Vegas High Rollers and Heavy Equipment?

The housing foreclosure crisis in Las Vegas has meant a massive slowdown in heavy construction equipment use as the demand for new casinos and other big projects has plummeted.

But one inventive entrepreneur has come up with a way to keep big rigs in use while pulling in big bucks from thrill-seeking Vegas visitors – simply by letting the high rollers have a taste of rolling out high-end machinery.

He’s created  a life-sized sandbox for adults who fork over up to $750 each to shove dirt, rock and huge tires around with earth-moving construction equipment.

After a 10-minute classroom lesson and oversight from trainers in headsets, instant operators get to play with equipment from their childhood dreams.

"I thought it would be much clunkier, and the lighter you are with the controls, the easier it worked," revealed Mary Fitzsimons, a California emergency room doc, after spending a couple of hours digging a trench, moving tires and using a giant bucket to scoop basketballs on cones.

"I thought I wouldn't pick it up, I thought I would totally futz it up," she said.

The operation’s owner, Ed Mumm started what he calls “Dig This” after renting and operating an excavator while constructing a house in Steamboat Springs, Colo. He had the bright idea that toying with heavy construction equipment could take participants completely out of their everyday existence and into a childhood sandbox fantasy world come true.

"I thought to myself: If I'm having this much fun, imagine the amount of people that don't get to do this stuff that would love to do this," he said.

"When they're in those machines, everything else doesn't mean anything," enthused Mumm, 45. "They've forgotten about all the stresses in their lives because the fact is, they've got to focus on that piece of equipment. When they get in there and they rev up that engine, they know they've got a serious program on their hands."

Dig This sits just across the freeway from the Las Vegas Strip, next to the remains of the actual construction industry that took a dive in 2008 and hasn't recovered since. Major projects, including the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and Boyd Gaming Corp.'s Echelon, were begun and partly financed but never finished as the recession sandbagged the gambling industry and twenty years of steady casino construction came to an end. Construction worker employment in Nevada in July was down 8.6 percent compared with July 2010. No new major hotel or casino developments are scheduled to open through the end of next year.

Travis Mills, a trainer at Dig This who was part of those layoffs, says he’d be happy to never return to the industry.

"A lot of my construction friends are just sitting at home and there's nothing going on," the 24-year-old commented as he watched Fitzsimons at play in the sandbox.

"This is a lot more fun — I don't get yelled at by my superintendent all day," Mills said. "I like being around equipment, so that's a plus."

Fitzsimons was surprised by how delicate operating the machines can be, even as they move large objects impossible to maneuver manually. But she knew her short experience doesn't her to sign on to a worksite that needs an extra hand.

"I don't think I could jump in and do it but at least I have a better understanding of what they're doing," she admitted. "No, I'm not ready yet."

As a visitor plopping down your recent winning for a thrill at Dig This, you get a six-part program:

 1. Classroom Safety/Equipment Orientation.

Following introductions, an instructor reviews equipment safety and controls and gives a visual of the activities ahead. You are then be issued a Dig This hard hat and a very bright vest.

 2. In-cab Orientation.

Once you are comfortable and buckled up in your seat your instructor goes over all the controls in your cab.

 3. Warm up.

Your instructor gives you directions via a 2-way headset and talks you through a warm up activity so that you are orientated with all functions of the equipment.

4. The Big Dig

Once you have completed the warm-up activity your instructor begins the Big Dig. The first activity is a major dirt excavation exercise followed by two other above ground activities that test your eye hand co-ordination and agility.

5. Award Ceremony

Your excellence out in the field is rewarded with an official Dig This Certificate of Accomplishment.....something that can be proudly displayed by your college degree or on your wall of fame!

 6. Retail Therapy.

There will be time to purchase Dig This memorabilia and cool items from the Cat Gear Store.

Worth plunking down $750 for the experience?

For someone who’s only dreamed of that kind of power at his fingertips, more than likely.

But of course if that’s what you already do for a living and came to Vegas for a vacation, there are plenty of other ways on the Strip to squander your night’s receipts from the poker table…