TLB hire near you

What a TLB does

A TLB (tractor-loader-backhoe) is two machines in one: a loader bucket of about 1 m³ on the front and a backhoe digging arm on the back that reaches 4.4–4.8 m deep. One TLB and one operator can dig a trench, load the spoil onto a tipper and backfill the trench afterwards.

That versatility is why one TLB covers most house-plot, farm and small municipal jobs on its own. Whether you call it a TLB, a backhoe loader, a digger loader or a JCB, it's the same machine, and it drives from job to job on the road at up to about 40 km/h, so it starts work quickly.

Jobs a TLB does well

• Trenches

  Water, sewer and stormwater pipes, electrical cable and irrigation lines. The backhoe digs to 4.4–4.8 m with a standard dipper. See trenching.

• Foundations

  Strip footings for houses, boundary walls and outbuildings, plus septic tanks and soakaways. See earthworks and foundations.

• Loading tippers

  Rubble, soil and building waste. A 10 cube tipper takes about ten loader buckets. See tipper truck hire.

• Clearing a plot

  Rubble, light bush, small trees and stumps, and old fencing. Heavy bush needs a bigger machine. See site clearing.

• Driveways and levelling

  Spreading and shaping gravel and levelling small areas with the front bucket before a roller compacts. See gravel roads and driveways.

• Breaking concrete and rock

  With a hydraulic breaker in place of the bucket: slabs, old foundations, tar and rock bands in a trench. See demolition.

TLB with a hydraulic breaker (pecker)

A TLB with a hydraulic breaker costs R5,000–R6,550 a day with operator. The breaker, also called a pecker or hammer, replaces the digging bucket on the backhoe arm and runs off the machine's hydraulics through hammer pipework.

Book the breaker TLB when your job includes concrete slabs, old foundations, tar, a driveway that has to come out, or a band of rock in a trench line. On a mixed job, the operator breaks the hard section and then swaps back to a bucket to dig and load. If it's a small patch of concrete, a hand-held breaker with a compressor may be enough: see compressor and breaker hire. For a full demolition, see demolition.

Wet or dry TLB hire: who pays the diesel

In South Africa, dry hire usually means the operator is included and you pay for the diesel the machine uses on your job: R320–R410 an hour for a standard TLB. Wet hire means the operator and the diesel are both included: about R580 an hour. Every TLB we send comes with its operator.

Which is better depends on the job. Dry hire suits long, steady jobs where you can keep an eye on fuel. Wet hire suits short jobs where you want one fixed number. We write the basis on your quote, so you know exactly what is in the price. The full explanation is in our guide to wet and dry hire.

Getting the TLB to your site

A TLB drives itself to site on the road, so you don't pay for a lowbed. In and around our main centres travel is small and is confirmed on WhatsApp with your price. Further out, transport is charged by the kilometre both ways and shown as its own line. Two examples:

• Hartbeespoort is about 39 km from Pretoria by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R3,360–R4,060, shown as its own line on your quote.
• Bela-Bela is about 112 km from Pretoria by road. Transport for a TLB there and back usually comes to R9,640–R11,640, shown as its own line on your quote.

On the road the TLB follows the National Road Traffic Act like any other vehicle, and the Construction Regulations require plant working on public roads to comply with it. Under regulation 99 of the National Road Traffic Regulations, a Code B driving licence authorises driving mobile industrial machinery such as a TLB, and codes C1, C, EB, EC1 and EC include Code B.

TLB, excavator, bobcat or mini excavator: which do you need?

• Pick a TLB when the job mixes digging and loading on an open site: a house-plot trench, foundations, a septic tank, loading a tipper, backfilling.
• Pick an excavator when you need to dig deeper than about 5 m, dig for days on end, or work in hard ground. It turns 360° and digs much faster, but it comes on a lowbed. See 20 ton excavator hire.
• Pick a mini excavator or bobcat when the gap is narrower than about 3 m. The smallest mini excavators are under 1 m wide.

How hiring a TLB works

1. WhatsApp us the job, the town and the dates, or use the price tool at the top of this page. A photo of the site and a map pin help.
2. We confirm in writing: the TLB size, breaker or not, wet or dry, the start date, and the price with transport as its own line.
3. Pay the deposit to book the TLB and operator for your dates.
4. Your TLB arrives with an experienced operator, does its daily check and starts work.
5. The balance and transport are settled as agreed on your quote.

The details, including breakdowns and changing dates, are on how it works.

Before the TLB arrives

• Find the underground services. Water pipes, sewer lines and electrical cables must be located and marked before digging. In a road reserve or on municipal land you need the municipality's wayleave first. See trenching for what that involves.
• Check access: a 3 m gate, firm ground for an 8 t machine, and nothing low across the driveway.
• Mark what you want dug with pegs or spray paint, with the depth and width you need.
• Decide where the spoil goes: stockpiled on site for backfill, or loaded onto tippers.