Backhoe and Loader Rental in Arlington, TX
A backhoe loader rides on rubber tires with a loader bucket on its front end and a digging arm on its back end, so one machine can open a trench for a service line, load the spoil and backfill it; a wheel loader is the larger front-loading machine for stockpiles and trucks. Around Arlington the choice turns on dig depth, bucket size and how far the machine moves between digs. CASE lists its 695SV at 15 ft 4 in of dig depth with the dipper (the outer section of the digging arm, which extends) retracted and 19 ft 4 in with it extended; DEVELON lists a 3.7 yd3 bucket on its DL280-7. Digging brings two rulebooks: Texas Utilities Code chapter 251, which requires a locate request before mechanized work that disturbs soil 16 inches or deeper, and OSHA's trench rules. Both are below, with the published rates and the water and sewer work around the city.
$500-$700 a day for a standard 90-100 HP machine (national rental marketplace guide, March 2026) · full pricing guide
The two CASE models on this page dig at the back and load at the front, which suits short digs that need loading and backfill in the same visit. CASE's 580EV is battery-electric: 19,947 lb, a 14 ft 6 in retracted dig depth, an 85.5 kWh gross battery and a "Charging time 0 - 100% 7.4 hr", with what CASE calls "absolutely zero on-site emissions." The 695SV weighs 22,245 lb, makes Net 108 hp and, in four-wheel steer, turns curb to curb in 15 ft 9 in against 26 ft 10 in in two-wheel steer. For stockpiles and truck loading, DEVELON's DL200-7 wheel loader carries a 2.6 yd3 heaped bucket at 26559 lb., and its DL280-7 a 3.7 yd3 bucket at 34550 lb. The wheel loader loads and carries; trenching belongs to the digging arm.
Rates for these machines are national and uneven. A national equipment-rental marketplace's guide for the class, published March 19, 2026, averages "$582/day, $1,434/week, or $3,103/month", prints daily "$500 - $700" for a 90-100 HP standard machine, and quotes an "operator-and-machine package at $150-$250/hour". HomeGuide's yard-leveling guide (January 16, 2026) lists "Backhoe rental | $200 - $450 | $800 - $1,100" by the day and week. Wheel loaders rest on one source: an undated national marketplace listing gives "$725 per day, $2,200 per week, or $6,100 per month", and no second published figure was found to check it. Delivery in the March guide is "$200 - $350 roundtrip" under 25 miles. Texas taxes a bare rental along with its waiver and delivery charges (Comptroller Rule 3.294), at 8.25 percent combined in Arlington; the price guide for cranes and equipment lines the classes up.
Before a bucket breaks ground, Texas Utilities Code section 251.151(a) sets the notice window: "not earlier than the 14th day" before the dig "or later than the 48th hour", "excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays." Texas811 calls the marking "a FREE service." Once a trench is open, OSHA's 29 CFR 1926.651 governs it: a way out by ladder, stairway or ramp in any trench 4 feet deep or more, placed so no one walks more than 25 feet to reach it, a test of the air where a hazardous atmosphere could build before anyone enters past 4 feet, and a competent person's inspection each day and after every rainstorm. 29 CFR 1926.1000 brings "rubber-tired front-end loaders" used in construction under OSHA's rollover-protection subpart, and 29 CFR 1926.602 adds seat belts. The Arlington digging and permit guide collects these rules with the City's.
Water and sewer projects fill the capital lists around Arlington. The Trinity River Authority's Central Regional Wastewater System is "permitted to treat 189 million gallons per day (MGD)" for all or parts of 20 cities, Arlington among them, and the authority's general office is in Arlington. Nearby cities publish their own pipe: Burleson's sewer and street projects include a $24,178,034 trunk relief line and the $651,000 Legacy Hill Sewer Extension in its FY26 budget, and Fort Worth's water reclamation plans include Mary's Creek, a plant planned on a "100-acre site along Chapin Road". Heat shapes trench work as well: in 2026, DFW logged 15 September days that hit 100 degrees F, first among Septembers in the NWS Fort Worth/Dallas rankings (marked provisional).
Send us the dig: depth and length of the trench, what goes in it, whether spoil goes back in or into trucks, the surface being crossed, the access width, and your start and finish dates. Our quote costs nothing and names the machine and bucket or attachment, bare or operated, the rental period, delivery, any City permit the trench needs, and each charge with any tax line. Texas law sets the 811 timing, and we or you file the locate request two business days ahead; the manufacturer's operating information comes with the machine.
