Mini excavator hourly rate in public bids and surveys
Mini excavator rates from Missouri to Connecticut, plus a FEMA-based cost line that three of four Roanoke County bids on a Cat 308-class sat under.
Table of Contents
Rates and sources checked on October 24, 2026.
With an operator, mini excavator work billed a median of $114 an hour in Missouri’s statewide custom-rate survey of 2025 rates. Public bids for operated minis, posted between 2024 and 2026 from Virginia to Michigan, run from $90 to $300 an hour depending on what the buyer bundles into the rate. For a Cat 305-class machine, owning and running it plus a paid operator comes to about $98.52 an hour before overhead and profit, worked out from the federal cost figures below.
Missouri to Connecticut: operated mini rates
In Missouri, only five people who charge or pay for custom work reported a mini excavator rate with operator labor included, so a single answer can move the average by several dollars. The other rows come from public bid tabulations and one rental company’s operator rate card. Each source has its own idea of what the hourly figure covers.
| Buyer or source | Region and date | Machine | USD per hour, operator included | Also in the rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Rates for Farm Services in Missouri, Table 8 | Missouri statewide; rates charged in 2025, guide revised March 2026 | Mini excavator, “2–6 tons” | Average $110.00; median $114.00; range $100–$135 (5 responses) | Machinery and fuel |
| Roanoke County bid tabulation, IFB #2025-008 | Roanoke County, Va.; bids opened August 20, 2024 | Cat 308-class | Four bids: $90, $110, $115, $162 | Nothing else stated |
| Greenwich bid tabulation, RFB #7949 | Greenwich, Conn.; tabulated March 25, 2026, one-year term | Mini excavator, size not stated | Four bids: $185, $185, $225, $225 | Insurance, fuel, transport; four-hour paid minimum |
| Michigan State University bid tabulation 886873 | East Lansing, Mich.; 2025 tabulation | Mini excavator | Two bids: $165 regular time ($188 overtime), and $300 | Nothing else stated |
| Heavy Equipment Rentals USA operator rates | San Antonio, Texas; undated rate page, checked October 24, 2026 | Bobcat E32/E35 and E42/E45 with hydraulic thumb | $85–$110, by model and minimum hours | Machine rental |
The four Roanoke bids put the median for a Cat 308-class machine at $112.50, almost level with Missouri’s. Greenwich’s figures carry transport and insurance inside the hourly rate, which the other buyers left out of their rate lines. Extension survey rates for dozers and skid loaders across Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas are compared in equipment hourly rates by state.
Note: Missouri’s figure rests on five responses, and the guide does not say whether its “2–6 tons” class means US short tons or metric tonnes.
What a Cat 305-class mini costs per hour before profit
FEMA prices the Cat 305 CR row of its 2025 schedule, for engines up to 45 hp, at $57.14 an hour with the bucket and without an operator. That number is a cost of owning and running the machine, and what FEMA’s equipment rate includes and leaves out goes through its parts. Add a paid operator and the employer costs that ride on the wage:
| Cost line | USD per hour, national figures | Source and window |
|---|---|---|
| Machine, FEMA code 8280, Cat 305 CR, up to 45 hp | $57.14 | FEMA 2025 Schedule of Equipment Rates |
| Operator wage | $28.77 | BLS median for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, $59,850 a year in May 2025, divided by 2,080 hours |
| Employer costs on top of the wage | $12.61 | BLS employer costs, construction industry, June 2026: $51.96 of compensation per $36.13 of wages, a 1.438 multiplier |
| Total before overhead and profit | $98.52 | Sum of the three lines |
A one-person outfit with no benefit plan carries only the legally required share of that employer cost. In the same BLS table that share is $4.42 per $36.13 of wages, which brings the total to $89.43.
Missouri’s median sits $15.48 above the full total. That gap has to cover the truck and trailer, liability insurance and the owner’s profit.
Bigger minis cross FEMA’s 45 hp line. Cat lists 69.5 hp net for its current 308 CR, a Tier 4 Final machine, which moves it into the next excavator row: the 313 GC line at up to 90 hp and $95.01 an hour. With the same operator lines added, that machine comes to $136.39 an hour. Three of the four Roanoke bids for a 308-class mini sat under that figure, a price that works only where the owner’s own costs run lower, such as a paid-off machine with no loan behind it.
Before you quote: FEMA’s rate is built for a machine that is working. A mini that bills only a few hundred hours a year carries more owning cost on each of those hours, and how billable hours per year change the hourly cost works through it for excavators.
Why do two minis bill such different rates?
A Greenwich bid covers the haul to the job and the contractor’s insurance. The San Antonio card prices the machine and operator alone, and lowers its hourly figure when the customer books a full day. Within one region, two inputs move the number most: weight class and the minimum.
Weight class sets the machine half
A Cat 308 at the top of the mini range rents for about three times what a 300.9 does at Wheeler Machinery’s Cat Rental Store in Utah.
| Model and operating weight | Day rate, USD, Utah, 2025 guide (8 hours) | Per hour, day rate ÷ 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Cat 300.9, 2,170 lb | $270 | $33.75 |
| Cat 303, 7,817 lb | $446 | $55.75 |
| Cat 304, 9,867 lb | $604 | $75.50 |
| Cat 305, 12,688 lb | $725 | $90.63 |
| Cat 308, 20,077 lb | $823 | $102.88 |
Source: Wheeler Machinery’s 2025 rental rate guide. The guide counts a day as 8 hours and bills extra hours at the day rate divided by 8. It expects the machine back with a full tank and adds 16% of rental charges for damage protection unless the renter shows insurance.
Going from a 303 to a 305 adds $34.88 an hour to the machine line alone. That is more than twice the margin Missouri’s median leaves above the cost build. A homeowner who can run a mini weighs your operated rate against this rent plus their own time.
Four-hour versus eight-hour minimums
Four hours at $110 comes to $440 for a Bobcat E42 or E45 with operator on the San Antonio card, and eight hours at $100 comes to $800. The short booking pays $10 more per hour. On the E32 and E35 the step is $5, from $90 down to $85.
Greenwich pays at least four hours on every call, so its lowest mini bid guarantees the contractor $740 a visit.
Lines to keep off the hourly rate
Five charges belong on their own lines of a mini excavator quote:
- Mobilization. Wheeler charges $224 to haul a mini under 25 miles, and mobilization fees and minimum charges for excavators covers how owners set their own.
- Minimum. The four-hour or eight-hour structure above, stated on the quote.
- Standby. The hourly charge while the machine waits on the customer, agreed before the job starts.
- Attachments. A hydraulic hammer for a mini rents for $393 a day at the same Wheeler counter; what to charge for attachments breaks out the add-on.
- Fuel. A surcharge clause tied to a diesel price printed on the quote.
Buried in the rate, that $224 haul adds $112 to each billed hour of a two-hour job.
Build your floor before the next quote
Look up your machine’s net horsepower on its spec sheet and find the FEMA row it falls in: up to 45 hp, or the next row up to 90 hp. Swap your own operator wage and benefit costs in for the two BLS lines. Then add your truck, insurance and profit before the first hourly figure goes on paper. The same build for other machine classes sits in equipment rates per hour by machine.
