Guide
Mini digger hire rates: what changes the price on a small machine
Updated
Small machines are the most commonly hired plant in the country and the most commonly mispriced, because the two things that move the total are duration and distance, not the digger.
Size bands, and why they are hire decisions
- Micro, around 0.8 to 1.5 tonnes
- Fits through a standard gateway and can be moved on a trailer behind a suitable vehicle, which changes the transport equation entirely. Reach and breakout are limited, so the job takes longer.
- Mini, around 1.5 to 3 tonnes
- The workhorse band for domestic and light groundworks. Usually needs a plant trailer or small low loader, and usually justifies its transport on anything more than a day's digging.
- Midi, around 3 to 6 tonnes
- Different transport, different operator competence expectations and a different rate band. Faster on volume work, so the higher rate can still be the cheaper job.
What moves the total
- Duration, and the weekly break-even. Weekly rates are usually far better value than five separate days. Ask both and work out where the crossover falls: on many jobs a week costs barely more than three days.
- Distance from the depot. Transport is two priced movements from the depot to you. A slightly higher rate from a depot ten miles away routinely beats a cheaper rate from sixty miles away.
- Access and machine width. If the machine has to fit a 900mm gateway, that constrains the size and sometimes the depot. Say it in the enquiry rather than on delivery day.
- Attachments. A breaker, auger or grading bucket is a separate line and sometimes a separate delivery. Book them with the machine.
- Operated or self-drive. On a one-off domestic job, an operated day is often better value than a self-drive week spent learning. See operated versus self-drive.
Before it arrives
- Check services. Buried cables and pipes are the reason small excavation jobs turn serious. Get plans and scan before you dig.
- Plan where it lands. A low loader needs somewhere to stop and unload legally and safely. Urban jobs may need a permit.
- Plan the spoil. Muck away and skips are usually a bigger cost than the digger, and they are not part of a hire quote.
- Confirm the off-hire route. Know how to off-hire and get the reference, because the hire runs until the supplier records it stopped.
We do not publish mini digger rates because they move by machine weight, depot, duration, region and season. Real quotes take two minutes: get them here.