Orange to the Core

Taking a look back at one of my articles previously published in Earthmovers last year, bringing it to life on the internet with alternative photos and video.

Based in the North Dorset town of Stalbridge, Richard Eavis (41) has spent his whole life in and around construction and agricultural machinery and is a big fan of Hitachi excavators.

Earthmovers caught up with man and machine on the stunning Poundbury development which is a vision of Prince Charles. It’s an urban expansion of the Dorset County town of Dorchester and has been being developed since late 1993 on 400 acres of land close to the Dorchester bypass, it includes 250 acres of mixed-use buildings, and 150 acres of landscaped ground set aside for recreation, ecology and farming.

Almost as soon as he could walk, young Richard was often to be found accompanying his father Ralph Eavis to work on a regular basis which was clearly the foundation stone for a work ethic that is second to none. Even to this day he spends a whole day on site in his excavator and then goes home to fire up the tractor to continue working on the family farm!

Richard, who is a self-confessed track machine fanatic, recalls that his first experience on a 360-degree hydraulic excavator was back in 1987, when he grappled with the three control levers which jutted up from the floor on a Priestman Mustang 120 which was on hire from Yeovil Plant Hire, at the time his dad was working for a local business called Pete Boon Construction operating his own CASE 580F backhoe loader which Richard was more often than not, riding pillion in with his father.

Not long after this in the same year Richard’s father took on a hire with long established company Ford Civil Engineering Ltd who are based in Wimborne, Dorset, and where he has largely remained to this day, now at the incredible age of 78.

Richard continued to go to work with his father and it was while on a site in Weymouth that he got his first chance to run a machine entirely on his own, which at the time was a brand-new CASE 688.

As an operator Mr Eavis Snr was always more of a backhoe loader fan, however in 1988 he purchased a JCB 814 Super hydraulic excavator, however he didn’t keep it that long as he still hankered after his trusty CASE 580 backhoe loader.

Photo: Richard's father Ralph Eavis on his CASE CX80C

In 1996 he purchased an old CASE Poclain 60CKB for working on the farm, and it was on this machine that Richard honed his operating skills, performing a whole multitude of jobs including ditch cleaning, loading muck and generally tidying up around the place, this machine was later replaced by a Komatsu PC120-3.

In 2000 Richard officially started working for Ford Civil Engineering, initially in the capacity of a labourer on the ground. Incredibly that only lasted for one day, as the next day he found himself in the seat of a brand-new Kubota 5-tonne mini excavator!

Historically Richard has had a long-term association with Hitachi hydraulic excavators, the first one being a 1998 Fiat Hitachi EX135 which was a hand me down machine, but fortunately in mint condition. This machine was part exchanged in October 2000 for a brand new EX135, which was Richards first brand new machine at the age of 19, it was sold just under 3 years later having amassed some 4,500 hours on the meter.

In 2003 Richard received another Hitachi, this time a Zaxis ZX130 model, which in line with Ford Civil Engineering’s fleet replacement policy was sold in 2006 with just over 5,000 hours on the meter.

Photo: Courtesy of Richard Eavis

There then followed a slight deviation from the familiar orange livery as the company invested in some JCB’s, which led to him receiving a JS130 in groundworker specification and after putting another 5,500 hours on that one, he described it as a great all-round machine.

Photo: Courtesy of Richard Eavis

Two more Hitachi ZX130-3’s followed in 2009 and 2011, before in February 2013 he was given a Volvo EC140D, Richard put 1,400 hours on this machine until it was handed down to another operator in the January of 2014, he then took on the drive in yet another new Hitachi, this time a ZX130-5 model.

However, it was around this time that Richard had been pondering investing in his own machine and in the May of 2014, he ended his direct employment with FCE to become a sole trader trading as Richard Eavis Contractor Services on hire to the same company, on the exact same site.

His first own machine was an ex-FCE fleet machine, a late 2011 model ZX130-3 with 5,500 hours on it, Richard takes up the story, “To be honest it came as a bit of a shock to start with as all my recent machines had been very fresh, so in a way it felt like a step back, however I knew it was the sensible thing to do to get started.

