Your Excavator Thing

[frikkiedeboer]

read about the cost of excavator and it sounded bloody expensive. where i lived in isaan i got my ponds dug for free in exchange for the soil they removed. good soil, and even crap can be sold. do not let the operator know you are a farang and let a thai friend you can trust...?????, not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate-trust me it is a "national sport"-ripping off the farang and once you can speak and understand thai you will be horrified at what goes on. on average a farang pays twice as much for land,building,everything simply because he lets one of the "family" do the negotiations

[lannarebirth]

Yours may be the correct solution for some, but where I live it costs 350 - 500 baht per truckload for earth and only costs 7,500 baht per day to rent an excavator w/operator. If I made a similar deal to yours here, I'd have all the locals calling me a rube. Local practices can vary it seems.

[billd766]

read about the cost of excavator and it sounded bloody expensive. where i lived in isaan i got my ponds dug for free in exchange for the soil they removed. good soil, and even crap can be sold. do not let the operator know you are a farang and let a thai friend you can trust...?????, not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate-trust me it is a "national sport"-ripping off the farang and once you can speak and understand thai you will be horrified at what goes on. on average a farang pays twice as much for land,building,everything simply because he lets one of the "family" do the negotiations

Strangely enough a couple of years ago a member of my Thai family arranged for the fish pond to be dug and yes the excess soil was sold and the stuff that we wanted we had to pay moving charges for the trucks and the tractor as they excavated about 400 cubic metres of soil and rock. The excavator operator said that if we wanted ALL the rock taken out we would have to dynamite it before he could clear it out. We laft that as it ended up.

The same family member negotiated for building of the house (labour only) and bought all the stuff that was needed.

Who was it?

My Thai wife and she did NOT get ripped off as you so quaintly put it.

Everybody around this area knows that I am a farang and I don't get ripped off that much at all. If I did and I told my wife she would go and talk "nicely" to the person.

For anything like buying land etc I would always let her negotiate as she knows what she wants and what she is prepared to pay.

Please do not generalise by saying all Thai families will rip off the farang husband as it is not true in all cases, but it is true in some.

If I cannot trust my wife or her family why would I trust a Thai friend who does not even live near me?

[Khonwan]

read about the cost of excavator and it sounded bloody expensive. where i lived in isaan i got my ponds dug for free in exchange for the soil they removed. good soil, and even crap can be sold. do not let the operator know you are a farang and let a thai friend you can trust...?????, not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate-trust me it is a "national sport"-ripping off the farang and once you can speak and understand thai you will be horrified at what goes on. on average a farang pays twice as much for land,building,everything simply because he lets one of the "family" do the negotiations

Friekkie

I presume you are refering to the thread in the Central Thailand Forum. That OP wanted to use his excavated soil. Others on land such as mine would not be allowed by law to remove the soil. The prices I quoted in that thread are correct for my area. I have lived in Thailand for 13 years - 11 of those in my present village. I speak Thai - I have to since no English is spoken in my village. I am very good at negotiating (sales and purchases) in Thai and I know what the normal prices are, as paid by my neighbours, with whom I enjoy a good relationship.

[solent01]

The going rate for my machines locally is 1,200 an hour, outside my village is 1,500, government contracts or large private sub-contracts go on a monthly rate (which does not cover fuel, with larger jobs the customer supplys fuel), fuel burn on a 20 tonne Komatsu is around 20 ltrs an hour, so on average 4,000 a day. A new Komatsu costs 3.5 million, so if you do the math, you will realise that operaters are not charging too much, in fact we should be charging more.

[palm]

The going rate for my machines locally is 1,200 an hour, outside my village is 1,500, government contracts or large private sub-contracts go on a monthly rate (which does not cover fuel, with larger jobs the customer supplys fuel), fuel burn on a 20 tonne Komatsu is around 20 ltrs an hour, so on average 4,000 a day. A new Komatsu costs 3.5 million, so if you do the math, you will realise that operaters are not charging too much, in fact we should be charging more.

