Services located 01
Assess & quote
Site visit, plan review and Dial Before You Dig. One clear quote covering dig, cartage and cleanup.
Licensed Sydney Mini Excavation
Mini Excavation Sydney
Compact excavators for the jobs a big machine can't reach. Side-gate access, backyards, footings, trenches, small pools and landscaping cuts across Sydney, with lawns, driveways and gardens protected on the way in and out.
Get a free quote★★★★★
4.9 from happy Sydney customers Request your free quote
No obligation, free site quote.
✓
Got it, thanks. We'll be in touch to arrange your site assessment and clear quote.
✓ Licensed operators
✓ Dial Before You Dig
✓ Fully insured work
✓ Local Sydney crew
Rock
Digs handled
Mini to 35t
Machine range
4.9★
Average rating
Free
Site quotes
At a glance
The mini excavation job, in short
Machine range
1 to 6t
From under a metre wide to a full backyard machine
Access
Side gates and passages
Tracks retract on the smallest models
Typical jobs
Footings to small pools
Trenches, levelling, retaining walls, landscaping
Attachments
Buckets, breaker, auger
Swapped on site to suit the job
Protection
Mats, boards, covers
Lawns, paving and driveways looked after
Rock
Breaker on the mini
Sandstone handled at backyard scale
Spoil
Wheeled or dumped out
Loaded to a truck at the front
Handover
Dug to level
Ready for the concreter, landscaper or plumber
What's included
What mini excavation covers
Side-gate access
Machines sized to the gap, with tracks retracted where the passage is tight.
Footings and strip footings
Dug to the engineer's depth for extensions, decks, sheds and granny flats.
Trenches
Service, stormwater and drainage runs through backyards and passages.
Small pools and spas
Plunge pools and spa holes dug where only a mini fits.
Landscaping cuts
Levelling, garden beds, paths, retaining wall cuts and drainage.
Post holes and piers
Augered holes for decks, pergolas, fences and screw piers.
Where it suits
Every job a mini gets done
If it's behind the house and there's a gate in the way, this is the machine.
How it runs
First call to clean handover
Every job follows the same sequence, whether it's a single trench or a full site cut.
A trench can be a day, a basement can be weeks. Dates come with the quote, not after.
What size suits your job
Right machine for your access
Excavators are sized in tonnes, and the size decides both what it can dig and whether it fits your block. We bring the one that suits the job, not whatever's parked up.
Not sure what'll fit? Access usually decides it, tell us the site and we'll match the machine.
The job explained
What mini excavation actually involves
A mini job starts at the gate. The site look measures the narrowest point of the access, checks what's in the way, and matches the machine: a 1-tonne with retractable tracks slips through gaps under a metre, a 1.7-tonne suits most side gates, and a 3 to 5-tonne is the pick where the block has a driveway or a wide gate and the job has some volume in it. Bigger isn't always better, but smaller isn't free either: a 1-tonne machine takes twice as long to move the same dirt, so the choice is made on the access and the job together.
The route in is then protected. Rubber track mats or boards go down over paving and driveways, garden beds are covered, and anything fragile along the passage is fenced off or moved. Some marking on a lawn is normal and recovers; a cracked driveway doesn't, which is why the mats go down every time.
The dig itself is the same work as any excavation, at smaller scale: footings to the engineer's depth, trenches to the plumber's fall, pool holes to the builder's drawing, landscaping to the designer's levels. The mini's advantage is attachments. Buckets swap in a minute, a breaker deals with sandstone, an auger drills pier holes, and a tilt bucket trims banks and levels beds.
Spoil is the constraint. There's no room in a small yard for a pile, so it comes out as the dig goes, in a tracked dumper or a barrow down the passage to a truck or skip at the front. On tight sites a conveyor runs the spoil out over a fence.
The finished job is trimmed to level and the yard tidied, mats up and gate back on. The concreter, plumber or landscaper should be able to start on it the next morning without a rake.
Recent work
Sites we've dug
Penrith Site cut
Castle Hill Pool dig
Ryde Basement
Liverpool Civil
“Very easy to deal with.
Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith
Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith
“Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill
“Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde
“Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
“Very easy to deal with. Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith “Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill “Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde “Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
“Very easy to deal with. Excellent communication” Priya, Penrith “Left the site spotless.” Dave, Castle Hill “Would definitely recommend them!” Marcus, Ryde “Great job thanks so much.” Lauren, Liverpool
Mini excavation questions, answered
How much does mini excavation cost in Sydney?
Mini jobs are usually priced on the job rather than by the hour, and it depends on what’s being dug, the access and how the spoil gets out. Every job gets a written quote after a site look, with dig, spoil and access protection spelled out.
How narrow a gap can you get through?
The smallest machines retract to under a metre wide. Most side gates take a 1.7-tonne machine. The site look measures the narrowest point and picks the machine from there.
Will you wreck my lawn, driveway or paving?
The route is protected with rubber mats and boards, and garden beds are covered. Lawns can show some marking that grows back; paving and driveways are protected so they don’t crack.
Can a mini excavator dig through rock?
Yes, with a breaker fitted. It’s slower than a big machine but it handles sandstone footings, pool holes and trenches in backyards where nothing else fits.
How does the soil get out of the backyard?
In a small tracked dumper or barrow down the passage to a truck or skip at the front, or by conveyor over a fence on the tightest sites. It goes as the dig goes, so the yard isn’t buried.
Is a mini excavator big enough for my job?
Usually, for anything behind a house. Where a bigger machine could get in and finish faster, you’ll be told, because it’s cheaper for you. The site look decides.
Do you do footings for extensions and granny flats?
Yes. Strip and pad footings to the engineer’s depth, slab pads cut level, and the service trenches that go with them, all through the side access.
Other services
Excavation for every stage
What happens next
Tell us the job. We'll size it up.
✓ Tell us the suburb, the access and what needs digging
✓ We'll come out and look before quoting anything
✓ You'll get a written quote with what's included spelled out
✓ The machine's matched to your access, not whatever's free
✓ Clear on spoil, cartage and cleanup before we start
✓ No obligation, no pressure
Where we work
Excavation right across Sydney
From Liverpool and Macarthur out west, up through the Hills and the North Shore, across the Inner West and the Eastern Suburbs, over to the Northern Beaches and down to the Sutherland Shire. If you're anywhere in Sydney, we can get to you.
Check we cover your suburb →Free quote
Ready to get your dig underway?
Tell us about the job. We'll look at the site before quoting, so you know what's included before anything starts.
✓ Written quote after a proper site look
✓ Free quote after a proper site assessment
✓
Request received. We'll be in touch to arrange your site assessment and clear quote.