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CASE and DEVELON Loaders by Their Published Figures
Two CASE machines that dig and load, and two DEVELON wheel loaders, cover both halves of this page. The CASE rows give dig depth with the dipper retracted and then extended; the DEVELON rows give the heaped bucket capacity.
| Model and type | Operating weight | Dig depth or bucket | Power | Other published figure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CASE 580EV (battery-electric) | 19,947 lb | 14 ft 6 in / 17 ft 11 in | 85.5 kWh battery | Charge 0-100%: 7.4 hr |
| CASE 695SV (4-wheel steer) | 22,245 lb | 15 ft 4 in / 19 ft 4 in | 108 hp net | Turn 15 ft 9 in in 4-wheel steer |
| DEVELON DL200-7 (wheel loader) | 26,559 lb | 2.6 yd3 bucket | 142.1 hp net | Tipping load 22,315 lb straight |
| DEVELON DL280-7 (wheel loader) | 34,550 lb | 3.7 yd3 bucket | 189.1 hp net | Tipping load 27,064 lb straight |
Figures are the makers' own, each for the configuration on its sheet. The four models illustrate the two classes and are not a list of our equipment. Bucket, dipper and counterweight change these numbers; the sheet for the unit you are quoted governs.
Signs the Job Calls for a Loader That Digs
A machine that digs a little and loads a lot, or that moves between several small digs on one job, is what CASE's two models are built for; loading trucks from a stockpile all day is a wheel loader's work. These conditions point to one or the other, and to the digging rules that come with them.
- A water service, sewer lateral or drain line must be trenched, laid and backfilled by one machine and one operator.
- A trench will reach 4 feet or deeper, so OSHA wants a stairway, ladder or ramp no more than 25 feet of walking from anyone in it.
- Oxygen could fall below 19.5 percent, or a hazardous atmosphere could gather, which OSHA says must be tested before anyone enters past 4 feet.
- A pile of base, sand or spoil has to go into trucks, which is work for a wheel loader's 2.6 or 3.7 yd3 heaped bucket.
- The machine must turn in a tight yard or cul-de-sac, where four-wheel steer brings the 695SV's curb-to-curb turn down to 15 ft 9 in, against 26 ft 10 in in two-wheel steer mode.
- Exhaust and noise must stay down near homes, where CASE says its battery 580EV brings "lower jobsite noise."
If the trench runs deeper or longer than the arm reaches, an excavator class matched to the depth is the better tool; if the work is mostly carrying material around a tight site, a compact skid steer or track loader handles it.
Texas 811 and Utilities Code Chapter 251, Clause by Clause
Texas law on digging near buried lines is Utilities Code chapter 251, which Texas811 names the "Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act." Section 251.002(5) defines excavating broadly, including "auguring, backfilling, boring, compressing, digging," and "trenching, and tunneling to remove or otherwise disturb soil to a depth of 16 or more inches." A machine doing any of that is excavating in the law's sense. Timing comes from section 251.151(a): notice to the notification center "not earlier than the 14th day" before the dig and no "later than the 48th hour" before it, "excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays." Under section 251.151(b), a Saturday notice lets work start "the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m. unless the intervening Monday is a holiday." Section 251.157 gives a Class A line operator until the 48th hour after notice to mark, in the American Public Works Association color code, and protects an excavator who "has fully complied" from liability for damage to a facility left unmarked.
If the bucket strikes a line, section 251.159 requires the excavator to "immediately contact the underground facility operator" and to "delay backfilling in the immediate area of the damage until the damage is reported" and a repair schedule is agreed with the operator; Texas811 adds a 911 call when a gas line is hit. The civil penalty under section 251.201 starts at "not less than $500 or more than $1,000" and reaches "not less than $2,000 or more than $5,000" for a third violation within a year, though the section does not reach a residential owner digging on their own lot. Read Utilities Code section 251.151 for the full notice rule.
Inside the Trench: OSHA's Access, Air and Inspection Rules
A trenching crew spends its day beside, and sometimes in, a narrow cut, and OSHA's 29 CFR 1926.651 sets the terms. Before the cut opens, "The estimated location of utility installations, such as sewer, telephone, fuel, electric, water lines," must be "determined prior to opening an excavation," utility owners must be contacted "within established or customary local response times," and as the bucket nears a line, "the exact location of the installations shall be determined by safe and acceptable means." Texas811's FAQ points to industry practice that sets "18 inches on either side of the marked utility as a reasonable tolerance zone." Access is the next rule: paragraph (c)(2) wants "A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress" in trenches "4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.62 m)" of lateral travel, so on a long sewer run the ladder moves with the work.
Air is the third. Where oxygen could fall below "19.5 percent" or a hazardous atmosphere could exist, the air "shall be tested before employees enter excavations greater than 4 feet (1.22 m) in depth." Inspection closes the list: a competent person looks over the excavation, the adjacent areas and the protective systems "prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift," and again "after every rainstorm or other hazard increasing occurrence." At 5 feet, the protective-system rule in 29 CFR 1926.652 applies as well.
