Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Dec 07, 2009 5:53 pm Arghhh this whole excavation/Lawn preperation is driving me INSANE!! I have been on the phone ALL day trying to get things sorted!! So far I have a guy that can do the excavation in a tight access machine for $300. That is great or so I thought!! He doesn't have bins for the removal of the oil soil, originally I was going to remove 30cm from our clay but this works out to be a huge amount of m3, but even removing 10cm is still going to be about 30m3 of soil that we need to remove. I have rung around the bin companies and the largest bin they will loan us for removal of soil is 8m3, so we are going to need about 4 of these just to get rid of the soil - they are $440 each!! That is over $1600 in skip hire and soil removal costs!! Surely there is a cheaper way?? Then I rang up Soilworx in Hoppers Crossing to get a price for new soil to be delivered. I told the guy we were interested in organic soil, he said the best thing to go under instant turf is a sandy loam mix - for 35m3 of this it was $1500 delivered - I was expecting $500 for soil!!! Are these sort of prices the norm? I'm now wishing that damn $2500 guy to do the lot (remove old soil, lay new soil) would ring me back! I'm going to be out of pocket almost $3500 just for old soil removal and new soil delivery!! If these sort of prices are the norm then that is ok I will ring up and book them all in, but if there is a cheaper/easier way I'd love to hear about it!! My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 2Dec 07, 2009 6:11 pm Why are you removing so much soil, is it to make it flat? 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 3Dec 07, 2009 6:22 pm Sorry Lisanne should have explained better. Pretty much to make it flat but also because the top layer is alot of crap really - old crushed rock, cement, dust, dirt, weeds etc all left over from the building....we are only actually taking 10cm off the top of what we have, but we have to take it off the whole back/front of our block. Originally I was going to take 30cm off the top but the cost was WAY too much to remove it all!! My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 4Dec 07, 2009 6:48 pm Ahhh bugger! I have a lot of builders crap in my current soil I am going to rotary hoe it to break the soil up and try to hand pick out a lot of the bigger chunks of crap My soil is going to cost somewhere between $46-$56 per m3 depending on how much I order, I think I need about 15 m3 so there went my Christmas holiday! (but I'm looking forward to playing with my garden!) 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 5Dec 07, 2009 7:14 pm Hmm you make an interesting point Lisa, maybe we don't need to excavate/remove any soil at all?? Is it possible to just rotary hoe the existing crappy dirt/rubble/weeds and then just like you said hand pick out the crap and then just lay existing soil over the top. Thus saving us the $1800 in soil removal..... My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 6Dec 07, 2009 7:18 pm haywgl Hmm you make an interesting point Lisa, maybe we don't need to excavate/remove any soil at all?? Is it possible to just rotary hoe the existing crappy dirt/rubble/weeds and then just like you said hand pick out the crap and then just lay existing soil over the top. Thus saving us the $1800 in soil removal..... I wouldn't pay to remove it. Get some people over, rotary hoe it, then chuck on a BBQ and beer for the helpers. If a few people do it, it becomes not so big a job. I will help. *puts hand up* I leave you to fend for yourself, figure things out yourself. Terrence Malick Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 7Dec 07, 2009 7:20 pm You are in Jo!! I should get some of DH's mates too So what was I thinking trying to remove the soil anyway? Does anyone actually excavate?? Or does the rotary hoe work fine? What if it needs to be levelled?? Can the rotary hoe do that too?? My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 8Dec 07, 2009 7:20 pm For me, with already needing to bring in a lot of soil, I don't want to really lose any that will make me need more. I'm not too fussed if there is still some rubble left, I just want to get rid of the big bits 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 10Dec 07, 2009 7:24 pm haywgl :lol: You are in Jo!! I should get some of DH's mates too So what was I thinking trying to remove the soil anyway? Does anyone actually excavate?? Or does the rotary hoe work fine? What if it needs to be levelled?? Can the rotary hoe do that too?? I'm with Jo offer some friends food and they will help! It worked for me on the weekend with moving my bricks! I don't think a rotary hoe will level it but if you break it all up with one then it will be easier to move and level by hand. Before you lay the turf you will also need to get a compacting thingy or a roller to smooth it out a bit too 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 11Dec 07, 2009 7:31 pm Thanks guys I'm starting to feel a bit more optimistic. The guy that offered to do the excavating also said he has a leveller/spreader and rotary hoe and offered to do that too, I have sent him an email to ask his advice. So far he has been so helpful and knowledgable and really polite too so I'd like to stick with him I see what you mean Lisa, why would I remove 30m3 of old soil for $1800 and then get another 30m3 of new soil brought in for $1500 = it just seems stupid I'll hopefully have an answer by tomorrow P.S Jo your DS is a little tank!! Good on him!! My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 12Dec 07, 2009 7:35 pm haywgl Hmm you make an interesting point Lisa, maybe we don't need to excavate/remove any soil at all?? Is it possible to just rotary hoe the existing crappy dirt/rubble/weeds and then just like you said hand pick out the crap and then just lay existing soil over the top. Thus saving us the $1800 in soil removal..... we did that bel. Far too much to remove. just rotary hoed the area, picked out the rubbish, rotary hoed again to mix in the new soil. We also used a nail rake, similar to this to get out the smaller chunks : Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ & used a soil spreader like this : Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ all before laying the turf. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 13Dec 07, 2009 7:39 pm Jo your DS is Awesome! Bel if you need to, you can probably still bring in some organic soil to improve your current soil and/or add some improvers like organic soil activator from http://www.nakedfarmer.com.au/ along with powerfeed etc that Fu always raves about 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 14Dec 07, 2009 7:43 pm I might add that the stuff linked above is about the best organic soil available in Australia and seems to modelled on what the ancient South American civilisations used to be able to have agriculture in places they should not have been able to do it. Amazing soil Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 15Dec 07, 2009 7:44 pm Fu Manchu I might add that the stuff linked above is about the best organic soil available in Australia and seems to modelled on what the ancient South American civilisations used to be able to have agriculture in places they should not have been able to do it. Amazing soil I'm learning!! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 16Dec 07, 2009 7:59 pm Awesome thanks guys - this is what I am going to do. I will bring in a small bin - maybe 6-8m3 to put all the big bits of concrete etc in anyway but for the rest of it I will just rotary hoe.... I am certainly going to put that organic soil improver in - I saw bags of it in the bunnings catalogue - how much should I use over an area of 8m deep x 16m wide? My karma ran over your dogma Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 17Dec 07, 2009 8:06 pm haywgl Awesome thanks guys - this is what I am going to do. I will bring in a small bin - maybe 6-8m3 to put all the big bits of concrete etc in anyway but for the rest of it I will just rotary hoe.... I am certainly going to put that organic soil improver in - I saw bags of it in the bunnings catalogue - how much should I use over an area of 8m deep x 16m wide? Awesome!! I love hearing and seeing people give stuff like this a go!! As for the bags of naked farmer stuff, I reckon the more the better but something is better than nothing (precise hey ) 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 19Dec 07, 2009 8:25 pm No worries! I've learnt a lot from on here so happy to help others 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Bulk Soil and Soil Removal 20Dec 07, 2009 8:28 pm lisanne As for the bags of naked farmer stuff, I reckon the more the better but something is better than nothing (precise hey ) For our 250sq mt, we would have had to have used 100 bags of the Naked Farmer stuff at approx $10/bag that would have totalled $1000 Just tooooo expensive for us, so had to give it a miss. 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