We were really busy at Poundbury and in just 4 months I put another 1,200 hours on the Hitachi, I was then offered a CASE CX130B with only 1,900 hours on it, so as I was now sat in a Hitachi with over 6000 hours on it, it felt like the most sensible thing to do.

I had to change a track idler spring which unfortunately broke within a couple of months of taking delivery, but I undertake all that kind of work myself so on a busy afternoon in December 2015 we shipped her back to the farm for the repair, carried out a full service and addressed a few other undercarriage issues”.

In January 2016 Richard made a phone call to Hitachi and was delighted to hear that they actually had machines in stock, so without any delay he done a deal on his first brand new machine as an owner operator which was a ZX130-5, new machines have followed on a fairly regular basis since then including two ZX130-6 models in 2018 and 2020 respectively and the latest example the all-new ZX130LCN-7 this year. 

He has taken the route of not keeping the machines for very long, talking about that Richard said, “It works well for me, change every two years, with 4k hours warranty, I know where I stand this way, and the machines still fetch very good second-hand money, my last one didn’t lose very much at all!”.

Running a new machine like this enables him to be on the top of his game at all times, with reliability assured and always utilising the latest technologies available. Talking about the brand Richard said, “For me Hitachi takes some beating, in the wider scheme of things, they are not really a lot more expensive to buy, they hold their money better, and the service costs are cheaper, so all in all it stacks up to be a lower hourly cost to run one!”.

In addition, Richard is a self-taught mechanic and as such undertakes all his own routine servicing with support from Hitachi Construction Machinery UK.

Asked for his thoughts on the new Dash-7 Richard commented, “It really has a lovely cab, although my initial thought when I first sat in it was that the large wiper was a bit in your face, but I wouldn’t be without it now, it really does a great job across the whole screen.

A lot more operator creature comforts in there now, mainly simple things like being able to mute the radio with a button on the joystick and cutting the revs down, both features that CASE have had for a long time to be fair, so its good to see Hitachi catching up on that.

All the controls fall nicely to hand just right, top quality finish with no squeaks or rattles, and they now have Bluetooth included, which many others have had for a while which is good to see, personally I think the Dash-6 would out grade it all day long, but other than that, the Dash-7 is a massive improvement all round”.

The 99hp Toyota four-cylinder engine has been performing well so far, and according to Richard is averaging about the same fuel consumption as the previous Isuzu power pack, the big bonus however, is not needing to use Ad Blue, which means less additional hassle and costs.

Richard spends most of his time on a roads and sewers gang on FCE, but they have been known to do some foundation work in the past, but generally with this gang, once the roads and sewers are in its off to start the next job.

Richard is running a Leica MC1 machine control system which he prefers to use in 2D for the work he does personally, “For some drain lines in the past we have run in 3D but having said that, we always dig to a laser anyway, but the system as a whole is so handy and I’ve really embraced the technology, its totally amazing, you are never waiting on anyone, and the accuracy of it all is incredible, it’s definitely a “game changer,” said Richard.

“I’m also big fan of Geith buckets and attachments, I always specify them wherever possible, I have a big rehandling bucket in the arsenal which I have had since 2006, she has moved some material in her time, and still going strong, the only deviation I have is a new Strickland tilting grader bucket”.

In what some might see as an unusual move, Richard has his machine branded with the same Ford Civil Engineering sign writing as their machines, with his name also on his machine in a more subtle manner, he does this almost as a mark of respect for a great company that has offered him such long standing work, both 8 years as an owner operator and 14 years previously as an employee, so a really nice touch in my book.  

On the day of our visit Richard and the gang were working on the last section of road to go in on the Poundbury development, with all works on this site scheduled to be completed in 2026.

Work is not just work for the Eavis family, its more of a way of life, on most nights when they get home, its out to work on the farm with the tractors, and occasionally they fire up the old Cat 205LC hydraulic excavator they also own, the German EDER based machine, is over 33 years old, but still puts in a good shift when needed. Its an old work horse I plan to visit for Earthmovers one of these days.

Photo: Courtesy of Richard Eavis

It was great to not only meet Richard on the day, but also to meet his father, and it was clear to see that for this father and son duo, machinery is definitely in the blood.