For More Information Contact: 
Jim Wahl, Wahl Marketing, (513) 561-2002, jim@wahlmarketing.com
Mike Noward, Werk-Brau Co. Inc., (800) 537-9561, Sales@Werk-Brau.com
(Findlay, OH) Landscape contractors know the frustration of moving heavy aggregate in tight spaces, or sloped areas, or worse a combination of both. Carrying stone for a patio base, hauling fill across a set of stairs, or digging alongside foundations often means hours of back-breaking work. It slows down progress, wears out the crew, and eats into profit.
For Heath Renfro, who owns a family-run landscape company in the mountains of North Carolina, slope challenges are part of everyday life. “Everything here is a hill, there’s no flat ground,” he explained. On one recent job, his crew needed to install stone steps from a customer’s backyard patio to their pool. The site dropped nearly 18 feet in elevation over a run of just 20 feet, which was so steep that moving the stone became its own project. “It was either wheelbarrows or find a better way,” Renfro said.
The Better Way
On this project, the game-changer was a Werk-Brau Ditching & Grading (D&G) Bucket paired with a Werk-Brau pin grabber coupler. Unlike standard tooth buckets, the bucket is designed for smooth-bottom work such as slope shaping, grading, and ditch maintenance. The smooth edge leaves a flat bottom, which reduces or even eliminates the need for shovel work. On jobs like patios, walkways, or drainage trenches, that means crews can move straight from excavation to base installation without losing time on cleanup.
Without the new bucket, the project would have meant days of heavy labor. “We could have carried five-gallon buckets of stone down by hand or rolled wheelbarrows over the slope, but both of those options would have been dangerous and slow,” said Renfro. On terrain that steep, a misstep with a loaded wheelbarrow could lead to injury, property damage, or both. These challenges come up often in hardscaping and drainage work, and contractors often build extra time into their estimates for that kind of labor. Renfro’s company is a lean four-man team, and they stay competitive by maximizing efficiency with smart equipment investments. “I feel like we can crank out the amount of work that an eight-man crew could, just by having the right machinery,” he said.
For Renfro and his crew, the real value of their new bucket was in the details that made a difference every day. After using it for hundreds of hours on steep terrain, they noticed the bucket held its shape, dumped cleanly, and kept performing without needing repairs.
“We’ve beat on ours pretty hard,” Renfro said, “and it’s held up great.” The bucket’s durable design includes high-wear components built from T-1 steel which gives it the strength to withstand tough, daily use without premature wear. A rigid top section reinforces structural stability and bottom wear straps provide extra protection for contact stress. That kind of reliability means one less worry and no downtime for fixes. Ease of handling was another plus. The tapered side plates help the bucket dump material cleanly, even when working with wet soils or sticky aggregates. At the working edge, a reversible, bolt-on cutting edge protects the lip from direct abrasion, and when it wears down, it can be flipped or replaced to extend the service life. It’s a practical feature that keeps maintenance simple and the bucket in rotation longer.
Renfro also liked that the bucket fit across multiple machines. Werk-Brau offers widths from 30 inches to 84 inches, with capacities ranging from 0.13 to 4.0 cubic yards, making it compatible with compact minis and larger excavators alike. For specialized jobs, the company offers drainage holes, aquatic-use versions, and even custom sizes. It’s the combination of strength, handling, and versatility that makes the bucket feel less like an attachment and more like another member of the crew.
New Ways to Get the Work Done
What really set the bucket apart was how it changed the way the crew approached a job. With the bucket installed on his SANY 35 mini excavator, Renfro tackled the step project differently. “With our Werk-Brau pin grabbers, we could take a bucket off and spin it around backwards,” he said. “That essentially turned the excavator into a long-reach skid steer.” Instead of wrestling a loaded wheelbarrow up a hill, Renfro could swing stone into place with precision. If he couldn’t reach the exact spot, his crew could simply shovel straight from the bucket. The rotated bucket also proved invaluable for digging against the foundation to install planter walls. “We were able to spin the bucket around and dig toward the foundation instead of trying to reach against it,” Renfro explained. “On that hillside, all we had to do was drag straight back toward us. It was safer and faster.”
On this single job, Renfro estimated that the D&G bucket saved between two and two-and-a-half full days of manual labor. “That’s easily $3,500 in labor savings,” he said. “The bucket cost about $1,800. It paid for itself on that one project.” On another project involving a water line, Renfro’s crew used the 12-inch bucket to dig under utilities without hand digging. “Normally, you’d have to pick at it from one side, then climb in with shovels to clear underneath,” he said. “With the bucket spun around, I could clean out underneath from both sides. Zero hand labor,” said Renfro.
A Clever Solution that Outperforms the Alternatives
Compared to traditional methods like wheelbarrows, hand shovels, or lesser buckets, the Werk-Brau D&G stands out for safety, efficiency, and durability. On steep terrain, safety is the first concern. Allowing crews to swing and place material with the excavator on steep terrain is safer and reduces risk to the crew.
The bucket delivers clear efficiency benefits, too. A smooth cutting edge leaves a flat, even bottom in footers, trenches, or patio bases. That reduces or even eliminates the need for hand shoveling, often the most time-consuming part of preparing a site. Renfro buys his attachments through The Ironpeddlers’ Duncan, South Carolina branch, and the quick turnaround helped his crew stay on schedule. “They’re phenomenal to work with,” he says. “We order a bucket and have it in about four to six weeks.” The right attachment and dealer support means his small crew can match the output of larger competitors while keeping labor costs down. The job is easier, and the entire business is more profitable.
Renfro emphasizes that he isn’t interested in saving money up front if it means compromising on outcomes. “There were cheaper options, but I’m not interested in cheap. I’m interested in quality,” he said. His experiences with other buckets on earlier equipment confirmed that decision. “We cracked another brand of bucket three times. I kept welding it back together. With Werk-Brau, we haven’t had that problem.”
For landscape contractors, equipment is an investment in efficiency and safety. The Werk-Brau Ditching & Grading Bucket gave Renfro’s four-man team the efficiency they needed to handle complex hardscape projects without burning extra labor hours. “Honestly, it’s been the best investment I’ve made so far,” he said. “The right attachment lets a small crew do the work of a big crew.” And that’s how a small crew competes with the big guys.
About Werk-Brau:
Werk-Brau manufactures a complete line of OEM and replacement attachments for excavators, mini excavators, backhoes, mini and full-size loaders, crawler loaders, and skid steers. Since 1947, they have been industry leading innovators, designing and producing both standard and specialty products for the heavy equipment industry. Their products are made in the USA and sold through equipment dealers and distributors worldwide. More than 75 years after their founding, the core principles of the company remain relevant: “provide customers with the utmost service, quality, and maintain the quality that bears the Werk-Brau name.” For more information on Werk-Brau products, contact Dale DeWeese at (800) 537-9561, or via e-mail at sales@Werk-Brau.com, or visit them online at www.Werk-Brau.com.
