Though They Be But Little

April 25, 2019
Mini excavators are tiny, mighty tools for landscaping and construction job sites.

Mini excavators have been popular offerings at trade shows and are among the darlings of new construction product announcements. But what can these bite-sized machines offer at job sites?

Mini excavators, also called compact excavators, are excavators with a weight of 6 metric tons or less. They usually have around 50 horsepower. Their sizes range widely—everything from units that look more like a souped-up lawnmower with a boom to models that are just barely small enough to be considered “mini.”

Most big companies in the excavator space have released their own compact excavators, and more emerge every year. For example, Caterpillar announced their next-generation mini excavator in November 2018.

These smaller models are ideal for construction projects that require movement into tight spaces or lighter bodies that can glide over the landscape, rather than lumbering around crushing weaker material under their tracks.

While they may be petite, mini excavators hardly evoke images of “fun-sized” toy playthings. These seriously sophisticated machines add a valuable tool to fleet managers’ tool kits by providing versatility, precision, and (literally) a tiny footprint.

“They’re mini but mighty,” says Ed Brenton, product marketing manager for mini excavators at Case Construction Equipment.

Lee Padgett, product manager at Takeuchi US, which has its North America headquarters in Pendergrass, GA, said mini excavators’ small size gives them their own unique advantages.

“Compact excavators have many advantages over larger excavators,” says Padgett. “Due to their compact dimensions, they are able to access a wide range of job sites that may have space limitations. They are easier to transport to and from jobs, and they save the owner on the bottom-line with the much lower cost of ownership due to fuel costs and maintenance.”

Brenton says mini excavators are helpful in tight spaces, but otherwise, they’re fairly comparable to regular-sized excavators in terms of function.

“One of the biggest advantages they have is they can do basically the same functions that a larger machine can do, just on a smaller scale,” says Brenton. “It depends on the time they (construction fleet managers) want to put into it.”

Jeff Jacobsmeyer, Kubota’s product manager for compact excavators, wheel loaders, and TLBs, says mini excavators are able to have nearly all the same attachments as a full-sized excavator, which gives them versatility on jobs while being able to squeeze into tight spots.

“A 50-horsepower and under compact excavator has the ability to run hydraulic driven attachments in a physically smaller, lighter footprint. Concrete breakers, augers, and specialty grading buckets make many jobs easier,” he says. “Large and small excavators, as a rule, are the Swiss army knife of the construction site.”

That space savings can mean big savings with job efficiency and precision, says Jacobsmeyer. While sometimes a mini excavator might take longer to dig a certain sized hole, it can also sometimes save time on other projects because larger excavators can’t get into corners or dig as precisely as a smaller model.

“Most tractor-loader-backhoes have an overall working length of approximately 25 feet and a weight of over 16,000 pounds,” he says. “Their larger size is a bit cumbersome and inefficient when space is a concern. Transportation to the job site is easier in urban areas with the compact excavator because trailer and truck requirements are less and sometimes no CDL [commercial driver’s] license is required.”

Brenton agreed, saying the ability to move a mini excavator to a job site by hauling it behind a pickup truck simplifies the logistics around transporting the excavator. He says some contractors, such as landscape contractors who usually do the bulk of their work in the summer, rely on temporary employees who sometimes don’t have a commercial driver’s license. Being able to hire a college student or seasonal contractor who can hook up a compact excavator behind their vehicle helps significantly with day-to-day logistics and reduces the expense of hiring a specialized contractor just for transport needs.

Padgett says mini excavators’ small size allows them to get into areas that larger excavators wouldn’t be able to reach, and their swing boom lets them dig to the left and right of their body, even right up to walls without having to be repositioned. This makes jobs faster, and it also limits potential impacts to the ground and keeps operators from having to burn through fuel unnecessarily due to near-constant K-turns.

Compact excavators are particularly useful in urban environments where construction job site managers simply don’t have a lot of space to maneuver machines for residential and commercial construction jobs. A mini excavator can run circles in a small lot, whereas a regular-sized excavator might have a hard time even pulling into the site. Some mini excavators are closer in size to a sedan than a regular-sized excavator.

This also helps in urban environments due to environmental regulations. If a site is right up against a protected reserve, staying on your own job site is essential to avoid fines and angry customers.

There’s also much less risk of a boom going where it shouldn’t, such as scratching a wall in a tight alleyway due to operator error and causing cosmetic damage that a client might get angry about.

Brenton adds that a mini excavator can roll into spots, like concreted slabs and on asphalt, without breaking the material underneath. A normal excavator would likely crush asphalt, tear up soil, and muddy grass if it were to drive in the same spot. Sometimes, a regular excavator simply couldn’t fit into some job sites, either because they can’t squeeze into a certain space or because the lot is too small for the use of a normal sized excavator to make sense—think about renovating a building in downtown Manhattan, or near a Washington DC subway, or amidst a crowded tourist-filled region of San Francisco.

