all this yourself, it's very time consuming. When renting equipment, time is the enemy. You are allowed so many hours on that rental, so you really want to get all of them that you paid for. If you are spending your time also running the dump truck, then it's real hard to get any digging done and be effective with the excavator. And to be really efficient, you want to have a dump truck next to the excavator all the time, which means two or three dump trucks.
You can spread the dirt any time, so that can wait until the digging and moving of the dirt is done, unless you need it for the dam. Then you really want the dozer working with the dump trucks to get it spread out and compacted in gradual lifts.
An experienced crew makes this look simple. They do it all the time and don't even think about it. A beginner will spend allot of wasted time on the learning curve. While it's all simple and easy enough to do yourself, experience will save allot of time and money from hour one. Depending on your ability to learn new things, adjust to the machine and get better as you go, it might take all week, all month or maybe never to get decent at it. My Dad loves to come out and work my machines. He tries real hard, but after years and years of trying, he just doesn't get it and only go to a point that he can do certain things at a certain level. He tries real hard, sticks with it and is very proud of what he's accomplished, but he's never going to get any better then where he's at right now. Fortunately, I can work with this and still get allot accomplished with what he can do. I'm also lucky that he's very good at some things and those are what I have him do when he's here helping out.
Like anything, if you stick with it, you'll get it done. It's just a matter of having the time to do it on your own.
Good luck,
Eddie
