[TowerTalk] Tower base hole?

[K7LXC at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/6/03 10:57:21 AM Pacific Daylight Time, kg5u at hal-pc.org 
writes:

> Shouldn't you have also been 'off the hook' for the additional concrete
>  costs you sustained by the backhoe operator giving you a
>  larger-than-requested/ordered hole?

    Good grief. Using a backhoe to excavate a tower base is NOT a precision 
operation. Soil types and conditions vary and walls slough. You might have to 
dig it deeper to get the rebar cage to sit on the bottom of the hole. Very 
rarely do they turn out exactly as you had envisioned. They almost always are 
bigger than planned. 

    I had one hole dug in a valley that was all rip-rap - rocky river bottom 
stuff and it was barely consolidated. We got the concrete in right away to 
keep the dang hole from expanding. 

    A lot of backhoe operators are real craftsmen - one dug me a perfectly 
square hole with straight sides. I was really impressed!
>  
>  Is backhoeing what the backhoe operator does for a living?

    Now, now. This isn't the 'backhoe operator slamming' reflector.
>  
>  If so, it seems to me that it's awfully unprofessional/unbusinesslike to
>  give the customer a hole larger than ordered/requested knowing the customer
>  will have to pay for more concrete/material to fill it.

    Get serious. 
>  
>  Might be a good point for others hiring backhoe & operator to stipulate in
>  writing that any excess hole size costs are to be borne by the backhoe
>  operator.
>  
    Good luck. You won't get anyone to sign up to that. 

    Look at it this way - all you've got is more safety margin in your tower 
base. Big whoop on the couple of bucks of additional cost. 

Cheers,
Steve     K7LXC
TOWER TECH -
Professional tower services for commercial and amateur 
We've probably hired 40-50 backhoes over the years for excavation. 99% of 
them were FB.