Which Excavator Do I Need?

The right excavator is the smallest one that can still do the job comfortably. Oversize and you pay more, damage surfaces and struggle for access; undersize and you're fighting the machine all day. Four questions get you to the answer.

1. How much material are you moving?

A patio's worth of soil and a strip-foundation dig are different worlds. Small volumes suit a 1.5–3 tonne mini; a full extension or commercial strip-out wants a 5-tonne or larger, ideally with a dumper alongside so the digger never waits.

2. How deep do you need to reach?

Match dig depth to the machine before anything else. Garden and shallow drainage sit under 1.5m; footings and standard drainage want 1.5–3m; deep drainage and commercial dig go beyond 3m and need a full-size machine.

3. What's your site access?

Access is the constraint that overrides preference. If the only way in is a 1m passage, a 13-tonne excavator is irrelevant no matter how much spoil you're moving — you plan the job around a machine that fits, and accept more trips.

4. Do you need attachments?

Breaking concrete, augering post holes or grading with a tilt bucket all need a machine with the hydraulics and stability to run them. That generally rules out the smallest micro class for sustained attachment work.

Put simply: pick the depth and access first, then size up to the spoil volume. If two classes both fit, the smaller one usually wins on cost and surface protection. Send us the job and we'll confirm.