Alfie the Excavator joins the SENWI Team!

When I was younger, I always wanted a fancy tractor to play in the sand box.  Well 40 years later I got one.

We would like to welcome Alfie the Mini-Excavator to the SENWI team.  Alfie spent most of his life up in the Whistler, BC area where he worked on the rock gang and was often left out in winter's cold cold harsh weather.  We at SENWI wanted to rescue Alfie and let him live out his senior years in the relative comfort of the lower mainland.

Alfie has an impressive 10ft digging depth and due to his rigorous exercise schedule is able to fit through a 5'3" opening.  So he is great for those small back yard projects you have been putting off.  He loves to dig and is quite skilled at digging a small trench for a perimeter drainage system.  For fun he likes to knock out stumps, small trees, and brush and has even been know to transplant the odd bush or two.  His thumb makes it child's play for him to move around rocks or slabs in the various landscaping projects he will be helping us with.

We decided to ask Alfie to join our team, as I anticipated having a large volume of landscaping to be done on our build.  Having a help like Alfie on site during the build itself will also be invaluable.  He has already provide some ideas on how to create a small deck on his boom to help me lift materials up to the second floor and claims he is up to the task of removing our structure and concrete slab when we tear down our existing dwelling.  He also can't wait to show his brawn and lift in all the heavy beams I will have on the first floor ceiling.

A friend of Alfie costs $3200 a month to rent.  If we only rented when we really needed a helper like this, then we would not have one around for all the small jobs that Alfie will be great at.  At a minimum, we would need one of Alfie's friends for a period of 6 months at a minimum cost of $19,200 + Tax.  At a purchase price that was less than this, Alfie just makes financial sense.

His arrival has also sparked up interest in the neighbourhood and he has already been asked to play at two yards nearby which of course helps reduce his purchase costs.  For longer trips, he has made friends with Butch the tow truck during his trip down from Whistler, so that he can get out and play in other yards on occasion.