Australia's Most Expensive Basement Excavations with Jimmy Starbuck

Meet Jimmy Starbuck, a man who "digs holes and carts dirt."
Specifically, he owns Starbuck Excavation and Trucking, a Melbourne-based excavation company specializing in complex basement excavation projects.
I'm ALWAYS sure to visit Jimmy when I'm down under, so he was naturally our first visit on our latest trip.
During this visit, we saw his team first working on a high-dollar residential basement excavation alongside an existing home. Once complete, it will be an underground garage and entertainment area.
Then, before finishing with late-morning coffee, we checked out a nearby commercial basement for parking below a future apartment complex.
To learn more about Jimmy, follow him on Instagram at @starbuckexcavation or visit his website at starbuckexcava...

[@godsdozer]

grade rod always works best when you hold it upside down.

[@segomatu7063]

Ah ah ! Mort de rire ! Yes, at 3:33 this dude held the grade rod upside down ! But with his channel he's supposed to be quite familiar with the Construction world anyway ... Weird !

[@MikeT-TheRetiredColonel]

Wouldn't he be holding it right-side up if he were top-side of the globe? Yanno, he was down under after all ;) Old habits and all that LOL

[@Basti4gaming]

i think he hold it like that because otherwise he can´t show how the beeping thing works... otherwise the grade is too high and that thing never beeps.

[@AaronWitt]

exactly. They do everything upside down in Oz

[@ChuckBeefOG]

Some people read it wrong. I’ve seen ditches put in uphill because they couldnt read a rod.

[@dalewebb652]

The piles aren't temporary the support the whole capping beam, which the whole building and structure will sit on the capping beam

[@yungearl20]

As a country guy I been enjoying seeing the job sites you visit like it’s a vacation

[@victorc8804]

I'm impressed you dnt just work in the 🇺🇸 like me to be specific southern California, you travel the world 🌎 for work incredible!

[@Treehandler]

Aaron takes “fake it until you make it” to a whole new level. No longer has to even pretend that he knows what he’s talking about!

[@AaronWitt]

everyone knows I'm a fraud

[@jaidenwilliams_450]

everything is for a cracker they supposed to have whatever they want so nobody cares what a cracker do have etc cause they supposed to have it. If it ain’t momma and daddy’s money. the skin color take them farther than a black hispanic or any color cracker has it easy

[@lukewoodthorpe9990]

love to see that you covering whats going on in my home town. i use to be the hire controller/yardman for a rental company and we would rent to starbuck a lot

[@NSPOOL]

i lol'd at he doesnt even make it to lunch anymore

[@FliesEyes]

Basements are the most under utilised building options used in Australia.

[@Bigsoot7393]

Yeah for idiots in cities haha we just build outwards in the country

[@tomv8952]

I reckon most expensive basement excavations would be in Sydney - got the sandstone and the water to deal with.

[@SmashingBricksAU]

"Pre-Lunch" is known in Australia as "Smoko" 🤣

[@likeaboss860]

You are holding that receiver upside down 😂

[@JRocaway]

Love a good episode with Jimmy Starbuck.

[@AaronWitt]

thanks for watching

[@garlicbreadstick8220]

This video feels like deja vu...

[@Robin-Xbox23]

Yeah feels like i have seen a video with Starbucks before

[@AaronWitt]

yeah we did another one with him. More holes and carting dirt

[@hughtaylor2]

Piles aren’t temporary. They’re actually a massive structural element which supports the capping beam and transfers the buildings load into the ground. Shotcrete walls are mainly to resist lateral load from the soil in between the piles.

[@freedomrings1420]

This is crazy. Ive done formsetting for pooldecks years ago in Boca Florida and 1,2 million dollar homes in the late 80s that were so close that its called zero lot lines. If i had money, id be living on some nice acreage where i could walk around nude in my home without neighbors next to me.

[@dahorseman2654]

Its harder to do in Australia slightly. I live on 60 acres, and my neighbors are a few hundred yards away (they're old, awesome, farmers). Were always helping each other other pull mowers out of the creek, or they're loaning me equipment because my junk is old. In Aus when you get out of a metro/suburban area its tough to find something that's not in excess of a few hundred acres, in a flood plain, or have basically zero infrastructure to it except for internet ( backwards from here- i just got fiber internet this year). Aus is a very interesting geographically, and in a ton of small ways too. I worked for a couple Saudi sheikhs (showing aussies how Ky raises racing ponies) for 2 years there. I lived in two neighborhoods/one farm, and never saw a four way stop with a stop sign. (queensland, and new south wales). You get out of the populated areas, and it makes our western states look like a toy.

[@Bigsoot7393]

​@@dahorseman2654what are you talking about mate, theres literally as many 25 acre lots as you can poke a stick at hajaha

[@Adamoo8]

Hard to do that and be close to city and beach though

[@freedomrings1420]

@@Adamoo8 Gee, reading and comprehending isn't your strong points. No where in my comment did I say anything about wanting to be by the city or beach. I could have my own pond / small lake and go skinny dipping. I don't need no city or beach.

[@Adamoo8]

@@freedomrings1420 you didn’t say you didn’t and I was just making a point, it wasn’t an attack. No need to get condescending.

