A few years ago my parents sold some land for a housing development, I saw the digger driver getting close to the position of a previous pole mounted transformer that had been moved across the field, I walked over and warned him there must be a big cable very close to where he was digging with a 13ton machine, he basically blew me off! Western power had apparently told him the cable was on the other side of the field? 2 minutes after I went indoors.....massive bang and flash, off went the lights to a few hundred houses. I ran outside to see if he was OK, his face was a picture! 11kv makes a bloody big flash bang 🎉
Hi Ollie, Great video - nice smooth operating with the Backhoe. As a contractor myself, and having been in the position of hitting a service, the contractor is responsible for the cost of putting it right, unless it is a high-risk site and a service strike is likely you could put something in the contract that the land owner is responsible or partly responsible. Sometimes day rate works best but you still need that understanding with the customer should anything be discovered that wasn't expected. Iv CAT scanned the area before digging and still uncovered cables, sometimes it's worth just taking an inch at a time, even keeping your digging bucket 'flatter' so that the teeth don't penetrate too deep and snag on a cable. Keep up the good work and it's good to see you using your 3CX! Nice machine.
I had a job years ago, called in for a day hire with the wheel digger to level a carpark for a new build. While there I was asked to dig one post hole, I was suspicious as someone had already dug about 20 post holes with a mini digger and the area they asked me to dig the final hole in was disturbed. In hindsight I should of refused. I cautiously dug down and found a broken BT cable, just the wire no grey ducting. There had been a bt van driving around all morning so I stopped them. The BT chap was over the moon as he'd been looking for a break in the cable for days and suddenly the builder became very sheepish 🤦 long and short of it was I got a bill from BT for multiple strikes along a 42m stretch despite only digging one hole as the builder lied to BT telling them I dug all the hole. I was fuming. Found out 12 months later the builder had hit it with a self drive mini digger with no insurance and set me up for the fall.
As you see it Ollie. We've had two, one big one - supply for an existing shopping precinct across a loading bay area. We did a full and thorough Cat scan, revealed drainage, gas and water mains, no cable - it turned out it was directly under a cast iron drain channel which was being removed. Lost the bucket only, fortunately, and SEB did the repair after a bit of discussion... the original builder/groundworker installed and SEB adopted, you couldn't make it up, crazy. The other was breaking out reinforced concrete to a car park and an independent surveyor was used to trace some lighting cable runs - never found because of the rebar, until the breaker tagged it. Client's electrician sorted and no damage. Blame is one thing but the potential injury risk factor is another, We've had lots that we have fortunately been found before damage occurs - usually installed just below the surface as if it was done to catch out the poor grounds maintenance guys. The Borough re-route, duct and bury usually, or clip out of the way - depending on circumstances/location. Keeps you on your toes!
Ollie if you can get your hands on a new jcb 26c-1 and do a review at some point that would be awesome , i like the look and specs of then but id like to see your opinion on it , not to many vids of them yet , but 3m dog depth and plenty of power on oaper and 2.5 tonnes it does look good , cheers in advance mate 👍
I'd love to try one and JCB have indicated that they will get a demo to me at some point, but that was nearly a year ago now and I am only just beginning to see them landing at dealers and getting into customers hands so maybe a demo one will come free soon. I've had a play on the 25z and 26c for only a few minutes and first impressions are they are good, but a true test against the outgoing 8026 is the only way to know for sure.
Water or drains i would normally sort free if i hit them. I do dial before dig if there is obvious gas ie a front garden. In terms of electric i do catscan the majority of the time but wouldn't cover something stupid like a very shallow unnexpected cable.
Hi Ollie Good point I have been lucky every thing I have hit has been wile working on a holiday camp were nothing was at the correct depth as there employee Thanks again
When i worked for local authority we used to hire in jcbs etc....despite them having liability insurance we had to sign a waiver so we would be solely responsible before they would put a bucket in the ground....
