How Much is a Household Mini Excavator?

Household Mini Excavator is popular. It all comes down to applications and workload. If a owner has jobs lined up and can keep the machine busy year-round, then it makes financial sense for them to purchase a household mini excavator with the most versatile capabilities that will meet their needs. You have to consider total cost of ownership, resale value and lots more.

Small attachment-taking excavators specifically are one of the hottest markets in off-highway construction machinery right now (sales in the United States are somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 units), which is why we see them on every corner.

It seems like everybody wants a household mini hydraulic excavator these days, which is driving growth in all segments. Household Mini Excavator is become the go-to tool. We do not see any segments declining anytime soon. 

Defined as excavators under 6 metric tons of operating weight (some brands go as high as 10 tons), compact excavators look just like their big dig counterparts — undercarriage, tracks, cab, boom, bucket, attachment, engine, onward. For some basic definers, compact excavators have dig depths between 5 and 20 ft, cabs or ROPS operating stations, various tail swing configs, the ability to use attachments and diesel engines ranging from 13 to 70+ hp. Most capitalize on rubber track undercarriages that are great for navigating terrain with high flotation and a light footprint, fitting into cramped worksites to A) give precise and powerful dig performance, B) wield attachments like thumbs, grapples and brush cutters or C) all of the above and more.

As mini excavator popularity has soared during the past 30 years, the machine’s versatility has also increased. Customers today often purchase more than one attachment to increase the machine’s utilization. Owners can add a hydraulic thumb to a bucket and easily grab and lift objects. Other popular hydraulic attachments include augers, breakers and grapples.

Anything between 3 and 4 tons is the hot spot. Machines in that size class offer a manageable operating weight and footprint, while providing lifting and digging capacities that are comparable to larger excavators. That’s also the size class where you’ll really start to see cabs with heat and AC, Bluetooth radios and all the adjustable seats and ergonomic joysticks with proportional controls.

The 5- to 6-metric-ton class is also growing quickly (attractive because of their step up in volume and capability to run bigger and more varied attachments). We believe the compact excavator market will see continued growth in residential construction, landscaping, rental and utility applications. 

Specs and project figures are important steps in narrowing down a search. Most applications for compact household mini excavators are project-based, so what will the dig depth of the job be and what are the installation specs of the product (drainage pipe, tree transplants, coffins)? Also: Determine the amount of material you are going to be moving and the time frame you need to move it in. Then, match those measurements to a machine by determining the capability of the machine.

If a crew is utilizing an attachment (say, breaker or grapple), properly match the size and hydraulic power of the implement to the job and the host unit and prepare that host unit for that specific attachment work (say, proper guarding for hammering or a tiltrotator coupler for a grapple app). Consider that the attachment is sometimes chosen before the household mini excavator.

If you're breaking up concrete, you need to determine what size breaker you need before determining what size machine you will need. You will need a household mini excavator that is spec’d for that size breaker. Mulching trees or cutting brush, you will need an excavator with high-flow auxiliary circuits. To move rocks or concrete, you will need an excavator with an auxiliary circuit so you can operate a grapple or thumb.

Breakout force, dig depth and auxiliary flow are the important features when matching a household mini excavator to an application. Remember to also match attachments with the auxiliary performance of the machine. 

Customers will need to know the weight of the household mini excavator for applications and towing purposes.
Machine dimensions are another factor. If you’re a contractor working in backyards with tight access points, height, width, reach and swing will need to be calculated and perhaps a zero tail swing model will be required (more on that later). If you’re planning on using attachments, oil flow should be another point of consideration. 

Attachments create versatility for the household mini excavators and can allow for the opportunity to get more done quicker, using hydraulic couplers, tilt couplers, thumbs, mowers and mulchers. Mainly customers require the most powerful household mini excavator possible, in the smallest package possible, that meets their requirements for reach, dig depth, weight, width and transportation.

DIG-DOG Machinery mainly produces 0.8 ton/1 ton/1.5 ton/1.7 ton/2 ton/3 ton/3.5 ton/4 ton small household mini excavators, If you have any questions, please leave a message below.