Factually, excavators are best used for digging, heavy lifting, and demolition but before making a large investment you might need to ponder upon “what size of excavator do I need?”.
Well, the choice of excavators which would be needed depends on multiple factors. It is thus important to consider the following alternatives before making a choice.
- What is the purpose of using an excavator - digging, heavy lifting, or demolition?
- What is the shape and size of the landscape where the work is to be done? And what is its scope?
- What additional usage can the excavator have? For instance, will it be used to move large pipes or earth and other things alike?
- Considering the purpose of the business, will it be viable to lease or buy an excavator?
Once the above questions have been answered, the next way ahead is to choose the perfect size of an excavator which suits your job. Broadly, there are four excavator sizes available in the market. These include:
1. Compact excavators
Typically used for small to medium-sized landscaping projects like digging holes, foundations & ponds, creating utility trenches & drainage ditches. These excavators use less power and run on narrow turning circles and in areas with narrow spaces.
The benefit of using this small-sized excavator is its use on fragile infrastructure wherein an excavator digging a trench on roads or footpaths is required. These are available between 1.7 tonnes up to 7 tonnes.
Excavator sizes:
- 1Tonne - 1.7 Tonne
Kubota Excavators of 1 Tonne are an ideal choice for plumbing for auxiliary attachments or straight wall trenching. The 1.7 Tonne excavator on the other hand is best suited for simple and quick excavations like residential pool digging to any other small landscaping job.
- 2.5 Tonne
If you are concerned about what size of excavator do you need for superior lifting capacity for digging, lifting, and loading then Kubota Excavators’ U25-3 Mini Excavator and U27-4 excavator are just the right choices depending on what features you require to get the job done.
- 3.5 Tonnes - 3.8 Tonnes
These crawlers run on diesel engines and are equipped with two-speed travel. They are well suited for projects involving the digging of trenches and lifting pipe since they are well balanced.
- 4.3 Tonnes - 4.8 Tonnes
Power, versatility, zero swings, two-speed travel, and Two Pattern Selection systems (TPSS) for ISO or SAE patterns are the features designed to ideally suit these excavators for construction, roadwork, and landscaping.
- 5.5 Tonnes
Kubota V2607-DI Diesel Engine and Dozer blade float function along with auto idling function reduce operating costs and exhaust emissions. Moreover, the auto-shift function allows automatic travel speed between high and low depending on traction and terrain on which you want to perform the job.
2. Standard excavators
The standard size of excavators is mainly between 7 tonnes to 45 tonnes which are suitable for the majority of landscaping jobs. Compact excavators are ideal for lighter variants of work that involve working in tighter spaces. On the other hand, standard excavators are ideal for jobs like material handling for building construction, dredging, demolition of a construction site, and other landscaping jobs like forestry and handling large pipes.
To undertake jobs with standard excavators, we come across again the question: “What size excavator do I need?”. If your business requires repeated use of the equipment for an approximate time of three years or more then buying might be an option for you. Consider the following size which Kubota offers:
Excavator size:
- 8.3 Tonne
With an operating weight of 8.1/ 8.3 Tonnes along with an aircon, these excavators are equipped to work on uneven terrain and come with 66.6 Horsepower at 2,000 RPM. The Digging depth of 4600 mm and Dump height of 5250 mm make the excavator ideal for any urban job site too.
3. Large excavators
These excavators are generally used on sites that involve digging out of a lot of earth. Due to its large size, a special trailer needs to be used to facilitate the movement of this equipment. This can be a costly affair since additional attachments would add up to operating costs. However, with the operating capacity of these excavators of up to 80 Tommes, they are well suited for large projects having levelled ground.
4. Specialist Excavators
These excavators are used for specialized purposes like reaching difficult areas, working on all kinds of terrains, floating excavators for water-based or swamp work, working in confined spaces, and many more.
Now since you know what excavator size would you need, it is important to make the most important decision- Investment. When it comes to investing in excavators, it is important to consider hiring or buying. Factors like transportation, insurance & maintenance cost, storage, and functionality of the excavator should be considered before making investments.
Get free assistance in choosing the best excavator for your business. Call Boya Equipment on (08) 9302 2006 Today!