I am thinking of buying second-hand a Komatsu/Hitachi 200 (or equivalent) excavator for around 800k to 1.1m baht, because the prices my Thai staff are being quoted in Phitsanulok are crazy - like 30,000 a day. This is much more than I paid in Western Europe a few years ago- and these are not 'falang-inflation' quotes either.

I was thinking 10,000 baht a day was 'reasonable' for a 200 series? The problem is I really need one for about 100 to 150 DAYS, so renting at those rates is pure madness. At least by buying one, I won't be under pressure to rush the job.

Does anyone have any experience renting or buying the large excavators for projects? I'd love to know if you can rent a 200 series for 10,000 a day or so - at least I could rent one for a week to get some short-term things done.

I am going to go to the auction in BangNa and have a look around.

Edited March 22, 2007 by palm

[Lancashirelad]

Sounds a very sensible option to buy one Palm.

When you finish with it, put it back in the auction (assuming nobody has already expressed interest) & you will probably almost get your money back.

(assuming the driver doesn't abuse & damage it too much)

Change the oil, filter & fuel filter before using.

[C-sip-degree]

read about the cost of excavator and it sounded bloody expensive. where i lived in isaan i got my ponds dug for free in exchange for the soil they removed. good soil, and even crap can be sold. do not let the operator know you are a farang and let a thai friend you can trust...?????, not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate-trust me it is a "national sport"-ripping off the farang and once you can speak and understand thai you will be horrified at what goes on. on average a farang pays twice as much for land,building,everything simply because he lets one of the "family" do the negotiations

Frikkie,

I'm not sure If I can 'trust you' or anything that you have too say after reading this.

Good soil, even the crap too, do not let the operator know your a white guy, let a thai friend you can trust...., not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate.

National sport you say, Ha Ha....

Horrified at what goes on, Ha Ha...

I can't believe how they can run there heavy equipment at such a low cost,

but they do, excavator work we have had done in Isaan area work out very well, by just stopping and talking to the crew onsite.

Cheers

C-sip

[Somtham]

Frikkie,

I'm not sure If I can 'trust you' or anything that you have too say...edit

Ditto!

[solent01]

Hi Palm, you should be able to get a machine and operator on a monthly price, excluding fuel, for around 120,000 baht, fuel for a month can cost anywhere up to another 120,000 baht (500 baht per hour seems to work well).

You say 30,000 baht a day, well no one pays that, not if they can connect with firms like mine anyway, and there are lots of us around, (I also have seen these prices printed and quoted, thats why I started up this firm).

Be careful what you buy with your budget, I used to go to the auctions, with that amount you will have a very big choice of crap, if you can up it to around 1.5, you should get a good machine. Komatsu and Kat are the best, but with Kat's you pay for the name, designer digger if you like also with Komatsu's, early models suffer from over heating/warped heads so check the oil for traces of water (milky resadue inside oil filler cap), this problem was sorted out on late MkV's and onwards. Hitachi's are ok but don't stand up to the every day wear and tear as well as the two mentioned, I believe Kabelco are also a good make, good strong machine, but Komatsu are no.1 for strength, reliability, cost and of course resale.

If you find a good one, PM me when your done with it, I'm always in the market for good machines. Although I much prefer to buy new.

[chownah]

Seems like we hired a large backhoe (large...an excavator) for 5,000 baht per day plus fuel.....and a smaller one (still large but not quite so large) for 3,000 baht per day plus fuel. The cost included the driver and a safety observer (I guess that's what his job was since he just watched all the time and then helped in loading/unloading and maintenance operations). To get these prices we had to hire them when they were in the neighborhood working...that way we didn't have to pay for bringing the equipment to the site and then returning it. Also, it seems like the fuel was about the same as the rental price for both units but its been awhile so I forget the exact figures.

Edited March 27, 2007 by chownah

[Gary A]

I was talking to a farang who was looking for a large shovel (excavator). He was telling me that there were many of them for sale up country and that they were very cheap. They were cheap because they were used for cutting through rock for highway projects. The big jack hammers on the boom had shaken them apart and worn out all the joints. To buy one you had better know what you are looking at. He was also of the opinion the the Caterpillar was the best brand.

