JCB and driver hire

[great central]

I know someone here will have the answer having asked google and not found it.

 

I'm just after an indicative price to hire a JCB and driver for a day. I have something to demolish which the wife is kind of expecting me to do but all ways I think of doing it are likely to end, at best, with cuts and bruises due to the condition of it. So much so that I'm here asking now when I should really be asleep getting ready for work in the morning

My thinking is so long as it's not a huge price I can put in a few extra days at work to cover the cost, whereas if I attempt it myself I seriuosly think I may not work again. It's probably something I would have tackled without worrying when I was in my 20s but I'm rather more risk averse now as my 20s are 30 odd years back.

 

Thanks in anticipation

[LBRJ]

Somewhere in the region of about £160 if you are not in the South East.

But JCBs are for digging trenches to me, not for knocking things down....

 

What is it you actually wish to do?

[great central]

That's rather better than I'd expected thanks. It's an old showman's caravan, wife's family home. We want to salvage the chassis and build something similar onto it for nostalgic reasons. It's been untouched for well over 30 years at least since her mother died. The roof has partially collapsed and the floor is rotten, so I figured a JCB could do the job from outside in little more than a couple of hours as well as clearing the ground around it

 

Edit: To give an idea of the condition she wanted to salvage a chest of drawers from the end bedroom. Rather than try carrying it to the door we pulled the entire front end off, without using any tools. The timber frame is almost completely rotten only the aluminium cladding holding it up!

Edited September 27, 2017 by great central

[28XX]

Sounds like a company that is used to random physical work would be best. Either a gardening firm, or a small jobs builder. Hand tools and a van to cart away rubbish would appear to be plant enough, and would damage the land less. Don't forget to check they have a waste carriers licence.

[Titan]

Had a timber framed garage to demolish when I moved in. Done using tow rope and car, then loading the remains in a trailer and off to the local recycling centre.

 

When I needed a mini digger to dig out the foundations of the drive, bought an old one off ebay, did the job, painted it, then sold it for about four times what I paid for it...

[great central]

Sounds like a company that is used to random physical work would be best. Either a gardening firm, or a small jobs builder. Hand tools and a van to cart away rubbish would appear to be plant enough, and would damage the land less. Don't forget to check they have a waste carriers licence.

It's too far gone to use hand tools on, serious danger of parts collapsing. I should perhaps have given it's proper title of a living wagon, Google search should bring up some images. Built 1920-30 perhaps, i reckon it weighs at least 5 tons, the roof was strong enough for three of us to stand on many years ago re-covering it, painted canvas over timber laths.

The land doesn't matter, it's a tarmac yard and being sold for building anyway

[Enterprisingwestern]

What about using an asbestos removal company, whilst I realise there may not be any asbestos content, I know from experience that they are au fait with dismantling dilipidated buildings such as garages etc, The price might be a tad more competitive as there is no asbestos present.

 

Mike.

[chris p bacon]

If what you require is a JCB with a 4 in 1 bucket on the front to grab the frame and pull it off the chassis then you will pay somewhere north of £3-400 for a day depending on how far it has to travel on the road to get to you, a small 1-2 ton digger with driver would be £150-200.

 

I own a digger but for the job you describe would only use it to clear the ground around it, to demolish the van I would just use some labour, rope and a chainsaw. Using a machine to demolish would mean pulling at the chassis which you want to keep.

It's easy to do by hand and sometimes easier as you don't make a mess, as an example, 2 of us demolished a timber framed bungalow in 5 days and into 3x40 yard skips when planning precluded the use of machinery.

 

What are you doing with the waste ? disposal here is £200+ per ton for mixed waste.

[rockershovel]

What he said. I've demolished old timber buildings with an excavator before now, fine if you want to end up with a heap of miscellaneous debris which then goes into your ongoing waste disposal arrangements, but no use at all otherwise.

 

Personally, I'd advertise it in Old Glory or some similar publication. People will restore almost anything, from almost any condition and your wife will probably be happy thinking it has gone to a "good home".

 

That ALSO gets you out of the major, very expensive task of building something else on a chassis in unknown condition, which has already had the original body rot to destruction,...

Edited September 27, 2017 by rockershovel

[The Stationmaster]

This is what using a  mini-digger can do to a timber building when you put a teenage driver in charge of the machine  (the hire company gave him tuition when the machine was delivered).  So as Dave has said a smaller digger such as this 1.5 tonner will deliver destruction but isn't the thing to use if you want to save parts.   And of course it all had to be further broken down to go in a skip = more cost.

