One of the most common pieces of heavy-duty equipment you’ll find on most construction sites is an excavator. The reason excavators are so popular is because they can perform so many different functions, including digging and trenching, moving heavy objects around, transporting commodities such as stone and sand, and they can even be equipped with vibratory hammers to drive or remove piles, pipe, caissons, and more.
However, there are a number of different factors that go into deciding what kind of excavator is best suited for each individual job site. There are three common sizes to choose from:
- Mini or Compact excavators can weigh anywhere between 2,100 pounds to just under 10 tons. These are best suited for small jobs or in cases where the excavator will need to work within tight spaces. These are not as powerful as their larger counterparts, but they can do a great job of digging and trenching, and they offer superior maneuverability. And since they are lighter than the other types of excavators, they will do less damage to any surfaces they need to move over to get to the job site, including roadways and sidewalks.
- Standard excavators run from a little over 10 tons to just under 45 tons. Standard excavators are popular on worksites because they are powerful but still very versatile. They need more space to operate in than the minis, but they are still pretty easy to transport. Being heavier than the minis, they also may do a small amount of damage to any ground or surface that they need to cross to get to a designated work area.
- Large excavators can weigh as much as 95 tons and are mostly used for industrial applications. These are particularly handy in large, flat spaces because of their sheer size. But if you need the horsepower, this is the piece of equipment you’ll want on your team.
Without knowing what conditions or challenges each worksite will have in store for you, you might want to consider excavator rentals in Virginia as opposed to buying each kind of vehicle. Rentals provide a number of benefits including:
- Upfront Costs. The larger the machine, the more expensive the price tag. If your business generally only uses one kind of excavator you won’t need to worry about plunking down large sums of money to buy all three sizes. But they’re still not cheap.
- Maintenance. When using a heavy equipment rental service, you won’t need to worry about the maintenance or storage of your excavator(s). The rental company will take care of that, along with being able to quickly provide you with repair or replacement service if your vehicle malfunctions and can’t get the job done on your schedule.
- Payroll. If you purchase an excavator, you’ll also need an experienced and certified operator. If you don’t already have one on your payroll, most qualified heavy equipment rental companies can provide one. Instead of having a full-time employee, you can “rent” an operator that will only be on your jobsite for as long as he or she is needed, saving you a bunch of money on salaries and benefits.
Summary:
If you don’t already own excavator equipment and you’ve got a big job coming up, you may want to look into renting instead of purchasing. For one thing, there are three different size categories of excavators available. If you don’t work within one specific genre of construction, you may end up needing more than one type over the course of a year.
GeoQuip Inc. 