Moved this tree yesterday

[c-series don 11,604]

I’ve moved several trees over the years but this might be the biggest one?! Probably 50’ tall and the ball was around 15’. That’s a guess, the bucket on the track loader I’m operating is 8’ wide. The Caterpillar 330 excavator weighs 83,000 lbs and was having trouble moving it alone, so I pushed it on the steel plate with a Cat 953C. Moving it to the house was the easy part, then things got tricky. After getting in place we had to pull the plate out, so I buried the bucket and we strapped the ball to it. Then the excavator pulled the plate. The tree kept moving as the plate came out and once it was totally out the tree was not in the exact spot it needed to be. With the house on one side and a concrete wall on the other it made it difficult. So we had to get the plate back under the tree, which took some time. With the plate in place we pulled the tree totally out of the hole and regrouped. By the time we got it back in place it was 5:00 and we decided to call it quits for the day. Monday we will try again. The tree needs to be exactly in place to be centered on the front door within a few inches. And yes the landscape architect is there measuring to make sure it’s correct. 
 The ocean facing house is over 60,000 square feet. One of the project managers took us inside, it was mind boggling. You could get lost inside! The mechanical rooms were like nothing I’ve ever seen. We walked UNDER the indoor pool on our way to check out the car elevator in the basement. Sorry, strict rules no pictures inside the house. It is really unbelievable that one person has this much money! The project manager told us that the owner is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Over the years I’ve been in a lot of these homes in the estate section but this one takes the cake. 

Edited 7 hours ago by c-series don

[Dan 312-8 470]

12 minutes ago, c-series don said:

I’ve moved several trees over the years but this might be the biggest one?! Probably 50’ tall and the ball was around 15’. That’s a guess, the bucket on the track loader I’m operating is 8’ wide. The Caterpillar 330 excavator weighs 83,000 lbs and was having trouble moving it alone, so I pushed it on the steel plate with a Cat 953C. Moving it to the house was the easy part, then things got tricky. After getting in place we had to pull the plate out, so I buried the bucket and we strapped the ball to it. Then the excavator pulled the plate. The tree kept moving as the plate came out and once it was totally out the tree was not in the exact spot it needed to be. With the house on one side and a concrete wall on the other it made it difficult. So we had to get the plate back under the tree, which took some time. With the plate in place we pulled the tree totally out of the hole and regrouped. By the time we got it back in place it was 5:00 and we decided to call it quits for the day. Monday we will try again. The tree needs to be exactly in place to be centered on the front door within a few inches. And yes the landscape architect is there measuring to make sure it’s correct. 
 The ocean facing house is over 60,000 square feet. One of the project managers took us inside, it was mind boggling. You could get lost inside! The mechanical rooms were like nothing I’ve ever seen. We walked UNDER the indoor pool on our way to check out the car elevator in the basement. Sorry, strict rules no pictures inside the house. It is really unbelievable that one person has this much money! The project manager told us that the owner is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Over the years I’ve been in a lot of these homes in the estate section but this one takes the cake. 

 

Wow x many times! Wonder how the rich live?

Most home construction sites have a (singular) job johnny... 

[c-series don 11,604]

I was told there are 200-250 people working on this project on any given day. 

[953 nut 64,483]

49 minutes ago, c-series don said:

The tree needs to be exactly in place to be centered on the front door within a few inches. And yes the landscape architect is there measuring to make sure it’s correct. 

                     I took the opposite approach, found a tree in the forest I really loved and built the house behind it.               

[SylvanLakeWH 30,734]

20 minutes ago, 953 nut said:

                     I took the opposite approach, found a tree in the forest I really loved and built the house behind it.               

Now if you were rich like @c-series don's client, you could have built the house in front and Don could have skidded it into place behind.., just need a bigger dozer...

[oliver2-44 11,282]

@c-series don If you would quit playing with those yellow machines and hook all those Red C-Series you have up to it the job would already be done