Our Volvo EC55C 6-tonne excavator with an NPORS operator costs £486 plus VAT per day, or £1,850 plus VAT per week. It runs 550mm low-ground-pressure steel tracks, iDig 2D laser level control and a tilting grading bucket — the machine for footings, ponds, land drainage and site strips across Hampshire, Wiltshire and Berkshire, including ground that swallows lesser machines.
Strip footings and foundations for extensions, field and paddock drainage (the LGP tracks earn their keep October to March), ponds, site strips and levelling, farm tracks and gateways, bulk dig where a 3-tonne would take twice as long. On Hampshire chalk, this is the machine that shrugs off the hard bands.
Ripper tooth (£39.38/day), grab (£19.69/day), land rake (£39.38/day), riddle rake bucket (£39.38/day). All ex VAT, with machine and operator.
Roughly double the dig rate for about £80 more a day. If the job is more than two days of digging for the small machine, the 6-tonne is usually cheaper by the finished hole.
The 550mm LGP tracks are specified for exactly that worry — ground pressure is closer to a small machine's than a standard 6-tonner's. On genuinely soft ground we'll walk the route first.
Yes — it loads grab lorries and 8-wheelers comfortably. We don't run muck-away ourselves but can advise on local firms.
Ring Rory on 07545 265075 — or see the full digger and driver hire service.