Should I Rent a Bobcat for This? Landscaping/Retaining Wall Questions

My yard is funny - it should slope from the street to the far side (right to left when facing the back) of my property - a drop of about 6'-8'. My property is 70' wide. 

The builder decided a slope was no good, so he built a 3' retaining wall...then about another 15' out, he build another, small 1.5' retaining wall. 

Originally, I believe he had the area behind the 2nd retaining wall all done up with a paver patio - that no longer exists. 

What's funny is that my neighbors property (on the other side of the fence there) has the original slope - and it's actually quite mild. It's no problem to drive the vehicle through the gate down to the far corner of his property. 

The thing is, these retaining walls massively and awkwardly break up the back yard. We want to expand the deck, and doing so will impede on the space in the yard, so we're thinking of removing at least the smaller retaining wall and the fill behind it. Opening it up for a more sheltered seating area, perhaps with a fire ring.

Problem is, this is at least 33 yards of fill and in order to get rid of it I gotta go up over the taller retaining wall. 

So far, I've got a quote of about $2000 from one guy to remove the fill. 

Another guy said he could do it far cheaper ($800), but in order to get equipment down to the lower level, he'd need to tear out a considerable portion of the retaining wall. Which, I'm kinda ok with. I could have that retaining wall rebuilt as steps.

Lastly - this might be a good chance to finally rent a Bobcat and try it myself. 

Thoughts comments concerns?

In reply to pheller :

My initial thought is, leave it to the pro's. But then watching mr2s2000elise and his home/backyard reno thread gives me hope that I/we can all tackle big projects as well. 

The reason for 2 steps has to do with railing for walls over a certain height.  If that was all one wall you would need to put up a fence or railing or something on top so no one could fall.

In reply to oldopelguy (Forum Supporter) :

How much experience do you have with a skid steer( that's what bobcat's are actually called) 

If you are a novice, you could possibly make a real mess of it. ( But if you can build a good looking race car you may get to surprise everybody )  Some people catch on right away,  others don't.  Don't expect you'll save a lot of money though. You need to rent the skid steer, and a trailer and if you don't have a good 3/4 ton truck you'll need one of those to haul it. 
 A skilled guy can pick apart a retaining wall and make it look easy while a novice will wind up with a lot of smashed concrete.  ( or broken stone. ). 

I'll second that.  If you've never run one, you'll probably make it worse. It takes a bit of practice to develop the "eye." I don't want to discourage you, but it might end up costing you more in the long run. Renting means your on the clock, and that added push can make a job go South in a hurry. 

Do you know anyone with one you can play around with first? 

Also, if you go with a pro, see if you can find an outfit with a hoe, or backhoe and a small Bobcat, (444 is the model that comes to mind) that can be easily hoisted over that wall with the boom. A 444 is tiny, but with dominate a wheelbarrow and shovel all day long.

It's an investment - but what about buying a skid steer and reselling it when you're done? Or arrange to rent one over a weekend, when there isn't the demand.

I have access to a small tractor with a bucket. I can get stuff done with it, but I'm very slow compared to a real operator. Glacial. Haven't destroyed anything yet, but then again it also steers like a car so I have an advantage.

Alternate plan: remove the lower wall and just smooth the fill into a slope. That's shovel work, but not terrible shovel work.

A skid steer would be lousy at this. They don't dig compacted (undisturbed) earth, they don't load trucks that well, and a job like this takes more care than you might expect. If someone bid $800, it's a no-brainer. Let them do it. 

My dude with a tractor got it done - removed the fill - helped out removing some fill out front for a retaining wall install - and he moved some boulders from a friend's place across town - all for $750. Totally worth it.

The "easy" leveling of the front slope to create a flat space next to the house for my truck (and building a retaining wall there) was actually way more difficult than my guy expected. We were expecting an hour, and it took more like 3. Where as the removal of the fill in the backyard was only 3 hours.

I'll post some pictures of the before/after. 

You should always rent a bobcat.   They're just fun to play with.

Grtechguy said:

You should always rent a bobcat.   They're just fun to play with.

They even teach toddlers to operate them. How hard could it be?

Grtechguy said:

You should always rent a bobcat.   They're just fun to play with.

My wife borrowed a skidsteer from work so we could spread some gravel. I was not allowed to drive it, I was apparently only qualified to run a shovel because shovels aren't fun.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :   This is back when my youngest was interested in driving one.

Is this the same house, or did you end up selling and moving?