So, how would you do it better? Assuming you had the smarts necessary to both operate a backhoe and wade into a bunch of ASP.
I would communicate with Matt through email or PMs instead of publicizing every update you make.
And if you've been doing programming for 12 years and did it for a living, then you must have gone to school to learn that. And if that's true, then I believe that you know something about what your doing.
And operate a backhoe? How hard can it be? If you can drive a car, I'm sure I can operate a back hoe. However, I'm not good with manual transmission - I crashed my first car with manual transmission about 2 years ago, so as long Catapillar makes an automatic - how hard could it be? Besides, I'd rather hire someone. I'm skilled in common sense, and common sense says - "Don't get your hands dirty, that's their job."