[frikkiedeboer]

read about the cost of excavator and it sounded bloody expensive. where i lived in isaan i got my ponds dug for free in exchange for the soil they removed. good soil, and even crap can be sold. do not let the operator know you are a farang and let a thai friend you can trust...?????, not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate-trust me it is a "national sport"-ripping off the farang and once you can speak and understand thai you will be horrified at what goes on. on average a farang pays twice as much for land,building,everything simply because he lets one of the "family" do the negotiations

Frikkie,

I'm not sure If I can 'trust you' or anything that you have too say after reading this.

Good soil, even the crap too, do not let the operator know your a white guy, let a thai friend you can trust...., not your wife or one of her relatives negotiate.

National sport you say, Ha Ha....

Horrified at what goes on, Ha Ha...

I can't believe how they can run there heavy equipment at such a low cost,

but they do, excavator work we have had done in Isaan area work out very well, by just stopping and talking to the crew onsite.

Cheers

C-sip

i posted the "white-guy-national sport-ha,ha -relatives " thing after reading the post by the guy who was about to pay 15000 baht per hour for excavator hire. if you dont think he was being ripped off, yes, then have a good laugh.

do you think any thai would have paid that price?

i, too cant believe how the operators survive on the cheap rates they charge-given the cost of equipment,diesel, maintenance etc, but surely ,given the going rate,-don't you think that he was being ripped off?

who do you think did the negotiating for him? does he speak thai and did he sucker himself... or did he have some "help"

look at the swimming pool forum and see how many guys are willing to pay 700000 thb-plus for a pool which would cost less than 70000 in materials ,equipment and labour to build, just because they had some "help" in the negotiations.

my post wasn't meant to insult honest operators- (or honest thai wives and relatives), and i apologise profusely if there was any misunderstanding- but the underlying message still is: FARANG, WAKE UP!!!

[Khonwan]

... the guy who was about to pay 15000 baht per hour for excavator hire. ...

Hi Frikkie

If you are referring to the thread in Central Thailand Forum, that OP stated 12,000 baht per hour. I realised he meant 1,200 baht and used this figure in my reply to him. He subsequently corrected his typing error, confirming a rate of 1,200 baht per hour. BTW, Thais rip off Thais when they can get away with it too. And farangs are not above ripping off each other either, here or in farangland.

Rgds

Khonwan

[loy2]

I pay 12 bath for 1m*3 if stay and 25 bath for 1m*3 if transport in Udon is this correct ,because mecco dieds many times att isaan

[palm]

Hi Palm, you should be able to get a machine and operator on a monthly price, excluding fuel, for around 120,000 baht, fuel for a month can cost anywhere up to another 120,000 baht (500 baht per hour seems to work well).

You say 30,000 baht a day, well no one pays that, not if they can connect with firms like mine anyway, and there are lots of us around, (I also have seen these prices printed and quoted, thats why I started up this firm).

Be careful what you buy with your budget, I used to go to the auctions, with that amount you will have a very big choice of crap, if you can up it to around 1.5, you should get a good machine. Komatsu and Kat are the best, but with Kat's you pay for the name, designer digger if you like also with Komatsu's, early models suffer from over heating/warped heads so check the oil for traces of water (milky resadue inside oil filler cap), this problem was sorted out on late MkV's and onwards. Hitachi's are ok but don't stand up to the every day wear and tear as well as the two mentioned, I believe Kabelco are also a good make, good strong machine, but Komatsu are no.1 for strength, reliability, cost and of course resale.

If you find a good one, PM me when your done with it, I'm always in the market for good machines. Although I much prefer to buy new.

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll end up buying one - the price isn't really an issue; and as I would look to sell it again after using it. I guess buying a better quality digger, the easier it is to re-sell. But I'll do my homework and try not to screw it all up

I was just surprised at the 30,000 baht a day quotes when I saw so many large excavators sitting around idle in Phitsanulok. But I really need a large one to maintain the 5km of road we built, plus many other things.