Couple building home buy mini excavator from Alibaba and unbox it to several unexpected surprises
- This UK couple bought a cheap digger from AliBaba
- They need to build a homestead project they’ve been working on in France
- The digger turned out to be a good buy, but there were a couple of things they weren’t expecting
Published on Mar 04, 2025 at 4:02 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Mar 04, 2025 at 7:10 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
This UK couple living in France just bought a mini excavator from Alibaba to help build their new home.
They’ve lived in France for a long time, but they’ve only been working on their project for a few years.
Their idea is to build a homestead from scratch, so they need a lot of construction equipment.
Including, as it turns out, a cheap excavator from AliBaba.
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They’re livin’ it up
Ian and Julie are two UK citizens who’ve been living in the French Pyrenees and documenting their life on their YouTube channel, Homesteading Uncontained.
They live in a ‘real’ home, which they bought over a decade ago, but they’re also building a new one from scratch as a side project.
They decided to build a one-acre homestead starting from zero, and they’re doing everything by themselves, from laying concrete slabs to roofing and electrical.
And in order to do that, they need gear and construction equipment.

In the clip here, the UK couple talked their viewers through the new and inexpensive Nuoman excavator they’d bought from Alibaba.
The first thing that stood out to them was the size.
“I’m 6 foot 2, this thing will look like a toy beneath me,” Ian said.
Another thing that surprised them was the fact the description seemed to be inaccurate.
The machine was listed as being gas-powered, but, when they opened up the crate and removed the excavator, the fuel cap clearly read ‘diesel’.
It worked, though.
The excavator even started on the first attempt, and it seemed to be work just fine.
Now they just have to take it to their acre of land in France where their homestead is being built.

Why these Alibaba vehicles are becoming so popular
Cheap vehicles from China are becoming quite popular, and there’s a probably a good reason for this.
Generally speaking, Chinese alternatives to European, Japanese, or American vehicles have always been cheaper.
But, in the past, they were often perceived as inferior in terms of quality.
That gap is no longer that wide, or at least that’s what people seem to think.

This is why we now have YouTube unboxing videos for construction equipment, tiny motorcycles, cheap cars, and even boats – all bought from AliBaba.
There’s a guy in Florida who’s been buying cheap vehicles and construction equipment from Alibaba about once a month for years.
So far, he’s bought a boat, which he later modified, a truck, and some construction equipment.
Proving that you can buy absolutely anything online!
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