Digging on an open lot and digging in a backyard are two different jobs. On a lot you pick the machine for reach and bucket size. In a backyard you pick it for the gate, the corner of the house, the septic bed, the sprinkler lines and the neighbour’s driveway two feet off the property line. The machine that fits is the machine that wins, and it is usually smaller than people expect.
This is the number that decides the rental. Measure the narrowest point on the route from the truck to the dig, and measure it properly: latch hardware, hinge, a downspout, an AC unit, a meter, the gate post itself. That measurement is what we size against.
Micro machines like the SANY SY10U and the Kubota U17 clear most standard side gates, and the smallest units have a retractable undercarriage that pulls the tracks in for the squeeze and widens back out for stability once through. Step up to the SY26U or SY35U and you generally need a double gate or a fence panel out. The SY50U, the Kubota KX057-5 and up are driveway and open-side-yard machines.
The back of an excavator swings out past the tracks when the boom turns. On an open site nobody notices. Against a house wall or a fence it is the difference between working and denting something. Reduced and zero tail swing machines keep the counterweight inside or nearly inside the track width, so you can dig along a foundation without repositioning every two minutes. If the trench runs tight to a wall, say so when you book and we will put you on a reduced tail swing unit.
Drainage and weeping tile. Trenching along a foundation, downspout runs, catch basins, regrading a yard that drains toward the house.
Pools, ponds and patios. Excavating for a pool shell, a pond, a base for interlock or a shed pad.
Stumps, roots and landscaping. Pulling stumps, digging tree wells, moving soil and fill around a property without a hundred wheelbarrow trips.
Services. Water line replacements, electrical runs to a garage, gas and irrigation trenching.
Demolition of the small stuff. Old decks, concrete pads, retaining walls and steps, which is where a thumb or a breaker attachment earns its keep.
Rubber tracks spread the machine’s weight over a lot of surface, so the footprint is gentler than a wheeled machine or a loaded wheelbarrow. What damages a lawn is turning. Counter-rotating in place scuffs the sod off, and soft ground after a rain compounds it. Plan a straight route in and out, make the turns wide and slow, and lay plywood or mats over the stretch you care about. It costs almost nothing and it saves the argument at the end of the job.
Ontario requires a locate before you break ground, and that applies in a residential backyard as much as on a construction site. It is free, you request it through Ontario One Call, and the utilities send someone out to mark gas, hydro, water, telecom and cable on the property. Allow several business days. This is the step that catches people out: the excavator is available tomorrow, the locate is not. Get the locate moving first, then book the machine around the date the marks land. Private services, a pool heater line or a run to a detached garage, will not be on the public locate, so flag those to whoever is digging.
A bucket does most of it, but two attachments change what the machine can do. A hydraulic thumb turns the bucket into a grab for stumps, rock, brush and demolition debris, and it is the one most people wish they had booked. A breaker handles concrete pads, footings and frost-bound ground. Mention the job when you quote and we will tell you whether either is worth the add.
Mini excavators go out by float from the yard on Speers Road in Oakville, daily, weekly or monthly, across Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Milton and Toronto. Daily works for a one-day trench. Once the job runs three days or more the weekly rate is the better math, and it takes the pressure off finishing in a hurry. Every machine goes out serviced and dealer-maintained, and the driver walks you through the controls before he leaves.
If the job is more about moving material than digging it, a skid steer or track loader may be the better rental, and we wrote up the difference between the two as well.
Not sure which size? Send us the gate width, what you are digging and how deep. That is enough to match a machine to the job. Request a quote and we will get back to you within the hour during yard hours.
Need a machine this week? Request a quote or call (905) 580-7368 and we will get the float moving.
Daily, weekly and monthly rates on a fleet that's inspected after every rental. Quotes back fast, with delivery across the GTA.