Diesel costs are one of the heaviest line items in a contractor’s budget. Smart equipment use, maintenance and selection, however, can significantly reduce the amount of diesel fuel burned each day. This helps extend runtimes (greater productivity/less time refueling and acquiring fuel), reduce total operating costs and, ultimately, be more competitive when bidding jobs.

In this article, we’ll cover a few core principles that affect fuel efficiency throughout the life of a machine and how to get the most out of each gallon.

Claude Gagne, founder of Gagne Excavation, purchased his first CASE backhoe in 1959, and the business has been thriving ever since. Offering a broad range of services, Gagne Excavation has developed relationships with their customers that have lasted for generations. Now operated by his son Marc Gagne and his grandsons, Yannick and Jonathan, the company works on a variety of projects in and around the farmland and municipality of Casselman, Ontario.

“We do snow removal, excavation, septic beds, sewer work, land clearing for farmers, ditch cleaning. We do excavation for barns, houses, almost anything,” explains Yannick Gagne, one of Marc’s sons, and the third generation of the Gagne family involved in the business.