Why Vacuum Equipment Selection Is More Important Than Hourly Rates
With excess soils becoming more difficult to manage and more disposal facilities reserving their space for regular dumping while adding premium charges for hydrovac slurry, disposal facility locations are becoming a much larger factor than hourly rates.
We recently completed a job in the Scarborough area where the nearest disposal facility was about 2 hours away on a congested highway drive. The job being completed required approximately 40 cubic yards of material to be excavated around sensitive water pipes that were being replaced – which would equate to about 6 hydrovac loads needing to be taken to disposal.
The client asked for our dry vac.
You Charge How Much Per Hour?!?
With our standard hydrovacs this job could’ve easily been completed in approximately 45 hours and cycled through multiple trucks to reduce the downtime incurred by filling up. But the client instead asked for our advanced dry vac trucks which generally cost 40% more per hour, and here’s why:
By making provisions for on site dumping and having equipment on hand for backfill, excavated materials could be managed and reused, which eliminated the need for the disposal facility that was 2 hours away (if traffic was cooperating that day).
One of our dry vacs had the excavation completed in 11 hours, never left the job site, and left behind the dry backfill required for when the repairs and maintenance were completed.
Can you see why this client overlooked the higher hourly rate?
If your project requires daylighting or pot-holing and the amount of excavated material doesn’t require more than the capacity of the hydrovac you have on the job, then the lower hourly rate of a hydrovac is most likely the most cost-effective solution to your project.
However, even though most vacuum excavation equipment operates at approximately the same dig rate, when you factor in the time it takes to haul away and pay for slurry disposal, your time to completion and overall costs rise exponentially if your hydrovac fills up.
Calculating Your Vac
Most hydrovac companies throughout Ontario, have one or two types of hydrovac and are banking on clients paying for hauling and disposal of slurry. If everyone has to pay for hauling excess soils off the job site, and if everyone has to pay the same rates for slurry disposal, then hydrovac hourly rates are the best way to determine project costs.
We’re the only vacuum excavation provider in the province that offers not only the same hydrovac options as those other companies, but larger capacity hydrovacs to ensure you’re only paying for one load, as well as dry suction excavators for projects that require more than one load and have dry spoils managed on site.
We proudly service the GTA, Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga, Newmarket, London, Cambridge, and Tri-City areas. If you have any further questions, contact us at sales@supersucker.ca or call our Book-A-Truck hotline.