When a project goes below ground, it usually needs an excavator. Here is what the machine does, the project guides that call for it, and where to find operators who run one, including backhoe operators, which this network lists under excavation.
An excavator is a tracked machine with a cab that rotates a full circle on its undercarriage, and a boom, stick and bucket on the front. Because the upper body turns independently of the tracks, it can dig, swing and dump without moving, and it can reach well below the level it is sitting on.
That makes it the machine for anything that goes down: foundations and basements, trenches for water, sewer, drainage and utility lines, septic systems, ponds and pool digs. Fitted with a thumb or grapple it picks and places boulders, armour stone and debris; with a hydraulic breaker it takes on concrete and rock. It is also the standard machine for demolition, because it can pull a structure down from a controlled distance and load the material out afterward.
Size is the main decision. Full-size machines move the most material per hour and reach the deepest. Mini and compact excavators fit through gates and work close to houses and finished landscaping, and they have their own page. Backhoe operators are included here: on this network a backhoe is counted under excavation work, the same way the city pages treat it.
Each guide covers typical price ranges, what drives the cost and a checklist before you book, and names the machine the work calls for. These are the guides where an excavator is part of the recommended equipment.
The operator directory can be filtered to operators who list an excavator among the equipment they run. Operators list their own equipment and years of experience on their profiles.
93 cities currently have a dedicated excavator page.
If the machine is already booked and you only need someone to run it, that is a different request from hiring a contractor, and a simpler one. The operator-for-rented-excavator page covers how it works and what to settle with the rental yard before the operator arrives.
Every city on the network has its own page showing the operators working there, the machines they run and what local work usually costs.
There are three ways to hire this work, and which one fits depends on whether you already have the machine. Direct access to operators and equipment either way.
Submitting a project is free. Describe the work, where it is, and whether you already have the machine or need an operator who brings their own.