[@philhey8847]

At the second site, will they wet stick rebar into the piles or are they unreinforced?

[@ericstone8812]

4:35 You’re supposed to respond to that with “keep it stupid simple”

[@truthhurtsdontit]

Dude had the grade rod upside down 😂😂😂 come on maaaaan.

[@barrymckenna8172]

Love your videos you guys need to visit us here in New Zealand

[@AaronWitt]

hopefully one day!

[@sabledrit1247]

you should try and get a tour of sperry iowas underground gypsum mine goes down 600 feet

[@jascollinscork]

Brilliant video 👏🏻👏🏻😍 just wondering with them machines have to be craned out of thar hole 🤔

[@AaronWitt]

yeah they'll leave a mini in there that will eventually be picked out

[@patricksager2nd189]

You should show the process of Shotcreting the walls.

[@shhmule]

What's with the dorky hardhat? Are there not any more conventional plastic hardhats you can wear that dont look so odd?

[@nathianfoote3181]

Petillo has a 5200 acre job in Fredrick MD. If u wanna go explore

[@BestuffM]

Jimmy Starbuck has a great linkedin page with heaps of cool info and personal stories. Cool seeing him in a vid!

[@bogantrucker]

Gotta run up to the mines where we run the road trains an everything mate, you'd get a kick out of that i tell ya

[@UncleManuel]

So today Aaron visited a Starbuck's. 😁😁😁🤟

[@mikeo.1593]

Looks like great fill dirt

[@davidwindsor4632]

Pretty neat jobs. Something different

[@romanazu5895]

You had the lazer upside down

[@metamorphiczeolite]

8:02 You neglected to mention the rebar cage that's inserted into the cement concrete.

[@repaircollc]

Cool stuff as always!

[@construction168]

This excavator is strong

[@swiss-made]

Whats the name of the song playing at 4:58 ? does anyone know

[@globetrotter683]

How many k's do they have to truck the soil in a city like Melbourne?

[@Dan-rg7jj]

Depends. 10,20,30...

[@AaronWitt]

yeah sometimes they'll only get a few loads in a day

[@globetrotter683]

@@Dan-rg7jj Thanks for that

[@globetrotter683]

@AaronWitt Yes I though that might be the case

[@WillyWanka]

What is the difference between a pier and a pile?

[@tomv8952]

Appreciate the video, very interesting

[@Kiwifarmerboy]

Aaaaaaaaaron why are your videos soooooooooo short!!!!! Longer videos please

[@AaronWitt]

future ones will be longer

[@OfficialSamuelC]

Need longer videos like the Ashville channel!

[@kobywheeler1486]

For a minute I pondered if they actually had upside down grade rods in aus and was mindfucked😂

[@njonebale7889]

Was that a guy working in short shorts on jimmy starbucks crew…I don’t know about that guy!

[@tomv8952]

stubbies are as aussie as they come

[@rirebel6029]

So wierd to see a guy with all his safety gear on ......but then short shorts 😆🤣😂

[@ric8831]

Aaron, the piles aren’t temporary, they are part of the retention system….

[@rogerjackson4270]

Aaron what kind of hard hat you got brother

[@zacnat12]

Definitely must get a quality private building inspector to check work😅

[@Умед-ч8к]

привет мы смотрим ваш видео ролик класс.

[@pjbth]

That is such a weird way to do a basement? Build the walls than dig out the middle? Seems like building your house around your old one than removing the old one through the windows.

[@christianbaker9662]

But if you dig out the middle first all of the walls of dirt around the hole are gonna collapse...it's also OSHA standards I believe. They can only dig about 5 feet at a time before the walls need to be shored

[@blueman5924]

they only put in the drilled piles with a top cap to relieve the downward pressure on the cut, and the piles themselves act as intermediate shoring with that dense soil structure. Would not work on gravelly geography I imagine.

[@AaronWitt]

it's all about physics... if you dig out the middle without support, the surrounding area will collapse with the pressure removed

[@c0dy42]

thats the normal way to build in a city.

[@glenlaughlin6547]

You drove, yikes. Thought you would hire a local driver, to prevent accidentally, driving on the wrong side of the road.

[@JamesSmith-wn6ws]

No he's not a pussy.

[@thegoodthebadtheugly22]

Lol they dont backfill they use shotcrete

[@larqy8828]

I hope he goes to the cross river rail in Brisbane for the olympics

[@Veeeeeeman72]

The staff is upside down lol

[@TBird89]

It’s called a Stav bud. Not staff. 99% of people say staff 😁

[@neilneil7705]

Watch out this grub (Starbuck company) doesn’t pay his contractors

[@mrghm]

When’s Aaron going to buy jimmy out,

[@AaronWitt]

it's already happened

[@moose5.9]

What an ass backwards way of doing a basement it seems. My dads house had a full basement and 10" poured walls it didnt take near this long and not as much effort

[@duran9664]

❌This is FAKE 😒 Australians don’t use yard as measurement unit 🤏

[@AaronWitt]

busted

[@larrylong6268]

Why not use sheet pile

[@AaronWitt]

thank you

[@TheMountainViewCompany]

Smh my head Jimmy really needs to start working harder and putting more hours in or else he won't ever have a sucessful business

[@AaronWitt]

great point