Wet Hire: Excavator With an Operator

Sometimes you don’t want to run the machine yourself, you just want the hole dug, the site cleared or the trench in before your trade arrives. That’s wet hire: one of our excavators and an experienced Groundbreakers operator, working your job together.

It’s earthmoving, not equipment hire. You tell us what needs doing, we bring the machine and do the digging.

What wet hire covers

Wet hire suits residential earthworks where you want the job handled start to finish, not just the gear dropped off. Jobs we’re commonly asked to do:

• Site clearing and levelling before a build
• Trenching for drainage, stormwater or services
• Driveway and pad excavation
• General earthworks and material movement around a residential site

Not sure if your job fits? Call us and describe it. We’ll tell you straight whether wet hire or dry hire (you run the machine yourself) is the better option.

How it works

1. Tell us about the job. Site access, rough size, what needs doing and when.
2. We work out a quote. Every wet hire job is priced on what it actually involves, there’s no fixed day rate the way there is for dry hire. Get a custom quote and we’ll come back with a number based on your job, not a generic rate card.
3. We turn up and get it done. Machine and operator, on site, working your job.

Why wet hire with Groundbreakers

We’re a family-owned Central Coast business, not a call centre passing your job between departments. Wet hire customers deal with the same team as our dry hire customers: you speak to us directly, we quote your actual job, and it’s our own operator on the machine.

• Family-owned and based in Koolewong
• Over 20 years working with plant and machinery
• 5.0 stars from 84 reviews on Google

Wet hire or dry hire?

Dry hire means you hire the machine and run it yourself, no licence needed for our smaller excavators. Wet hire means our operator runs it for you. If you’ve got the experience and just need the gear, dry hire usually works out cheaper. If you’d rather someone else handled the digging, wet hire is the way to go.

Frequently asked questions

What is wet hire?

Wet hire is excavator hire with one of our own operators included, so we do the digging rather than you.

How much does wet hire cost?

There’s no fixed rate. Every wet hire job is quoted on what it involves, things like site access, the scope of work and how long it’ll take. Get in touch and we’ll give you a straight quote for your job.

What areas do you cover for wet hire?

The greater Central Coast, Northern Sydney, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter Valley, the same area we cover for the rest of our specialist services.

Do I need to be on site while you work?

Not for the whole job, but we’ll usually need you or someone who can make decisions on site at the start, to confirm scope and access.