Hydro excavation, also called vacuum excavation, is a very interesting process that uses a vacuum and high-pressure water in order to excavate or dig the soil. This is done without having underground utilities damaged. During cold weather, the process uses hot water so it is non-destructive. With traditional excavation, labor is much more intensive and the process can damage present underground utilities. Besides this, hydro excavation also presents the following advantages.
Speed
One of the very important things to understand is that hydro excavation instantly becomes cost-effective as a digging option due to how much labor and time are needed. Both of these important resources for any construction project are used in an efficient way. With this process, digging is just faster. You do not have to transport debris and use dump trucks or visit dump sites. With the used vacuuming process, suction is utilized to store all displaced dirt, which is moved to the truck’s debris tank.
Not Labor Intensive
The labor-intensive nature of traditional digging techniques cannot be dismissed. They would use tools like hand tools and backhoes. This automatically means that more workers are necessary for a project. With hydro excavation, not many workers are needed so it can be cheaper to hire help.
Precision
There are several cases in which federal and municipal laws will stop you from using traditional excavation methods. This is especially possible when there are some pre-existing factors that are in play, like tight spaces and underground utilities. With the hydro option, such projects do remain fully compliant. This is because backfilling is lower and the extra repairs that are needed with the traditional techniques simply disappear.
Safety
With the regular excavation methods used these days, labor-intensive techniques are used, together with advanced equipment. There are even cases in which explosives are utilized. Such options do have some increased risk factors like cave ins, landslides, falling debris, and more. Hazardous conditions do exist for workers.
If the weather is cold, it is even more difficult to cut through ground that is frozen. This means traditional methods are going to instantly be dangerous. With the hydro option, water is emitted with an extension and this automatically means that workers are always present at safer distances from worksites.
Fewer Service Interruptions
With options like backhoeing or drilling, service interruptions tend to happen much more often than you may want to since underground infrastructure lines can end up being damaged. Usually, this only leads to some extra expensive repairs. If we are looking at really large projects, the losses can be of millions of dollars. Even for the regular homeowner, the damages can be really hard to deal with. Something like this can easily be removed with the use of hydro options.
Lower Insurance Rates
This excavation method is always seen as being safer. Since damage risks are much lower as we look at surrounding environments, you can receive much better rates from the insurance companies. Such savings can eventually be passed down and customers will receive a more affordable service. This would make the construction company more competitive.