If you have a landscaping project, then the odds are you need an excavator. Excavators are pieces of heavy machinery designed to lift and remove dirt. They are most commonly used for large-scale construction and landscaping projects. 

Overall, you can expect to pay around $1,300 per day to rent a mid-sized excavator, or between $4,000 to $5,000 per week if you decide to rent by the month. As you might expect, rental costs depend on the size and brand of the excavator. A mini-excavator can cost up to 60% less per day while large excavators can cost over $3,000 per day to rent.  

There are a lot of factors relevant to renting an excavator. So we put together this comprehensive guide for excavator rental costs. We will cover the average cost to rent excavators from various brands and of various sizes. 

How Much Does it Cost to Rent an Excavator?

There are three main ways you can rent an excavator: by the day, by the week, or by the month. Generally speaking, you will get a lower price per day if you rent for a longer period. So a monthly rental will cost less per day than a weekly rental. 

Assuming a mid-size 15-ton excavator, you will most likely pay an average of $1,300 per day to rent. If you go with a weekly plan, then you may end up paying around $3,000 to $5,000 per week instead. If you instead go with a monthly plan, you will pay between $2,000 to $4,000 per week for rental costs. 

The exact cost you pay depends on the size and the brand. So we will break excavators into sizes and talk about rental costs. 

Compact Excavators

Compact excavators are the smallest class and weigh under 6 tons. These kinds of excavators are the cheapest to rent, with an average daily rental cost between $250 to $450. You can rent compact excavators by the hour for about $50 per hour.

Here is a table of the average rental costs for various popular brands of compact excavators. 

As you can see, the cheapest compact excavators start at as low as $250 per day and $2,000 per month. Compact excavators are the most cost-effective rentals but they are too small for many jobs. 

Mini-Excavators

Mini-Excavators are excavators that weigh between 7 to 10 tons. These excavators provide more power than compact models but are still small and highly maneuverable. They are often used in standard construction work for homes and landscaping.

You can rent a mini-excavator for between $450 to $600 a day on average, and between $3,000 to $4,000 a month. Here is a quick list of the average rental price for popular mini-excavator models. 

Standard Excavators

Standard excavators are the most common type of excavators and weigh anywhere between 10 to 45 tons. These kinds of excavators are also called “crawler” excavators and are often used for larger commercial construction projects. 

Standard excavators are the largest group and so have the largest range in price. A standard excavator can cost anywhere between $700 to $,2000 a day to rent per day and between $4,000 to $8,000 to rent for a month. 

Here is a table breaking down the costs of popular standard excavator models. 

As you can see, most standard excavators hover between $800 to $1,500 to rent per day. The increase in price starts to taper off slightly as you get to larger and larger machines. 

Large Excavators

Last on our list is large excavators. The largest excavators all weigh over 45 tons and are used for extremely large construction and demolition projects. These kinds of excavators are the most expensive to rent and often require special licenses and training to operate. They also generally require special trucks and cranes to transport them to the worksite. 

Given that these kinds of excavators are typically used for special projects, rental prices can vary significantly. Your rental price will likely depend on your business, your credit score, and your previous rental history. Extremely large excavators can cost upwards of $10,000+ per day to rent.

Weekly Excavator Rental Rates

Opting for a weekly rental plan will save you about 40 percent in rental costs, regardless of the rental co many you choose. On average, the leading excavator rental companies will charge you between $1,250 and more than $5,000 a week to rent an escalator.

The lower end of this range is the rate for the smaller excavators, ideally the best 17,000-pound excavator models.

As you can imagine, the cost increases with an increase in excavator size and power. As such the $5,000 a week rate will be for the larger models, ideally the 76,000-pound excavator models.

Most of the leading 45,000-pound excavator models are often priced between $2,000 and $2,500 per week.

Additional Costs

Excavator Accessories

For enhanced versatility, various excavator models are compatible with an assortment of attachments. Should you require much more than the standard attachment offered by your rental company, you should expect to spend more.

With most of the leading excavator rental companies, excavator accessories are typically considered to be separate rentals. If you plan to add different sizes of jackhammer attachments along with your excavator, you should expect to spend an additional $120 to $800 per day.

The excavator attachment rental cost you incur will mainly depend on the type and size of the attachment you are renting. It will also, to some extent, depend on the rental period.

Delivery and Pickup Costs

The leading providers normally charge an additional fee for delivering and picking up the excavator from your site. If you cannot pick it up on your own, you should budget for an additional $175 to $2,000 in delivery and pickup fees. The amount often depends on the distance between the rental company’s premises and your site.

Operator Fees

Some rental companies are known to provide operators for their excavators at an additional fee. Alternatively, you may hire one on your own. Either way, you will be required to compensate the excavator operator for his or her time. This will definitely impact the total rental costs.

On average, you should expect to pay an extra $20 to $50 an hour in operator fees. Be aware that some companies simply include the operator in the rental price, however. While the excavator is often delivered t the site by the rental company, moving it usually costs an average of $3 a mile.

Ready to Rent an Excavator?

Excavators are one of the most useful tools to have for landscaping projects. If you are planning a landscaping or renovation project, the odds are that you will need an excavator. All other things being equal, you can expect to pay around $1,300 for a standard excavator rental, though prices can range between $250 to $2,000 to rent for a day, and between $2,000 to $10,000 to rent per month. 

Owing to the high cost of buying an excavator, many contractors and construction firms choose to lease or rent. Leasing allows for long-term use of the machine with little or no money down while renting is ideal if your need for an excavator is very short-term.

If you need the equipment for a few weeks to two years, you should consider renting. In this case, the rental cost will mainly depend on the make and model as well as on the size and power of the machine.

Additionally, you also need to factor in delivery and pickup costs as well as operator fees into the total. Depending on the excavator type and size you need, leading excavator rental companies will give you an affordable quote that is specific to your requirements.

However, if you don’t wish to rent and looking to buy an excavator on a budget, read our guide on the cheapest mini excavators or check out our Hitachi Excavators and CAT Excavators buyer’s guides.