Gordon,
I bought a Cat 215b a couple years ago for $22k.  It was in good shape and I knew the owner.  I have put about 300 hours on it in 2 years.  Before I bought it, we had been hiring a local contractor at $80 per hour.  300 x $80 = $24,000.  Now you do need to subtract out fuel and repairs which can add up.  I have had about $2000 in repairs (turbo went out, several hoses replaced, new teeth on bucket, and a barrell of oil).  I lost track of the fuel consumed but I would guess in the neighborhood of 1000 gallon.

I have seen several smaller excavators sell this year.  The biggest one was a 2003 JD 120c with about 3000 hours.  It brought around $50k.  A 1994 CAT 307 with 3700 hours brought $22k.  The Yanmar pictured below brought $17k.

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Jan1KikoAdd6.jpg (79KB - 126 downloads)

Jan1KikoAdd11.jpg (85KB - 123 downloads)

Feb24WitmerNewPic2.jpg (56KB - 139 downloads)