Traditionally, excavation used to be performed with excavators and backhoes, but those processes posed serious challenges in terms of efficiency and safety, especially in excavation areas with underground utility lines and vegetation. Then hydrovac machines came into the picture, making it possible to dig out trenches that are deep and thin as well as large holes.

Hydrovac machines are special trucks equipped with a unit that delivers pressurized water and another one that generates vacuum. The machine uses the pulverized water to break down the soil in the excavation area and the vacuum to remove the resulting slurry from the hole and to transport the by-product to a container. The waste material deposited in the tank is then removed from the excavation site to a legal dump site or to a recycling facility. The waste recycling units can be either large facilities operated by specialized companies or smaller, mobile waste processing units set up by the excavation company close to the excavation site.

The hydrovac services Colorado process is today the preferred excavation method on any site that requires superior effectiveness and safety. The usage examples include not only excavation to dig out building foundations, but daylighting and the moving of the top layer of soil over a larger area for landscaping purposes.