Basement renovations are just as popular in the UK as they are here. But in certain urban areas that are particularly cramped for space, basements are often extended as part of the renovation process. In London, for example, basement renovations/extensions have exploded in popularity in recent years.
Many of the basement renovations are performed for rather upscale properties, and accordingly are very large and expensive projects, including niceties such as underground swimming pools.
And when tons of earth are dug out to extend a basement and make room for swimming pools and home theaters, excavating machines are used to do the digging. That’s not surprising. But what is rather surprising is that oftentimes those excavators go into a basement at the beginning of a project, and never come back out. It’s currently estimated that up to 1,000 excavators languish underground in the London area, abandoned for all eternity at the end of basement renovation projects.
Why are the excavators left behind? Though the machines are valued at up to $10,000 each, the cost of getting them back out is apparently too great. The basement extensions often go so deep that the excavators cannot be driven back out, and alternative means of extraction are costly and disruptive. So a homeowner looking over the final bill for a basement renovation project might notice a peculiar charge: one JCB excavator, cost 5,000 pounds. Apparently it’s a common and expected expense of an upscale basement renovation/excavation project.
One must assume that the excavators are entombed out of sight behind a finish wall; it’s unlikely that a wealthy homeowner would consider an abandoned excavator a welcome addition to their home theater!
Don’t Worry, We Don’t Leave Excavators Behind…
At TLC Inc we operate under the philosophy of leaving no excavator behind – or at least that would be our philosophy if we used excavators in our basement remodeling projects. Heck, we don’t even leave screwdrivers or hammers behind, except for perhaps the occasional forgotten tool.
All we leave behind are beautifully finished basements and really happy customers – items of even greater value than JCB excavators!