“A larger machine cannot get in there, whereas a mini excavator can…often sneak right through,” he says. “We’ve even seen them go inside buildings with a breaker on it and break through concrete.”

Jay Quatro, who works in sales application engineering for Wacker Neuson Sales Americas in Menomonee Falls, WI, says retractable undercarriages on compact excavators allow them to get into residential backyards, through doors to enter buildings, and onto narrow trailers for loading and unloading.

“Mini excavators also have a lower weight and ground pressure, making them better for rolling over driveways or lawns. They are also more efficient to operate when considering fuel and maintenance costs,” he says.

While mini excavators have their pros, there’s always a trade-off. Tiny excavators might be mighty when compared to the alternatives—less powerful machines and hand labor—but they’re clearly no replacement for the behemoths needed to lift significant loads.

Padgett says compact excavators may have their advantages, but they also come with their own limitations because they were never meant to be machines that worked on mass production projects, like large construction projects that require significant loads and deep trenches.

“They have less reach and dig depth and they do not have the lifting capacity of their larger counterparts,” says Padgett.

Brenton says mini excavators often can’t lift items like larger septic tanks, but they may be able to dig the hole to remove a septic tank or to place a new one. Each job is a case-by-case basis, but compact excavators are best suited for jobs where you only have to dig 6 feet or less, like a koi pond rather than an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Jacobsmeyer added that some models can dig about 13 feet, although 12 feet or less is recommended for most models of mini excavators, depending on the shovel attachment.

A compact excavator is usually only limited by its dig depth and lifting capacity. The modern machines are designed to dig every day, all day long, with an increasing emphasis on operator comfort and control. As a rule, projects requiring a trench 12 feet or less in depth are typically a good fit for compact excavators. It’s important to look at a job site as a whole and assess what size excavator you’ll need based on dig depth and lifting capacity.

However, Quatro noted that adding a counterweight kit to the rear of a mini excavator can overcome some of these limitations and can allow the excavator to lift more and dig deeper.

Where are compact excavators actually used? And can they replace regular sized excavators and other types of heavy machinery?

Mini excavators are typically used by utility workers and light construction operators, including plumbers, septic service operators, electricians, landscapers, general contractors, and pool contractors.

“The wide variety of use cases for mini excavators is where they really shine,” says Quatro. “Because of their superior maneuverability when compared to larger machines, they are useful tools for landscape, hardscape, utility work, demolition, and general excavation jobs where space is limited.”

Because they can be used in so many jobs, “compact excavators are usually one of the first pieces of equipment to a typical construction job site and are usually one of the last to leave,” says Jacobsmeyer.

He says compact excavators are typically used to dig ditches for plumbing and utility lines before construction on a building begins. They’re also used for landscaping prep and post-job cleanup.

Brenton added that they’re often used to dig prep ditches for fiber optic cables, natural gas lines, telecommunications, cable, internet lines, and phone lines for homes and businesses prior to construction.

“Everything from sewer lines to electric conduit installation is commonplace for compact excavator use,” says Jacobsmeyer. “Retaining walls, downspout plumbing, and final sidewalk prep are just a few of many jobs that are easy to complete with the properly sized excavator for the project.”

Jonny Spendlove, product marketing manager specializing in excavators for John Deere and Hitachi, says mini excavators are helpful outside of home construction and can be used to clear land or for auxiliary needs on road building sites and large construction projects.

“A compact excavator can do anything from placing a series of large boulders in a yard to digging irrigation trenches to moving barriers on a construction or road building site,” he says.

Brenton says they aren’t just used for urban and residential construction. He says mini excavators have also become quite popular with ranch owners and ranch hands for their ability to haul, drill a well quickly, drill fence post holes, and complete other tasks that are simpler with heavy machinery, except a mini excavator doesn’t cost nearly as much as a regular sized excavator.

As mini excavators have gotten more popular, they’ve gotten greener, more powerful, and more versatile. These improvements often come from customer demand, especially with environmentally friendly advancements that allow contractors to meet their own client demands for greener options, to meet state environmental requirements, and to reduce their reliance on fuel as oil prices fluctuate year by year.

Quatro adds that one change in the industry has been the way changes in US emissions standards ended up grouping mini excavators in similar regulatory classes, which helped standardize that industry. This made companies look for new ways to differentiate their products and led to more innovation across the board—he said Wacker Neuson focused on their vertical digging system feature and their tilting cabins that provided easy service access as a way to further differentiate their mini excavators following this industry consolidation.

“With the implementation of Tier 4 emissions standards a few years back, the industry saw a consolidation of most mini excavators into similar horsepower groups across different manufacturers,” he says.