Reading the CASE and DEVELON Spec Sheets
Four figures on the CASE and DEVELON sheets answer most questions about these machines. Dig depth comes first: CASE prints the 580EV at "14 ft 6 in (4.41 m)" with the Extendahoe retracted and "17 ft 11 in (5.47 m)" extended, and the 695SV at 15 ft 4 in and 19 ft 4 in on the same two settings. The extended figure is the arm's limit, so size the machine to the trench's deepest point with room to spare. Loader capacity is second. CASE's calculated lift capacity to full height is 7,044 lb for the 580EV and 6,779 lb for the 695SV. For wheel loaders, DEVELON prints static tipping loads, the weight at which the machine would tip, of 22315 lb. straight and 19705 lb.
at full turn for the DL200-7; the DL280-7 prints 27064 lb. and 23857 lb. In both, the full-turn figure is the lower one. Dump clearance is third: at a 45 degree dump, the DL200-7 clears 9 ft 0.0 in and the DL280-7 9 ft 3.0 in, which decides whether a bucket clears a truck's side. Power is fourth. The 580EV's battery holds "Total Gross Capacity 85.5 kWh" with 72.7 kWh usable and recharges from 0 to 100% in 7.4 hr, so plan charging around the work; the 695SV's engine makes Net 108 hp.
Dig and Load, Load Only, or Dig Only?
The three machines overlap, so the deciding question is what the job does most: dig, load or both. Each option below gives the makers' published figures and the 2026 national rates that go with it; the wheel loader rate rests on a single, undated source.
Backhoe loader
Digs, loads and backfills with one machine on tires. CASE's 695SV digs 19 ft 4 in with its dipper extended, and the battery 580EV has 72.7 kWh usable. The March 2026 marketplace guide prints daily "$350 - $500" for a small 70-90 HP machine and "$700 - $1,000+" for a large 100+ HP one. Suits plumbers, utility crews and builders with several small digs.
Wheel loader
Loads trucks and moves stockpiles at volume. DEVELON's DL200-7 lists a 2.6 yd3 bucket and a 22315 lb. straight tipping load; the DL280-7 lists a 3.7 yd3 bucket and 32822 lbf. of breakout force. The single published rate is the marketplace listing's "$725 per day". Suits material yards, base and aggregate work, and cleanup on large sites.
Excavator instead
Keeps digging, and full-size models dig deeper, but travels slowly (2.7 mph for Bobcat's E88) and carries no spoil away. The marketplace's March 2026 excavator table prices a 1.5-4 ton mini at $150-$400 a day. Suits long or deep trenches, ponds and footings; pair it with a loader for the spoil.
Operated or bare is the other choice. The marketplace guide prices an operator-and-machine package at "$150-$250/hour ($1,200-$2,000/day)". On tax, Rule 3.294 treats one combined charge for a machine and its operator as a service, "presumed to be the performance of a service", so no sales tax applies to it unless the work falls under a taxable service.
Backhoe and Loader Rental FAQs
What does a backhoe rent for in Arlington?
Published figures are national, not Arlington prices: HomeGuide lists $200-$450 a day and $800-$1,100 a week (January 16, 2026), while the March 2026 guide of a national rental marketplace averages $582/day, $1,434/week or $3,103/month. Delivery, fuel and any damage waiver are extra, and a bare rental in the city carries sales tax at 8.25 percent combined. An operated machine in that guide runs $150-$250/hour.
How much is a wheel loader rental?
One undated national marketplace listing gives the only published figure found, "$725 per day, $2,200 per week, or $6,100 per month," and no second source confirms it, so treat it as a rough national guide. The size follows the bucket: DEVELON's DL200-7 carries 2.6 yd3 and its DL280-7 carries 3.7 yd3. Delivery, a damage waiver and Texas sales tax are added to any bare rental.
How far ahead do I call 811 before digging a trench?
At least two business days, and no more than fourteen days, ahead. Texas Utilities Code section 251.151 sets the window between the 14th day and the 48th hour before excavation begins, not counting Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays, and Texas811 asks for a fresh ticket once the start slips "beyond fourteen days of the original notice." A Saturday notice allows work the following Tuesday at 11:59 a.m. unless Monday is a holiday.
Is a backhoe or a mini excavator better for a sewer line?
It depends on depth, room and spoil. CASE's 695SV digs, loads and backfills with one machine, drives between digs on tires, and reaches 19 ft 4 in with its dipper extended. A mini excavator fits a tighter yard (Bobcat's E10e retracts to 28 inches wide) but carries no spoil away. Either way, a trench 5 feet or deeper needs OSHA's protective system, and every dig needs the 811 call first.
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