ᐅ Mini Excavator – Buy or Rent?

Hello everyone,

Has anyone here completely landscaped their garden by themselves? If so, did you rent or buy a mini excavator? If you bought one, which model did you choose?

Hi,

if you’re already asking this way, it’s better not to go for it. For 10,000, you usually only get machines that are pretty worn out. After borrowing one a few times, I finally bought my own. But you should understand the basics and be able to handle minor repairs yourself.

Also, that’s not all—you’ll still need a vibrating plate compactor, this and that, and it can turn into an expensive hobby. I spent 25,000 on a 3.5-ton (3.9-ton) excavator with a bucket package, vibrating plate, and so on. The excavator is 10 years old, the compactor 3, all from reputable brands.

I had a bit more work over a longer period to do. Let’s see what I’ll get when I sell it.

It’s definitely more fun when all the equipment is kept in your garden and you don’t have to organize anything, but you should always have a few thousand set aside, because if something breaks, repairs can get costly quickly.

Grantlhaua schrieb:

Hello everyone,

has anyone here completely landscaped their garden by themselves? If so, did you rent or buy a mini excavator? If you bought one, which model did you choose?

It also depends on how long you need such a machine.

I have rented out these machines from a local construction equipment rental company and often leased them to private builders for longer periods—they then had a good, nearly new machine including full service for a fixed monthly price.

angoletti1 schrieb:

Besides, it’s not just done with that—you still need a plate compactor, this and that, and it ends up being an expensive affair.

We already have that and a front loader... The excavator wouldn’t just be for the garden either. We also have a few fish ponds where the excavator could definitely come in handy from time to time.

What do you think about those mini excavators with joysticks on the front dashboard?

goalkeeper schrieb:

They had a good, almost new machine including all services for a fixed monthly price.

But when I calculate that it costs me 1500€ (about $1,600) per month, it’s not exactly a bargain either.

Grantlhaua schrieb:

What do you think about those mini excavators with joysticks mounted at the front on the dashboard?

Nothing at all!
In my opinion, it needs to be large enough to easily handle 20 tons of gravel, which was still possible with a small machine. However, due to their limited lifting capacity, you can’t just lift concrete rings into a manhole or a heavy vibrating plate into a trench with them.
Loading soil is also not possible with a mini excavator, plus these toys tend to tip over easily. I only find them useful if you want to work inside a building since they can fit through doors and don’t have much height.
For your tasks starting at 2.7 tons (6,000 pounds), of course, smaller is always possible, but then you might as well do it manually—it works just as well…

angoletti1 schrieb:

In my opinion: It needs to be big enough to spread 20 tons of gravel easily. You might manage that with a small machine, but due to the low lifting capacity, you can’t just lift concrete rings into a shaft or heavy vibrating plates into a trench with it.
Loading soil with a mini excavator is also not an option, and these toys tend to tip over quickly. I only think they’re useful if you want to work inside a building because they fit through doors and aren’t tall.

Well, for the area we have a front loader, which also lifts concrete rings and vibrating plates. I actually need something for the areas around the house that I can’t reach because of the house and the slope. I was really surprised how expensive such a simple excavator is. I thought they would be much cheaper.