CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT: Ex-ceptional performance

For Chris Matthews, an excavator’s usefulness comes down to simple math: He needs to operate his one or two days to make the payment for the month.

It’s that productivity Matthews, vice president of Dublin, Ohio-based BuilderScape, and other landscape contractors have found in excavators and mini-excavators. Contractors laud the machines’ low frequency of servicing, versatility on the job and productivity as some of the reasons they invested in these useful machines. For landscape contractors, adding excavator-based services adds to the bottom line.

Home builders, for example, are looking for landscape contractors who are able to perform tasks other than those they normally do. “When you’re already on a job site, they like to see that you can do lots of different tasks,” Matthews says. “I’ve dug footers for builders. I would have never even thought of doing that before. With excavators, we can do those things.”

There’s very little an excavator can’t do, says Bill Rusch, product manager for Oregon, Ill.-based Woods Equipment, which manufactures excavator attachments. “If you’re working in a rocky area, you could use an excavator to move large rocks,” he says. “There’s hardly any job site that couldn’t make use of an excavator.”

Whether it’s irrigation work, installing water gardens, decorative stone work or installing trees, excavators complement a contractor’s other machines. “They open the door to many different types of jobs for landscape contractors,” says Steve Kabay Jr., sales manager for Hudson, Ohio-based Coyote Loaders. “If landscape contractors want to be more things to more people, adding an excavator will do it.”

TOUGH JOBS. Digging irrigation trenches, shoveling dirt for tree installation, contour grading and lifting and setting down boulders and trees are just a few of the myriad tasks excavators perform, as are cutting drainage swales, digging ponds and setting cisterns. “The contractor’s creativity and imagination are really the limitation to an excavator’s versatility,” says Matthew Hendry, product consultant for Cary, N.C.-based John Deere. Many contractors use the excavator in conjunction with other equipment. The excavator assumes the primary production role, while the loaders, skid-steers and backhoes work in support roles, Hendry says.

“The excavator is used more as a precision tool for focused removal, and is not designed for the load-carry applications more suited for the skid-steer,” says Darren Wilson, product manager for Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar. While the name of the game might be to quickly perform duties they’re already doing in other ways, contractors quickly find they can add service offerings.

“The contractor can expand the types of projects he undertakes by using an excavator. Whether the machine is a mini, compact or full-size unit, the contractor can pick up significant amounts of work from other contractors,” Hendry says. “The contractor will see a significant reduction in hand labor as he learns all the capabilities of the machine.”

Similar to other hydraulic equipment, attachments make the machine more useful. Experts cite the thumb as the most common attachment, with the breaker being another very popular tool for excavators.

“Attachments such as thumbs allow you to grab material you normally wouldn’t be able to pick up with a bucket,” Rusch says.

With an excavator, Matthews easily replicates the work of four or five employees, which provides him a competitive advantage in his market. “I’m trying to get our company to where we’re not a labor business,” Matthews says. “I don’t want to have a lot of guys running around. Machines don’t take sick days.”

Excavators have been able to shed preconceived notions about their usability, Rusch says. “Historically, people thought of using excavators only to dig basements and trenches,” he says. “But they’ve become a lot more flexible with the introduction of the quick couplers.”

Quick couplers are mechanisms that interchange between the various attachments. Before the advent of the quick coupler, operators had to use tools and assistance to remove pins and replace attachments.

On a busy job site, quick couplers are a time-saving mechanism. Now, many attachments can be switched solely by the operator without leaving the cab. The operator can put down one attachment, release it, then quickly attach another tool and get back to work.

Besides an excavator’s wide range of abilities, there are other important aspects. Serviceability, for one, is a strong selling point. Matthews’ machine, for example, requires an oil change two times a year, or at 500 hours. “That’s one less thing I have to worry about. And that’s great,” he says. “Serviceability is a big issue, especially for smaller companies that don’t have their own mechanics.”

An excavator tends to have less undercarriage wear because the machine can reach so far while sitting in one spot. “They can sit in one area and reach 20 to 30 feet before you have to move the machine again,” Rusch says. 

PERFECT COMPLEMENT. While excavators and their smaller brethren, mini-excavators, perform a variety of tasks on their own, the machines make an intriguing addition to a contractor’s equipment portfolio. For example, contractors will pair excavators with a skid-steer on the same job site or spread the equipment out over multiple sites.

Excavators are adept at picking up large amounts of material. “The excavators are much more efficient at digging than skid-steers,” says Bill Gearhart, marketing manager for Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based Yanmar. “It’s good at digging and moving within its small area. But a skid-steer is much more efficient at quickly moving around a job site.”

Skid-steers are in a market by themselves, Rusch says. “They’re trying to move material from one area to another and would travel farther than an excavator,” he says.

While an excavator might take longer to get from point A to point B, they’re chock full of features and options. Many feature electronic monitoring, control pattern changers and, regardless of the size of machine – from 1.7-ton to about 24-ton, which are most commonly used by landscape contractors, the controls for all are nearly identical. Machines up to the 10- to 12-ton range often feature swing booms that enhance their performance.

Contractors can choose from steel tracks, the most durable, to rubber tracks, which tread lightly on finished surfaces. Some of the smallest units have hydraulic expanding undercarriages that grant access to narrow job sites and then expand the tracks for grater stability, Hendry says.

In the 1.7- to 24-ton range excavator costs vary from about $30,000 to as much as $270,000. Cost differences stem from machine size and configurations, with the most expensive unit featuring an air-conditioned cab, Wilson says. The 20-ton excavator is popular among contractors, Rusch says. “It can be hauled on a truck easily,” he says. “Larger than that and you’d need special permits, depending on the area.”

Matthews has used excavators to perform large tree work, install irrigation and for patio installation. For the most comfortable working environment, he suspects contractors choose cab controls that switch between backhoe- and excavator-style.