Whether you’re a budding Albertan contractor, a municipal employee organizing a sewer repair project, or just plain interested in hydrovac services in Edmonton – you’ve come to the right spot.

Did you know that hydrovac excavation is a cleaner, more efficient, and lower-cost method for removing soil and debris? This is especially important during those cruelly cold Edmonton months!

Keep reading to dive into the many benefits of hydrovac excavation and for a quick look at how it compares to manual digging.

Hydrovac vs. Traditional Excavation

First, we know that hydrovac excavation in Edmonton is another method contractors use to remove soil, locate underground infrastructure, and remove debris.

The key ingredient in this recipe is hot pressurized water, which makes it ideal for our cold prairie winters when other digging methods are not possible or available.

When the hot pressurized water mixes with the soil, it creates a slurry that is fed through a hose into a tank on the back of the hydrovac truck.

So how does this process compare to manual excavation? Many contractors use either a backhoe or a manual team to complete excavation work. Backhoes require a licensed operator and are less accurate and considerably more messy than hydrovac excavation. Much of the time, there will be a separate team to backfill what the backhoe has disrupted.

The drawbacks of shovelling or other manual excavating methods are self-explanatory: Backbreaking, inefficient, and relies on the energy of the shoveller!

The Benefits of Hydrovac Excavation

Let’s dive a little deeper into the specific benefits of using hydrovac excavation in Edmonton.

  • Minimal mess, easy cleanup. We know that manual excavation requires a bit of double handling. Traditional excavation methods like backhoes often create twice as much mess as the job requires, leaving employees the difficult task of backfilling extra space that might have been avoided had a hydrovac excavation unit been used to complete the job.
  • Accurate and precise. Hydrovac excavation uses the might of pressurized water to complete jobs that would otherwise unnecessarily tear up a road. The operator uses a ‘wand’ to break up the earth and vacuums away the resultant mud. You can easily see how using a hydrovac unit is much more accurate and efficient for jobs like pothole repair or sign install.
  • Safer than traditional excavation methods. Backhoes and other traditional excavation methods have a higher risk of danger than hydrovac excavation. Backhoes in particular require a licensed operator and have several moving parts, which increases the risk of injury. Not only this, but traditional excavation methods take up more space, which increases liability risk.
  • Low cost, low intensity: Choosing to use hydrovac excavation for your tough jobs may reduce the overall price as well as the time it takes for job completion. Not only do you have the actual job, such as daylighting power lines or sewer repair, but you have the cleanup after. A hydrovac unit will reduce cleanup time and the cost of site repair after debris removal.

IVIS Construction Inc. – The Edmonton Hydrovac Experts

Our team takes pride in our knowledgeable operators and the size of our hydrovac unit fleet. With plenty of VAC-CON Combo units, we’re well prepared for any job from municipal to commercial.

From pothole repair to daylighting, we’ve got you covered. Do you have questions about an upcoming job? Do you need a quote? We’re just a quick call or convenient message away.

Call us at (780) 476-2626 or fill out our convenient online contact form!