If there are services I get a locator to mark them then vac truck to expose the services so we all have a better idea of where all the services are. In most cases I get the vactruck to dig around the services 500mm around the service so I am no where close to it . But not every thing is on plans so then the customer and I share the cost of repair if a sevice is damaged
The vac trucks are a great tool and on a commercial project, its the way forward. But this is someone's private garden - not sure the £500/day vac truck cost is worth the limited risk of hitting a cable. It didn't cost that much to fix!
You should be CAT scanning and taking all reasonable precautions before digging. I once refused to pay for a repair of the main electricity supply to a house that was broken because we tracked over a main supply cable that wasn't buried!
Totally agree, and depending on what I deem to be the risks on any given site, that's exactly what I would do. But when you are working in the middle of a large lawn and there's nothing obvious around you, and I only needed to dig 150mm down, I deemed it to be very low risk. Turns out that was the wrong call!
Why would you expect the customer to cover the costs? You should have public liability insurance. Ask customer do they know of any utilities running on the property and routes. You should carry out a risk assessment and carry out a visual site survey of the area to look for tell tail signs of trenches, lift any manhole cover to check direction and depth of any drainage or sewers.Also check for entry points for gas, ,cable T.V, water and electricity into the properties. Then a CAT scan first, scan on power and radio first then spray up and identify signals then use a Genny to connect to any metallic visible pipe work or cables trace and spray up. Fail that dig trail holes along trench route by hand to prove route, this will help digging with excavator as you will know what to expect on the route of trench.
I completely agree. And depending on the risk of services being in the ground I would do any number of those things. The reason I made the video is that in a previous video, I had a lot of comments from people saying I shouldn't have to pay for cables I hit - and so I outlined why I didn't agree.
Here in Australia if you are one digging you are responsible but if you are working for company then their responsibility but their hotline for dial before you dig that cover your ass. All I can say is do not hit fibre optic line that will send you bankrupt before you fix it.
We have dial before you dig here too but the maps arent accurate enough and the scale is too large. Might as well just dig carefully where ever you are digging - which is generally what I do!
A few years ago my parents sold some land for a housing development, I saw the digger driver getting close to the position of a previous pole mounted transformer that had been moved across the field, I walked over and warned him there must be a big cable very close to where he was digging with a 13ton machine, he basically blew me off! Western power had apparently told him the cable was on the other side of the field? 2 minutes after I went indoors.....massive bang and flash, off went the lights to a few hundred houses. I ran outside to see if he was OK, his face was a picture! 11kv makes a bloody big flash bang 🎉
Hi Ollie, Great video - nice smooth operating with the Backhoe. As a contractor myself, and having been in the position of hitting a service, the contractor is responsible for the cost of putting it right, unless it is a high-risk site and a service strike is likely you could put something in the contract that the land owner is responsible or partly responsible. Sometimes day rate works best but you still need that understanding with the customer should anything be discovered that wasn't expected. Iv CAT scanned the area before digging and still uncovered cables, sometimes it's worth just taking an inch at a time, even keeping your digging bucket 'flatter' so that the teeth don't penetrate too deep and snag on a cable. Keep up the good work and it's good to see you using your 3CX! Nice machine.
I had a job years ago, called in for a day hire with the wheel digger to level a carpark for a new build. While there I was asked to dig one post hole, I was suspicious as someone had already dug about 20 post holes with a mini digger and the area they asked me to dig the final hole in was disturbed. In hindsight I should of refused. I cautiously dug down and found a broken BT cable, just the wire no grey ducting. There had been a bt van driving around all morning so I stopped them. The BT chap was over the moon as he'd been looking for a break in the cable for days and suddenly the builder became very sheepish 🤦 long and short of it was I got a bill from BT for multiple strikes along a 42m stretch despite only digging one hole as the builder lied to BT telling them I dug all the hole. I was fuming. Found out 12 months later the builder had hit it with a self drive mini digger with no insurance and set me up for the fall.
Wow, that's an elaborate way to set you up. Hope Karma gets them back sometime
As you see it Ollie. We've had two, one big one - supply for an existing shopping precinct across a loading bay area. We did a full and thorough Cat scan, revealed drainage, gas and water mains, no cable - it turned out it was directly under a cast iron drain channel which was being removed. Lost the bucket only, fortunately, and SEB did the repair after a bit of discussion... the original builder/groundworker installed and SEB adopted, you couldn't make it up, crazy.