 

 

[great central]

Thanks for all the replies. The chassis very substantial, it rides on lorry size wheels with a steering front axle. The bodywork is so far gone I'm very reluctant to even venture inside it now. The last time I did to salvage some bits the whole structure was like a jelly. We're told that there's no need to clear the site any further what there is is mostly old timber and bushes which the buyer would make short work of without affecting the price by much if at all. There are I understand a couple of small builders already interested regardless

[Siberian Snooper]

Is the chassis timber or steel? If it's steel just sprinkle some paraffin and set fire to it and get some pictures for Stubby as he likes to model that sort of thing.

 

Oh and ring the fire brigade and tell them before someone rings 999, they may also want to know when it's out.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Your wagon sounds very similar to one that my brother-in-law has just completed albeit in slightly worse condition than where he started from. That has been a right saga and I doubt that he will be showing a profit at the end even though he bought it very cheap.

 

I agree with others that a digger is not the right solution for this job, especially if you want a chassis that someone can use afterwards.

[great central]

Is the chassis timber or steel? If it's steel just sprinkle some paraffin and set fire to it and get some pictures for Stubby as he likes to model that sort of thing.

 

Oh and ring the fire brigade and tell them before someone rings 999, they may also want to know when it's out.

With the amount of grief it's causing, that would be an excellent solution but it's in a restricted site so the fence alongside and trees would all go up as well

[Stubby47]

Is the chassis timber or steel? If it's steel just sprinkle some paraffin and set fire to it and get some pictures for Stubby as he likes to model that sort of thing.

 

Oh and ring the fire brigade and tell them before someone rings 999, they may also want to know when it's out.

 

I was thinking I'd like to see photos of it before it's demolished...

[great central]

I was thinking I'd like to see photos of it before it's demolished...

There's a few on the computer I'll see if I can post a couple later on

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

 The chassis very substantial, it rides on lorry size wheels with a steering front axle. The bodywork is so far gone I'm very reluctant to even venture inside it now. The last time I did to salvage some bits the whole structure was like a jelly...

Given the other considerations a cheap option to consider would be to chock the wheels securely, and sling a wire around the bottom of the wooden structure, running just above whatever hold downs there are connecting body to chassis. And then slowly with a winch from a safe distance, drag the body off. If one of the trees is substantial that could be the winch anchor, do it all by muscle power. (My sole experience for this suggestion being what happened when with friends trying to drag a wooden framed 'between the wars' old road coach out of a mired yard in about 1980. Big pile of trash dragged off, steel chassis left stuck in the mire.)

[Stubby47]

You could invite the local karate club to help demolish the bodywork.

[Siberian Snooper]

Given the other considerations a cheap option to consider would be to chock the wheels securely, and sling a wire around the bottom of the wooden structure, running just above whatever hold downs there are connecting body to chassis. And then slowly with a winch from a safe distance, drag the body off. If one of the trees is substantial that could be the winch anchor, do it all by muscle power. (My sole experience for this suggestion being what happened when with friends trying to drag a wooden framed 'between the wars' old road coach out of a mired yard in about 1980. Big pile of trash dragged off, steel chassis left stuck in the mire.)

An alternative to muscle power is a Tifor winch, a few quid to hire from most hire companies for a day. The chassis would need to be well anchored before starting. Mirrors are available in e few sizes up to 5 tonnes. Do not use the winch cable around the caravan to avoid damaging it. Note that if the strop, wire, or chain used around the van breaks it is potentially very dangerous, so don't be too close and preferably be shielded by something.

[peanuts]

long cable looped around the van and hooked onto a landy tow hitch  give it a bootfull job done chassis cleared 

[great central]

Couple of pictures taken several weeks ago. The entire front is now off as I metioned earlier, just pulled at it and it came away. Roughly above the door the roof has collapsed and was leaning on the door, until that fell off as well .

To give a vague idea of the weight we are talking about, the A frame leaning against the front is the towing bar, it's a two man lift

 

[rockershovel]

I've seen things worse than that, restored to pristine condition. The right restorer, given the original to copy, will do wonders.

[Titan]

One of these would probably be rather useful:

 

https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/reciprocating-saws/cat830862

[RANGERS]

Is the coachwork original or has it been rebuilt/ panelled at some stage?

 

Most vans had curved corners and this one has curves to the chassis panelling but square to the body, suggesting the current bodywork doesn't match the original styling.