That 400-foot job in Austin that broke my auger on the third hole

Last month I took on a horse property outside Austin, 400 feet of woven wire along a rocky ridge line. The soil looked fine from the truck, but about 18 inches down it turned into solid caliche. My little walk-behind auger caught a shelf and snapped the shear pin, then the second one, and by the third hole the gearbox started screaming. I had to hand-dig the next 11 posts with a clamshell digger and a breaker bar, which added a full day to a two day quote. The landowner came out with sweet tea and said, 'You should've used a tracked post driver like my last guy.' No kidding. What do you all do when the ground lies to you on a big run? Do you reschedule and bring bigger gear or just eat the extra hours?

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oliver_baker4911d ago

Talked to a buddy who runs fence crews near Kerrville, and he hit almost the same thing on a ranch job. He said the smartest move was to stop after the first broken pin, call the customer, and tell them the rock was worse than expected so he'd need a half day to bring in the skid steer with the hydraulic driver. Cost him a bit of face time but saved his back and the equipment, and the customer ended up happy because the finish date only slipped by one morning.