The other was breaking out reinforced concrete to a car park and an independent surveyor was used to trace some lighting cable runs - never found because of the rebar, until the breaker tagged it. Client's electrician sorted and no damage. Blame is one thing but the potential injury risk factor is another, We've had lots that we have fortunately been found before damage occurs - usually installed just below the surface as if it was done to catch out the poor grounds maintenance guys. The Borough re-route, duct and bury usually, or clip out of the way - depending on circumstances/location. Keeps you on your toes!
Ollie if you can get your hands on a new jcb 26c-1 and do a review at some point that would be awesome , i like the look and specs of then but id like to see your opinion on it , not to many vids of them yet , but 3m dog depth and plenty of power on oaper and 2.5 tonnes it does look good , cheers in advance mate 👍
I'd love to try one and JCB have indicated that they will get a demo to me at some point, but that was nearly a year ago now and I am only just beginning to see them landing at dealers and getting into customers hands so maybe a demo one will come free soon. I've had a play on the 25z and 26c for only a few minutes and first impressions are they are good, but a true test against the outgoing 8026 is the only way to know for sure.
@@Olliegunns cheers for the quick reply mate , and fingers crossed they get one to you at some point 🤞👍 keep up the great vids mate
Water or drains i would normally sort free if i hit them.
I do dial before dig if there is obvious gas ie a front garden.
In terms of electric i do catscan the majority of the time but wouldn't cover something stupid like a very shallow unnexpected cable.
Well said! He who prices assumes the risk unless specified otherwise.
Hi Ollie Good point I have been lucky every thing I have hit has been wile working on a holiday camp were nothing was at the correct depth as there employee Thanks again
When i worked for local authority we used to hire in jcbs etc....despite them having liability insurance we had to sign a waiver so we would be solely responsible before they would put a bucket in the ground....
It’s all about discharging liability.
If there are services I get a locator to mark them then vac truck to expose the services so we all have a better idea of where all the services are. In most cases I get the vactruck to dig around the services 500mm around the service so I am no where close to it . But not every thing is on plans so then the customer and I share the cost of repair if a sevice is damaged
The vac trucks are a great tool and on a commercial project, its the way forward. But this is someone's private garden - not sure the £500/day vac truck cost is worth the limited risk of hitting a cable. It didn't cost that much to fix!
You should be CAT scanning and taking all reasonable precautions before digging.
I once refused to pay for a repair of the main electricity supply to a house that was broken because we tracked over a main supply cable that wasn't buried!
Totally agree, and depending on what I deem to be the risks on any given site, that's exactly what I would do. But when you are working in the middle of a large lawn and there's nothing obvious around you, and I only needed to dig 150mm down, I deemed it to be very low risk. Turns out that was the wrong call!
Why would you expect the customer to cover the costs?
You should have public liability insurance.
Ask customer do they know of any utilities running on the property and routes.
You should carry out a risk assessment and carry out a visual site survey of the area to look for tell tail signs of trenches, lift any manhole cover to check direction and depth of any drainage or sewers.Also check for entry points for gas, ,cable T.V, water and electricity into the properties. Then a CAT scan first, scan on power and radio first then spray up and identify signals then use a Genny to connect to any metallic visible pipe work or cables trace and spray up.
Fail that dig trail holes along trench route by hand to prove route, this will help digging with excavator as you will know what to expect on the route of trench.
I completely agree. And depending on the risk of services being in the ground I would do any number of those things. The reason I made the video is that in a previous video, I had a lot of comments from people saying I shouldn't have to pay for cables I hit - and so I outlined why I didn't agree.
Here in Australia if you are one digging you are responsible but if you are working for company then their responsibility but their hotline for dial before you dig that cover your ass. All I can say is do not hit fibre optic line that will send you bankrupt before you fix it.
We have dial before you dig here too but the maps arent accurate enough and the scale is too large. Might as well just dig carefully where ever you are digging - which is generally what I do!