Hire or Buy Lifting Gear: How to Decide

When you need lifting gear to complete a construction project, you often have a choice to buy or hire the necessary equipment. It’s not always easy to determine which is the right decision for your needs. That’s why we’ve put together a guide to help you better understand what factors to consider when faced with these two options. Storage Options First, you need to evaluate your own resources to determine if purchasing lifting equipment is even a practical idea. After all, this equipment needs to be stored properly. If you don’t have storage space for it now, you’ll need to purchase it before purchasing the gear. That may not be worth your time and money. However, if you already have adequate storage space, buying certain essentials pieces of equipment may help you reduce your spending in the long run. Frequency of Use You should also review your past work history and your company projects when deciding whether to hire or buy lifting gear. If you rely on a specific piece of equipment regularly, or you expect to in the future, you should consider buying it. No longer having to repeat the process of hiring the necessary gear will help you work more efficiently. On the other hand, if you seem to rarely have much use for a piece of equipment, it may be in your best interest to hire it when you do need it. This frees up storage space and potentially reduces spending. Familiarity Be honest when asking yourself just how familiar you are with the different types of lifting gear you use on your projects. If you’re not an expert, you may not know whether you can expect manufacturers to release improved versions of similar products in the near future. With that in mind, it always helps to discuss this topic with professionals. We’ll let you know if certain equipment is likely to become outdated sooner rather than later. If it is, it’s smarter to hire the equipment now instead of purchasing it. You don’t want to spend money on gear that’s soon to be replaced by superior products. Job Variety Does your firm typically handle the same types of projects on a regular basis, or do your projects vary significantly? This factor should play a major role in your decision. Buy a piece of equipment, and it may not be that useful in the long run if you work on so many different types of projects that you only have occasional use for it. However, if your projects are all relatively similar, buying your gear instead of hiring it may be the right choice. Again, this is a complicated decision. We’ll gladly discuss your goals to help you better understand your options. To learn more about what we can do for you, call us in Scotland on 01899 221 577 or in Essex 01371 859 555.