Ditch Witch Mini Skid Steers are tough little machines that can muscle and manoeuvre through any job, just ask Paul Greenaway from Greenaway Sediment Control who has been using them for over 12 years to lay thousands and thousands of kilometres of silt fencing.
Local councils have specific requirements for the management of soil erosion on construction sites.
To contain sediment contaminated water and help stabilise surfaces and material stockpiles, silt fences are required as a temporary perimeter control.
An expert in this field, Paul Greenaway started his New South Wales company in 1997 as a small, part-time, one-man operation. He soon found using traditional methods of digging and installing fences by hand was unproductive and time-consuming. Early on he invested in a silt fence plow with tractor, but after a few projects this equipment proved to be too costly and cumbersome for transporting, and having a truck and trailer on-site wasn’t practical. As his business and team grew with a higher volume of jobs to tackle, productivity became all the more important, and Paul needed to find a solution to help him keep up with the demand.
Greenaway Sediment Control works in a niche space that requires some very specific equipment that needs to be perfectly suited for the job. Working on a variety of sites with limited access, under mixed conditions and dealing with all sorts of terrain, Paul and his team need to be able to clear major pathways and then lay solid fencing safely, securely and as efficiently as possible.
The versatility of a mini skid steer is an obvious choice for this type of work, and Paul experimented with some different models and trencher attachments before he finally found exactly what he was looking for.
“We bought our original Ditch Witch SK650 with a Silt Fencer Installer attachment over 12 years ago,” he explained. “Before making our purchase, we tested other competitive units, but came back to the Ditch Witch unit every time. The unit was much easier to maintain, an important factor in Australia due to the harsh environments we work in.”
Having now grown to 10 employees and servicing everyone from small builders to top-tier corporate companies, Greenaway lays on average around 10km of fencing per week. For this they have now upgraded to Ditch Witch SK755 Mini Skid Steers, fully kitted out with fire suppression units, tool holder kits and additional hi-vis safety labelling. Utilised with a few, very special attachments, these machines are put through their paces, working away at various tasks, through all climates and conditions.
To install their silt fences Greenaway uses a Silt Fence Installer attachment.
The hydraulic motor drives an oscillating plate which vibrates and digs the blade through the ground. It then uses pull or float blades to effectively push the sediment control material into the ground, allowinga single operator to lay the base of a vast amount of silt fencing very quickly and easily. The Silt Fence Installer system can even handle Greenaway’s unique, hi-visibility, hi-grade, highly durable, woven polypropylene fencing material.
For smaller jobs with less than 20m in length of material to be laid, Greenaway uses the Genuine Ditch Witch trencher to dig relatively shallow trenches with a depth and width customised to suit the application of the task. “Today we currently have five SK755 Ditch Witch machines,” Paul revealed, “and have just recently ordered another one. We primarily use the Trencher and Silt Fence Installer attachments on our everyday jobs, but we also use the 4-in-1 Bucket for clearing the sites in readiness for silt fence installation.”
Priding themselves on safety, the quality of their work and the affordability of their end product, finding the ideal tools for the job has been a key component of Greenaway Sediment Control’s success.
“We’ve been really happy with our Ditch Witch machines,” continued Paul, “and we haven’t found another machine on the market that is big enough to handle the jobs, but small enough to manoeuvre flawlessly around the site. No other machine on the market fits our needs like the Ditch Witch does, which is why we continue to use them after all these years.”
Ditch Witch is proudly distributed by ELB Equipment, and for Paul Greenaway and his team, being able to deal with such a professional and resourceful distribution company has made his decision processes that much simpler.
“ELB Equipment are fantastic to deal with,” concluded Paul. “They’ve been really helpful in all areas including sales, accounts and spare parts and we definitely recommend them.”
The Ditch Witch brand of equipment is distributed exclusively in Australia and New Zealand by ELB Equipment. With seven full-service locations around Australia and New Zealand, contractors can rely on a single, specialist provider of underground utility construction equipment wherever their work takes them.
To find out more about Greenaway Sediment Control visit http://greenaway.net.au
To find out more about ELB Equipment and Ditch Witch visit http://elbquip.com