How To Choose the Right Excavator for Your Job

Excavators are vital to many industrial projects and jobs. Having the right excavator is key to a successful and efficient project—from demolition to general contracting jobs. Here’s how to choose the right excavator for your job.

Performance Standards

The first step in choosing the right excavator is to consider your needs and the performance standards you will expect from the machine. For example, evaluate how much you’ll use your excavator daily and what you’ll be doing. This helps determine what kind of excavator you should look for.

Your Job Site

Your job site’s layout also plays a significant role in the type of excavator you want for the job. Some excavators work best on flat landscapes rather than rugged areas. You’ll also want to assess any hazards or tight spaces. Features like a swing tail can become dangerous in these areas, meaning you’ll want to opt for a zero-swing tail excavator or a smaller size.

Size

After considering the performance standards you’ll need and the job site layout, you should base much of your decision on the machine’s size. Excavators can come in mini or compact sizes as well as standard or large. On smaller jobs or for a more compact space, you may want to look into mini excavators rather than a large one. Base this decision on workload and layout sizes to make the best choice.

Tools You Need

If you need to do projects that go beyond digging, your search criteria will change slightly. For jobs that require many different operations, you’ll need an excavator that can support additional attachments. Some examples of these include buckets, couplers, rippers, and hammers. If you need one or more of these attachments, purchase your excavator from a manufacturer who provides these features with warranties and maintenance.

Assessing performance standards, your job site, the machine’s size, and the tools you’ll need are a few essential steps in choosing the right excavator for your job.