Top 5 Excavator Attachments for House Builders
The excavator buckets and attachments market is ever growing to keep up with the demands of the industry. But it can be hard to know which attachments are best suited to you! We have compiled a list of our Top 5 Attachments that we believe are essential for most housebuilders or construction companies. Keep reading to find out our top suggestions to help you become more efficient on site.
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Our Top 5 Excavator Attachments for House Builders:
1. Trenching Bucket
Our first choice is the Trenching Bucket, or Digging Bucket as it's more commonly known. Specifically 24" / 600mm wide - this is the perfect width for digging foundation trenches. 24" is currently the building regulations width for foundation trenches but make sure to check this width meets the building regulations of your site.
Having a Trenching Bucket that digs the correct width for you requirements means it will not be too wide or too narrow for your foundations. This means there's no extra digging like you would have to do with a bucket that was too narrow, and no excessive digging of trenches that are too wide. As well as saving you time, digging the perfect width trench means you're not using more concrete than necessary or having to re-dig and relay your foundations if you dug your trench too narrow. So, having a Trenching Bucket / Digging Bucket that is the perfect width for your foundation regulations can save you time and money!
2. Concrete Pouring Bucket
The 2nd attachment goes hand in hand with your 24" Trenching Bucket and that is the Concrete Pouring Bucket. The Concrete Pouring Bucket is the best attachment for laying your foundations and was designed to be used on small or complex sites where you would struggle to fit a concrete truck right up to where you're pouring. This attachment allows you to track your excavator to and from the concrete truck to the plot that you're pouring with no problem. This is also extremely usefully when you're on a boggy site as your excavator will easily be able to navigate around the site, unlike the concrete truck that would likely get stuck.
This attachment is frequently favoured over hiring a concrete pump as concrete pumps tend to be on a large lead time and cost considerably more to hire in comparison to the one off payment of the Concrete Pouring Bucket. It also has a chute and gate which allows you to easily and accurately pour your foundations with minimal waste or spillage. The last thing you want is having to fork out for more concrete or to clean up any spillages. But alongside concrete, this bucket can also be used to pour pea shingle and other aggregate into drainage trenches, driveways etc.
3. Pallet Forks
The next attachment is the excavator Pallet Forks - the attachment designed to reduce the amount of time your excavator is sat idol. Pallet Fork attachments are the ideal attachment to replace the need for a Telehandler or Forklift on site. If you don't want to hire another machine and operator or maintain multiple machines if you own them, then fitting a set of Pallet Forks to your excavator means you can do the job of the telehandler with no problems. They're perfect for moving pallets of roof tiles or bricks across site, or unloading them from the delivery lorry. And can even be used to move stillages or containers of material like concrete or recycling.
The Pallet Fork Attachment is preferred by many operators who work on smaller sites where it is difficult to manoeuvre a Telehandler because it's too big and the area is too tight or where a Forklift isn't suitable due to the terrain and ground conditions.
4. Grading Bucket
This attachment may seem obvious but we believe it is essential for any House Builder. The Grading Bucket is one of the most versatile attachments on the market as it can be used for a whole range of applications, in a whole range of industries. It will be essential for house builders or construction workers to clear trenches of loose debris or unwanted soil. As well as, level areas before further development works and profile gardens, driveways and footpaths on new build developments before turfing, aggregates or even pathing stones.
These buckets can experience a lot of wear and tear due to the huge range of tasks so we would always recommend fitting a bolt-on blade to the lip plate to add an additional layer of steel as protection. The blade can then be removed and replaced when worn, rather than having to weld in a new lip plate.
5. Rake Riddle Bucket
The final attachment is quickly becoming one of the most popular attachments for house builders. The Rake Riddle Bucket is the ideal excavator attachment for preparing an area that has particularly poor soil - for example, where you need to sift out stones or larger debris like bricks or old broken up pipes from the ground before doing further work.
The Rake Riddle Bucket has long tines to remove grass or overgrowth, or to comb through the soil to bring the unwanted objects to the surface and into the attachment. It also has a slotted shell design to allow you to sift out any unwanted material and remove it to be recycled, reused or disposed of before moving on to laying turf etc. If you need to leave tine lines on the surface, you can also do that with this attachment - it really does it all!
What are your go-to attachments?
So there you have it, the Top 5 Excavator Attachments for House Builders and the Construction Industry. We've complied this list based on our own knowledge and customer feedback, but we're interested to hear from you. What are your go-to attachments? Would you agree with our suggestions or is there something we've overlooked? Let us know in the comments below.
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