Mini ex is trade shorthand for a mini excavator, and it is hired the same way any yard hires one: roughly $250 to $400 a day and $800 to $1,200 a week for a mid size machine. The lines people are caught by are not the rate. They are the hour meter, the trailer weight and what the yard looks at when the machine comes back.
A day is eight hours on the meter
Rental days are normally quoted at eight machine hours, weeks at forty. Run the machine longer and the extra hours are billed pro rata against the meter reading taken at delivery and return. That matters on a two shift job and matters not at all if you dig for five hours a day, so ask how the yard counts it.
Towing it yourself, honestly
Weigh the whole picture: machine, bucket, any attachment, the trailer itself and the fuel. A machine listed at a weight class is heavier than the class name suggests once it is fuelled and fitted. Compare the total against your vehicle rating and the trailer rating, not against what the last person managed. Ramps and four tie down points, every time.
Rubber tracks are the line that catches people
Tracks are a wear item and the contract treats damage separately from wear. Spinning turns on concrete, curbs taken at an angle, and rebar or broken glass in the spoil all cut them. Turn in gentle arcs on hard surfaces, keep the machine off sharp edges, and hose the undercarriage before return so the yard can see what it is looking at.
What a day of digging actually gets you
A competent operator on a mid size machine will trench a long domestic run or dig out a small footing in a day. Depth changes the picture, because anything a person will enter needs the sides sloped, benched or shored under the excavation rules, and that is more spoil, more room and more time than the trench itself.
Questions people ask about mini ex rental
How deep will a mini ex dig?
Around six feet for the smallest machines, and roughly eight to eleven feet through the common one to four ton classes. Reach and depth both come off the manufacturer's chart, and a long dipper option adds to both. Tell the yard the depth you need and let them match the machine.
Are attachments included?
A digging bucket normally is, sometimes with a choice of width. Augers, breakers, grapples and thumbs are extra line items, and a breaker often carries its own damage terms because it works the machine hard. Book any attachment when you book the machine, since yards hold fewer of them than machines.
Do I have to call before I dig?
Yes. Call the national 811 service before any excavation, on a home project as much as on a site, and give the utilities the working days they ask for to mark the ground. The mark up is free, and the alternative is hitting a gas or fibre line that you will pay to repair.
Should I get it delivered instead?
If you do not already own a truck and trailer rated for the load, yes. Delivery is charged each way and priced on distance, and it removes the loading, the strapping and the reversing onto a driveway. It also means the machine arrives fuelled and checked, with the meter read in front of you.