Padgett says horsepower and fuel economy have been increasing as engine efficiency of compact excavators has improved. Companies continue to roll out enhancements to get an edge up on their competitors and to offer their clients the strongest, lightest, and most versatile mini excavators possible.

“With the higher horsepower and more and more hydraulic attachments being offered for the compact class, improvements have also been made to their auxiliary hydraulic systems providing them greater hydraulic flow to operate a wide variety of attachments,” says Padgett.

Jacobsmeyer says improvements in compact excavator attachments have made it possible for these excavators to get stronger and to handle bigger jobs each year.

“Each year, new model introductions continue to improve bucket break-out forces and hydraulic flow rates to an already impressive list of performance specifications, making compact excavators a superior choice for excavation jobs,” he says.

Padgett says improvements in the cabin have made operators’ lives easier because many versions come with pre-set settings for work tools and flow rates that can be dialed in from the excavator cabin.

Plus, there’s just the simple—but extremely helpful—creature comfort upgrades such as in-cabin air conditioning. Such improvements help boost morale and might improve employee recruitment and retention. This may also boost productivity because operators can focus on being precise with their machine movements, rather than the sweat gathering on their shirt or the pain of their freezing hands. Construction workers have always had to endure tough conditions, but new improvements mean they can spend that energy on doing their absolute best on their jobs, not on just “making it” through a shift.

“Along with performance, careful attention has been given to design features for operator space and comfort on compact excavators,” says Jacobsmeyer. “Current models include more floor space, roomier cabs, deluxe suspension seats, and low-effort controls. Efficient heating and cooling systems allow for all-day comfort compared to machines just a few years ago that struggled to keep the cab comfortable.”

Brenton says telematics used to be cutting-edge technology, but they’re commonly found in mini excavators nowadays and will only permeate further into the industry. This sort of data collection and analysis has already helped inform developments and will continue to move the industry forward as room for improvement is discovered. In the short term, it helps fleet managers know exactly how their machines are being used and how they can make adjustments to make the best use of their equipment and staff.

“You’re going to see telematics in all products going forward,” he says. “Monitoring where the machine is, what fuel it’s using, from a maintenance standpoint, helps speed things up.”

Padgett says Takeuchi’s tools include a remote telematics system called the Takeuchi Fleet Management that gives fleet managers data and alerts on their machines’ location, performance, and maintenance information.

Quatro says telematics are even being used in rental machines and “can also be tied into most major rental software systems for easy access to the data.”

He added that telematics has become so important in a modern construction fleet that all of his company’s excavators—not just the mini excavator models—come with the option to include the technology in the cabin’s software system. “Wacker Neuson offers telematics in all of our excavators. This allows the owner or fleet manager to track location, operating hours, and service intervals,” he says.

Jacobsmeyer says some companies like Kubota include greener fuel-saving modes for low-power situations. Another way mini excavators are going green is an auto-idle feature that prevents unnecessary emissions. These features are good for the environment, but they’re also good for managers’ bottom-line because they prevent the machines from unnecessarily burning fuel.

“When digging demands are minimal, the ECO feature selection allows for increased fuel savings without sacrificing digging performance,” he says. “When selected, the auto idle feature will take the engine RPM’s down to low idle if the controls are not moved for four seconds. When the operator touches a control, the machine automatically returns to the operating speed selected. Auto idle saves fuel, emissions, and noise pollution on the job site.”

Ultimately, whether to choose a regular-sized excavator or a compact excavator comes down to the needs of the jobs site, Spendlove says.

“It’s important that the right machine is paired with the application,” he says. “We don’t see as many compact excavators sold into mining or quarrying applications, just like we don’t see many large excavators sold into residential landscaping.”

He says getting the right machine for the job will save time, money, and headaches because your team will be able to use each machine efficiently to achieve your goals. While compact excavators are popular now and are often less expensive than a full-sized excavator, it’s important to consider some key questions before selecting a model for your job site.

Spendlove says a few key questions revolve around the specifics of your job site and the client’s needs.

  1. What do you need the machine to do? In other words, first, what assignment have you been hired to accomplish? And second, what is your main goal? Do you want the job done quickly? Do you want the job done at a normal pace but with excellent precision? Do you want to limit the number of contractors you need to hire to get the job done?
  2. How much material do you need to move? This one is fairly self-explanatory. What materials are you moving, and what is the total amount of that dirt, rock, concrete, or other material? Mini excavators are useful for many things, but they fall short when your main goal is to move extremely large loads quickly.
  3. What kind of terrain and space limitations are you working with? What is the soil like at your job site? Are you working on an artificial surface that you’re not supposed to crack, such as the foundation of a house or the concrete of a public sidewalk? Is the soil soft enough that a regular excavator might get stuck or cause large holes from its tracks? Do you have enough space on the job site for a regular excavator to maneuver or do you need to use a compact excavator to access the area you need to work on?