All good advice and can only add my own 2 cents. I have operated almost every kind of equipment there is and have found that as long as the work is small can be done with just common sense. Yes the fun does where off quick. Note, the trickiest part you will face is the unloading and loading so if you do decide to rent try and get this added in the rental agreement. Another point that has not been made mention of that most all good dirt workers know that there are different kinds of dirt. If you don't know the difference say in pond construction you might have trouble getting grass to grow on the damn or worse have leaks and an unusable pond.
