I would spend the first four hours trying to figure out how to work the excavator before I could be productive.
I put my (non-mechanical) wife in the seat the last time I had one at the farm. In 5 minutes she could put the bucket teeth into the gouge marks in the clay from the previous bucket pull.
Plus, do you remember playing with your Tonka toys in the sandbox when you were a kid? A mini-excavator is pretty much like the adult version of playing with Tonka toys!*
*Assuming your property is mostly flat. I think the only way to get into trouble is to operate dangerously on a slope, or to dig into a pipeline or electric cable. (That is my amateur opinion. Any of our dirt moving experts on the forum can correct me, or add more germane information.)
