Building is a complex activity which demands the right construction equipment. Construction equipment encompasses a wide variety of heavy machines. The excavator is among the most recognizable pieces of construction equipment. Most excavators are currently made by leading manufacturers of heavy equipment, who often also specialize in new, used, and rebuilt parts.

The excavator is an engineering vehicle used in digging, demolition, grading, lifting, and dredging. It is widely favored in landscaping, lifting, and foundation work and can also be useful in agriculture and forestry tasks. The excavator can dig in hard and compact surfaces and then load any kind of loose materials onto a truck or container.

The excavator is also known as a digger or a 360, although many other pieces of digging equipment are sometimes called an excavator. Excavators are produced in a broad selection of sizes. A mini-excavator will typically feature a fraction of the weight and bucket size of a regular excavator. Mini-excavators are compact and may even fit through a doorway in certain cases.

An excavator consists of a backhoe or bucket and a cab mounted on a turntable which can move easily over any kind of terrain. The bucket may be replaced with tools such as a breaker, grapple, and auger. It may also be appended with a bucket thumb to provide additional grasping and handling ability for boulders, logging, demolition, and land-clearing jobs. Bucket thumb weight is considered critical, since excessive or moderate weight may influence performance and durability.